Kettle Bell Hell

"Go for twenty. Okay fifteen." said Carlos the "torturer" with his usual smile. His bald head gleamed with sweat and I imagined for a moment that I could see my reflection there- a 6'2" man struggling to lift a tiny kettle bell over his head for what seemed like the millionth time.

"Come on, you can do ten." Carlos barked. Ten? I was aiming for five at this point.

I struggled to lift the tiny kettle bell, but ended up dropping it on the ground in defeat. It was an hour and twenty five minutes into the workout and I was beyond tired.

The workout had begun with a session on the elliptical machine.

"Exercise at your level 7," Carlos intoned, meaning that we should find our internal level at which we were expending 70% effort. But, looking around at my group, the sweat was pouring down at an external level of 9 or 10.

"At least, we're not doing kettle bells," I commented to a team member.

Every five minutes, one of us was taken from the elliptical machine and subjected to a...well...torturous workout on the treadmill. The workout consisted of walking up a step incline while shoulder pressing a heavy medicine ball. By the end of my turn with the medicine ball, my shoulders were sore and I was out of breath. I could have happily ended the workout then, but the session had just begun. Carlos pulled out the devious little contraptions.

"Kettle Bells?" one of my workout partners said in disbelief. Carlos just smiled.

The kettle bell was designed by Russians almost a hundred years ago. It is an innocent looking thing- a little ball with a handle that weighs almost nothing until you lift it over your head a few dozen times. Then the weight feels heavier and heavier.

Carlos had us alternate lifting the kettle bell with various exercises- squats, running while carrying weights, etc. My shoulders ached with each repetition and I thought the workout would never end.

Then a surprise, the torturer relented.

"Okay," Carlos said finally "Just walk around the building and the workout is over.."

There was a skip in my step until he handed me two heavy weights to take with me. You'd think I had enough weight to carry...

But, I survived to workout and to blog another day.