My First Time !

Will I get big doing this!

My Kettle Bell Experience “Anybody up for a free Kettle Bell sesh” the e-mail said. I am up for anything free; yes I would like to try that. I put the date in my diary so that I would remember – Saturday 27th June. I hadn’t even thought about what a Kettle Bell looked like never mind wondering what the 11/2 hours free sesh would do for me. I should have known that it would involve pain!

When checking with hubby if anything was planned for Saturday afternoon, I asked him if he had any idea what a Kettle Bell was. Yes and he promply drew me a little drawing. They are heavy he said, you might like to think again it could hurt your elbow. You see I have what I have been told is ‘tennis elbow’ I don’t know how as I have never played tennis……. I was now beginning to have second thoughts (as is the norm with me) I e-mailed Brian, can I do it if I have tennis elbow and will it hurt my weak back? Yes, and it will help your elbow and No it won’t hurt your back. Saturday afternoon came and only Ann Ritchie and me (aka victims) and obviously Brian were up for the free sesh.

I have to say that hubby’s drawing was spot on! His description was also spot on, they are heavy. I was given the 8kg ones; the other lady had her own ‘girlie pink’ one which was heavier than 8kg. Brian had brought along a bag of chalk. I have always wanted to ‘chalk up my hands’ just like the Olypmic gymnasts. So you can imagine I had it everywhere, it was like a snow storm. Away we go, Brian had us doing all sorts of things which, I am sure looked almost ‘weird’ if you were watching. I could start to feel my back hurting and stopped, I can’t seem to ignore back pain. Brian reasured me that it does actually help back pain, Ann has suffered back pain for a long time and thanks to Kettle Bell training finds it helping her back. My elbow bothered me less although I was aware of it hurting. I found myself really enjoying it even though it was hard; it is amazing how quickly 1 and half hours passes when you actually enjoy something.

Brian did keep saying to me that I would hurt in my legs and back in a couple of days, this didn’t stop me really trying hard. I almost have this sadistic feeling that if it hurts afterwards then it must have done something. I drove back home feeling really good, my legs were that wobbly way which I usually experience going from bike to run in a triathlon. By Saturday night I was having problems getting out of the chair without pain. Sunday morning was another story; OMG how sore was I? My back ached, my legs ached and I had promised my daughter that I would take her to the Royal Highland Show, how was I going to cope with all that walking? Sunday night was particularly bad although I put it down to the additional effort of walking about for 4 hours.

Monday was a little better and by Monday afternoon I was back to normal. My elbow was OK; and I have to say that it has bothered my less since. I would recommend this type of training to everyone. Yes it is hard, yes the Kettle Bells are heavy but it beats doing weights in a gym anyday. I would love to do it again and hopefully I will.

Blog by Angela Robb