Why I love kettlebells (guest post)

Today’s guest post is by Karen, who has inspired me to love  kettlebells again.  If you have not used kettlebells in your workout yet, you are missing out!  I highly recommend Lauren Brooks and her DVDs for an amazing home workout!

Please read on for Karen’s story:
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I am honored that Lisa asked me to share my story with her readers!

Here’s the quick version:

In 2005 and 2006, after spending the vast majority of my adult life obese, I finally got my head together and lost 55 pounds. I became more active than I’d ever been before. I started with walking and simple strength training, and graduated to running and kickboxing. Not to mention actually looking forward to activities like hikes and kayaking.

And Life Was Good.

But by the time 2008 came to a close, life wasn’t so good. I’d regained about half the weight I had lost. My body was hurting and, in hindsight, I was also slightly depressed. At the time, I chalked it up to age and weight gain. I spent the next year trying to figure out what was wrong with me, not to mention why I couldn’t seem to control my cravings and false hunger. That’s when I started my blog.

By the end of 2009, I’d come a long way mentally, but discovered that I had some health issues…nothing life threatening, but I had Lyme disease, not to mention a hormonal imbalance, Epstein-Barr virus (a lot of people have this and it can cause a sort of general malaise), and my adrenals and thyroid were “off.”

At the time I was kickboxing two or three times a week at most. The treatments for Lyme and Epstein Barr left me exhausted a lot of the time. I finally allowed myself the luxury of “taking it easy” and not wanting to beat myself up, literally or figuratively.

Once I started feeling better towards the end of March, I knew it was time to get back to some more serious exercising. I specifically wanted to add strength training but didn’t want to dig out my old DVDs and head to the basement.

I was also a little worried…I didn’t want to commit to something that I know I couldn’t, or wouldn’t want to, sustain. That has been a problem for me in the past, and not just as it concerns exercise and activity, but in other areas of my life too. There was always the inevitable disappointment and feelings of failure when I ended up either not being able, or not wanting, to continue.

Then I discovered kettlebells. An acquaintance told me that her son had become a certified personal trainer and that he uses kettlebells exclusively to help people with their fitness, strength, and weight loss/gain goals. A friend also mentioned that she had been using them and found that they were quite easy on the body, impact-wise. I was intrigued. I made an appointment with the trainer and decided to commit to training three times a week.

In the three months that I have been training I’ve made amazing progress in terms of strength and ability. I started with 15- and 18-pound kettlebells and am now using 35-pounders. I can press two of them over my head!

I also notice nice changes in the shape of my body and the way my clothes fit me. I’ve lost several inches from my waist (the only thing I measure) and, most importantly, I notice that my joint and tendon pain has improved. I am not in as much pain as I was. There’s also a wonderful mental aspect to working out with kettlebells: it is at once something that requires focus, but which is also deeply satisfying on a primal level.

If you want the (really) long version of my story, check out my blog, Before & After: A Real Life Story and start here.

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Tagged as: kettlebell training, kettlebells, lauren brooks