Approaching Simple

From the age 6 to 30, my life was spent in schools
passing exams. The next 10 years saw me sitting in
front of computers 12 hrs a day. At 40, I stood
5'7" and weighed 195 lbs and it was not a pretty
picture. The wakeup call came after a physical
checkup and I was sentenced pre-diabetic. Over
the next two years, I lost 50 lbs, finished my first
marathon barefoot, and snatched health back from
the jaw of diabetes.

I started swinging kettlebells around mid-2015,
after reading Tim Ferriss. Armed with Pavel's
Kettlebell Simple and Sinister, I laid down a gym
mat on my bedroom floor, picked up a 16kg and
started to swing. It felt great, of course. But I was
sloppy in form and eager to go heavy. During
the next 6 months, I went through injuries in the
lower back, the right shoulder, and the right
wrist, but always recovered and returned to train.

I don't know if more preparation would have saved
these newbie injuires. Training with a pro might but
that would have been a luxury. For a middle-aged
computer geek like me, some knowledge comes
from making mistakes and fixing them.

One year later, I progressed to but felt stuck at
24kg. That was when the idea of training as a
"practice" as stressed in the book and by
experienced folks began to make sense. I asked
myself: "Would I be happy doing S&S with a 24kg
the rest of my life?" Hell YES! I would count
myself truly blessed. This change of attitude
seemed to be a paradigm shift as I was no longer
in a hurry. Had I acquired that attitude pre-training,
I would've avoided most injuries. Without it, technical
preparation wouldn't have helped much.

I had never thought I could and therefore never
tried to look good.  It's vanity, I had always
believed. Kettlebell training changed my
appearance, regardless. Another inch of waist size
was knocked off from what I thought my minimum,
the shoulders and backs of the T-shirts were puffed
up, muscles and veins started to show on the arms,
etc., without me putting on any weight.

The advance in the outer game seems to have a
profound effect on the mind and spirit. My sense
of language has become keener. I felt more
confident and relaxed through the day. Aging might
have something to do with it but even my view on
life has changed. It is either mid-life illusion or it
must be how it feels to be reborn.

Patience and persistence paid off. No work was
wasted and progress came quietly. Early Jul 2016,
I started to mix in the 32kg, strongly. Last
night, after 100 32kg swings, I did 4x24kg and
6x32kg GetUps. It's good to have goals. I will be
very happy the day when I reach the Simple goal,
i.e., to do 100 single-arm swings in 5 minutes and
10 GetUps in 10 minutes, all with the 32kg.
Meanwhile, let me enjoy the journey and savor the
freedom my training brings every single day.

[7grizzly]

Super-charged after reading this article: http://www.strongfirst.com/solid-simple-sinister.

[7grizzly]

Did 10x32kg Turkish Getups last night's session. Personal record ;-)

[7grizzly]

回复 '暖冬cool夏' 的评论 : Thank you very much for the encouraging comments. Physical exercises contribute to every aspects of my life. I only started to pay attention after the wake-up call. But, as they say, better late than never ;-) Not to mention this is going to set an example for loved ones. This is another big reason.

[暖冬cool夏]

Read at least twice. Each time when I read what you wrote, I felt like some fresh wind breezing in. Your English flows so well. I remember all the good usages in your journal, like "among people, among tears and laughters". Reading yours propels me to move ahead. Don't want to talk too much again, to make you blush again:-). Actually sometimes I still feel that I left too many comments in your blog. While some of my comments elsewhere are out of courtesy, none of them here is. You are really into the exercise, as it makes you feel "reborn". Good for you!