IRON DISCIPLINE

How I Became Girevik

I feel I need to stress that I have not leapt onto a bandwagon in an attempt to cash in on any sort of trend.  I am on a quest to promote a philosophy of functional, physical training in order to meet the challenges of a physical lifestyle.  I openly and freely admit that, like the vast majority of young men growing up in North America, I went through what I call my ego-phase.  I bought the muscle mags, supplements and hype entrenched in the lifestyle of bodybuilding.  I put countless hours in the gym doing reps and sets of specific movements so my t-shirt would be nice and tight when I went out, and my chest would flex when on the beach.  What it took maturity and reality to make me finally realize, was that regardless of how I ever looked, all those muscles were basically useful for not much more than display.  At the end of the day I was still prone to pulling a muscle reaching for a salt shaker, or tweaking my back reaching down for my shoe.

About 10 years ago I began to develop my own philosophy on fitness.  I questioned what it is that actually allows someone to regard himself as FIT.  Now obviously, anyone reading this will come back with their own answer, usually relating it directly to what is required in their particular lifestyle.  Perhaps it is to meet the requirements of an annual Fire Fighter test. Maybe it says they can complete a marathon.  A triathalon?  Whatever...

My answer came to me as simply the ability to meet the physical requirements of your own life circumstances without undue effort, and free of any risk or fear of muscular/skeletal injury that could be blamed on lack of physical preparation.  I began to develop my own routines and training methods, that to me, seemed to meet the definition of functionality.

As a soldier myself with over twenty years in the military, I have had the the double edged sword experience of not only benefitting from a lifetime of greatly varied fitness activities and challenges, but also a string of injuries over the years directly attributable to receiving instruction from less than knowledgeable "superiors".  I have made it my goal to give the necessary tools to those who want them to not only achieve a level of physical ability, but to maintain a physical lifestyle for life. 

I first became acquainted with kettlebells in 2005.  I had heard of them, and seen them before, but like many people gave them little thought.  It was when I had the good fortune to attend a leadership symposium where a kettlebell seminar was held, that I experienced the "lightbulb" moment.  You know what I mean.  That instant when suddenly everything seems so clear.  The answer I had been looking for was right there in front of me.  What I discovered was that I had been training or more correctly, I had been trying to train in a way that only kettlebells would really allow.  In essence, what a kettlebell allowed me to do, was to put into practice the movements and range of motion I needed for the total-body workouts I was seeking.  Not only that, but the strength I was able to develop was functional, and useful. 

It was Real.