“185 lbs”, the nurse matter-of-factly stated, while I stood on a doctor’s office scale, one bone- chilling cold New England January morning, in 2005. 185 lbs?! There had to be some mistake, I thought, as I stared at the number on the scale. I was stunned. This had to be wrong. I knew I had put on some weight, but it could not have been this much. No mistake, I was now 15 lbs away from 200. I was at a complete loss for words. Needless to say I was upset.
I went home that night and realized that something had gone horribly wrong in my efforts to get in shape. I had invested a lot of money to work with trainers. Money I did not really have. Prior to this year, I had worked for 6 months with one trainer. I diligently followed what I was told to do. I did not eat carbohydrates, fruits, starchy vegetables, and dairy products. I ate foods daily I did not like. I hated the workouts and forced myself to get up early and do them. I concluded that if his program did not work for me it was hopeless. Relentlessly, I kept trying these same methods, hoping this time the outcome would be different. When I ended up sick and mal-nourished, I gave up.
Next, I tried most of the commercial weight loss methods. Stubbornly, I kept trying those methods, hoping each time for a different outcome, only to be frustrated. By the way, trying and using the same methods repeatedly and expecting a different outcome, is insanity. Also, it seemed to me that if I kept trying it was better than doing nothing. Doing nothing, in my mind was giving up. It had not occurred to me that changing my methods was what I needed to do. Even though, I thought I wanted to make a change, I simply continued on the road I was on.
In February, I came across an article entitled, “The Kettlebell Solution for Size and Strength” by Mike Mahler. The first time I read the word kettlebell, I had no idea what to make of it. A kettlebell? A cast iron cannonball with an attached suitcase handle hardly seemed like it was going to be something that would make anyone strong. It dumbfounded me. Is this guy for real?
Yes he most certainly was for real. I started reading the article from the beginning. As I continued reading, I discovered this workout took a lot less time than what I had been doing. Furthermore, these exercises could be done anywhere. When I read that you only needed one or two, I realized I could do this without spending the money on gym memberships. At this point, I was really intrigued, I still though was not sure this would work for me. But, something told me to keep reading the article. It was a great article. Yet, It was the last paragraph that really struck me.
“Ok, you know what weapons to use and you have a plan of attack. The only thing left is commitment and hard work on your part. If you are up to the challenge and want to get bigger and stronger with kettlebells, then execute the plan in this article today and email me in twelve weeks with your results.”
What stuck me was I began to realize that I had a choice. There were different methods. With that information, I realized I could no longer leave my training goals in the hands of someone else. It was up to me to do something about them. I liked the brutal truth that this man was willing to share. I liked that he was confident that this would work for anyone who was willing to step up. I had heard things like that before. However, for some reason, the way Mike Mahler challenged the reader to step up struck something with me. Also, the uniqueness of the kettlebell fascinated me. The exercises he was doing sounded and looked really fun to me. He also was very strong. That was clear and he was nice to look at. More importantly, his writing showed an intelligent person who clearly knew to explain how to do the workouts and to teach them. That was not the case with any of the strength coaches I had worked with. I knew I had to find more about kettlebells though before I would be ready to learn about them.
In the past, I had spent my nights watching several hours of television. Instead, I researched about kettlebells. I found other articles written by Mike Mahler, Steve Maxwell, Lisa Shaffer, and Jeff Martone, and a forum full of people that trained with kettlebells. I found testimonials that many people had written to Mike Mahler about what his work had helped them accomplish. The commonality, I discovered, was that all of these people were committed, worked hard, and they were getting results. I was not. The women especially were getting results. It was at that moment, I realized, I had to learn about how to use kettlebells as soon as possible.
The next month, I went to a kettlebell seminar in NYC that Mike Mahler, was teaching. It was going to be 6 hours. The information about the seminar said, no experience was necessary. So here was my chance to learn about kettlebells. Deciding to go to this workshop was the easy part; actually showing up was not so easy. Here I was 5 ft 3, 175 lbs. I had dropped 10 lbs, in a very unhealthy manner. I basically ate 1000 calorie a day diet that consisted of all the foods I had been forbidden to eat. Traveling to NYC by myself to a location I had never been to, and learning how to use a weight I had never seen before, was very much out of my comfort zone. I was scared. Yet, I wanted to learn kettlebells from Mike Mahler and was not going to let my fear stop me.
I learned the RKC or hard-style method of swings, snatches, cleans, presses, rows, squats, and the windmill. I saw Mike’s co-instructor and good friend Dylan Thomas, a 2nd Dan Instructor in Combat/Aiki-Jujutsu, Kettlebell and Fitness Trainer, perform these exercises with kettlebells that were 53 lbs, and 70lbs. Mike also showed us a Turkish Get up. It looked effortless what they were doing. These were all exercises I had never heard of before. I seemed to be picking up how to do the exercises. The swing, though was really a challenge, I did not understand that it was ok to bend my knees. I had always been told that was a bad thing. As I struggled to get the swing, I saw women using bells much heavier than mine. I felt like I was wasting their time as I was using the 9lber and even that was a challenge for me. Mike and Dylan were very patient and did not treat me or anyone else like that at all. In fact, they seemed to respect that I kept at it. They could tell that learning these techniques presented challenges for me. However, they saw that I refused to give up and kept working with me till I had gotten to nearly acceptable form. They both even thanked me for attending the workshop. Again I was stunned. I was not happy with myself to say the least. It bothered me greatly that I was so weak that the lightest bell of 9lbs was a struggle for me. I got home that night bruised, sore and completely exhausted.
When I awoke the next morning, I was more bruised and with more muscle soreness than I had ever experienced in my life and it stayed with me for nearly 7 days. I was so badly out of shape, that getting out of my bed was now an ordeal. I had never been more disgusted with how things were for me in regards to my training than I was at that moment. I emailed Mike Mahler, thanked him for the seminar and then ordered my first kettlebell. I was going to be able to use the 18lb bell for all kettlebell exercises. This was my mission.
Ten days after the seminar, I heard the UPS truck and I ran downstairs. My 18lb kettlebell had arrived. I now owned an 18lb kettlebell. I could not wait to start using it. To my surprise, I had retained a lot of what I had learned. I had also learned about a woman that taught kettlebells in TX, named Lisa Shaffer. She had written a book entitled, “Get in the Best Shape of Your Life. This book helped me relearn what I had not retained and taught me new exercises. Moreover, I was impressed with Lisa’s passion and her dedication to her workouts and teaching kettlebells. She could do everything I had learned at the workshop with bells a lot heavier than the 9lber. Her work really inspired me. I was very pleased and was joyously planning my first workout. Another important lesson I was about to learn in going after your goals is that life often throws you roadblocks. I was about to hit one on my kettlebell road to strength.
I decided to try another workout I read about in another of Mike Mahler’s articles that I had found on his website. High Octane Cardio or HOC. I decided to try the part for beginners.
Roadwork for the Beginner: First pass: 10 one arm dumbbell swings with each arm. Second pass: 50 sit-ups. Third pass: 10 one-arm clean and jerk with each arm. Fourth pass: 50 Bodyweight squats.
In between the passes, the article called for running 50 yards. Being someone that ran for many years, I figured this would be something I could handle easily. Never have I been more wrong. This workout was a great struggle for me even the running. I barely managed to run 4 of the 5 laps, I could not do more than 5 reps for the swings or cleans and 10 cleans and 10 body weight squats was it for me. Also, I had not heeded the warning about not eating before hand, so I puked.
That just motivated me more, I got a second job so I could get another kettlebell and to have the money to afford to work with a strength coach. I hired Mike Mahler for 5 months and went to work.
11 weeks later… I had dropped 11 lbs and was now at 170 lbs. 15 lbs lower than I had started the year. My HOC workouts improved dramatically. I alternated two-minute rounds of punching and kicking a heavy bag with kettlebell exercises with the 18lber. I was doing these workouts twice a week and a strength workout that involved cleans, presses, rows, squats, windmill, snatch and the Turkish Get up, minimum of 5 reps. More importantly, I had entered a road race in one of the nearby towns. No elite runners were in this race. Nonetheless, I finished 2nd overall with one of the best running times I had ever run.
It had been 5 months now, since I first picked up a kettlebell and started this journey and 7 months since that cold January weigh-in. I had accomplished what I set out to do. I was no longer 185 lbs and I wasn’t struggling with a 9lb or 18 lb kettlebell anymore. In fact, I was able to use the 18lber for all the exercises and it was beginning to feel light, which is where the first phase of my road to kettlebell strength ends.
Two years later… I am now 162 lbs and continuing to work towards my goal of 130 lbs. Not only did the 18lb kettlebell get light, so did the 26lb bell. Currently, I use the 35lb kettlebell for cleans, presses, snatch, swings, windmill, double cleans and presses. Moreover, I have moved to the 44lb and 53lb kettlebells for Deadlifts, squats and swings. If someone had told me 2 ½ years later I would be writing my own kettlebell article, I would not have believed it. If you are willing to take the kettlebell road to strength, you will not regret it. When you get to wherever that road takes you, send me an email.
About the Author
Regina Hurley is the first and only female certified kettlebell instructor in CT. Regina is currently based in Northeastern Connecticut and can be reached via her blog at http://reginakbellinstruct.blogspot.com or at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
