Giving up your tomorrow for today?

I watched a cool yet unfortunate YouTube documentary the other night about the Renowned World’s Strongest Man, Bill Kazmaier.

When I was 8, 9 and 10 years old , I saw “The Kaz” perform and win the WSM.

He was bigger - WAY bigger - than almost every competitor .

And much stronger than almost every competitor.

He was a legendary powerlifter too.

But, I was stunned at two things:

1- Kaz injured practically every major muscle in his body: Pec, triceps, hamstrings, delts…

2- At age in his seventies , earlier this year, he had a heart attack in the Philippines and his son had to start a GoFundMe account to cover Kaz’s medical expenses.

The first shocked me because he just kept pushing .

I don’t know what the consequences was physically for him in his 50s, 60s, and 70s, but I believe it was pretty substantial.

And the second shocked me because, well, I wouldn’t thought that a “Strength Celebrity” would need a GoFundMe account.

Look, I was never anywhere near as strong as Kaz was. Not even remotely close. (He was in a league of his own .)

And I never had the injuries that he had.

But I did get pretty hurt training for strength sports - Olympic Weightlifting specifically. And those were brought about by injuries I sustained wrestling…

… Injuries that literally shattered my frame and changed the way my body worked.

And it was a massive time and energy drain trying to rehab those injuries - especially when the rehab didn’t work.

I had to make a decision in 2010 when I injured my lower back - AGAIN - as a result of my training.

Do I continue chasing dreams of glory and probably risk my future as a dad and rob my son of a “Fun Dad”...

Or do I stop playing the fool and focus on my health ?

I decided on the latter.

I spent 18 months off the barbell and kettlebells doing nothing but recovery routines.

And when I came back to my kettlebell lifting?

I was more resilient in many ways than before I started.

And more toned.

And I felt better - had more stamina .

And so it can be for you too if you’re facing a similar decision .

This is why I love kettlebell training vs. conventional training for those of us over 40.

If you have asymmetries and old injuries, the barbell and machine training will find them, and exacerbate them and cause more pain.

The kettlebell? Or a pair of kettlebells on the other hand?

They’re therapeutic .

They “heal ” you and build you up (when programmed properly), while making you fitter and better conditioned in less time than traditional gym workouts.

And yeah, that might be hard to believe, so take a look at this YouTube comment I got recently:

From “relaxed glutes, tight hammies and sore back… chronically tight and painful abductors” to -

“My glutes are noticeably bigger and more engaged , my hamstrings are more relaxed and I can stretch them without pain, abductors and lower back have improved too.”

Plus -

“My upper body is also noticeably more muscular and I’ve put on about 5lb”

And remember Jason from our last video about HardStyle v. Sport Style Snatches?

He racked up a pretty impressive list of injuries training conventionally - CrossFit, Powerlifting, Bodybuilding, etc.

But in our email thread, when I asked him about his WTH Effects did he notice from using KBs?

His response was incredible.

I’ll throw some of it up here on the screen for you:

“So in speaking about the WTH effect with King Sized Killer I was initially dismissive of what a single bell exercise program was gonna do for me after having been training double kettlebell programs exclusively for the past few years. Your programs earned my faith for sure, so I went with it for this Spring since I have to do it outside anyways only having a seven foot basement.

I started modestly with a 28k bell which was where I liked exercising with doubles. Within a couple weeks my confidence increased and I bumped the bell size up to a 32k. I started to struggle as it really exhausted me going into that second phase, but you specifically stated after I had gone through phase 1

“ Don’t let the sets of 9 and 12 scare you. By the time you’ve

gone through Phase 1, these will be possible.”

(Check the rest of the email in the video)

So as you can see, the right kettlebell workouts - the Clean + Press and the Snatch -

Can restore you, rebuild your function, build a rock solid core, help you catch up with the bad guys, and keep up with your kids in their sporting activities .

And they can read more do it without wasting hours in the gym or injuring yourself in the process.

You’re not ever going to win the World’s Strongest Man event using them, but you can be the strongest man in your life .

Stay Strong,

Geoff Neupert.