Kettlebell Christmas Commercial; and how strength has impacted my life

Have you watched the recently released “Kettlebell Christmas Commercial” (produced by DocMorris of Germany) going viral? If not, please watch it here.

I am sure you also got touched to the very core to see the Grandpa in this Commercial train really hard each day, to make that the Christmas Moment a “Special One” with his Grand-daughter. This made me reflect as to how Practice of Strength Training has impacted my life and brought smiles on the faces of people I was able to help. A few of these moments flashed through my mind after watching this video.

Recent Example – A recent example was when my brother and I were walking towards our car when we noticed that a car wheel was stuck in a canal and 3-4 people trying to figure out a way to pull the car back. We noticed that the car belong to a elderly neighbour we knew and his family asked my brother and me for our help in getting the car out. We readily agreed. My brother and I took positions around the front wheels and were able to get the car out with the help of others who were already there. All of them including our neighbour’s family were greatly relieved and thanked us for our help.

Example of an Incident in 2014 – I remember a time in 2014 when I was in the basement of the building in my ex-business supervising the fitness group class when I heard the cry of help from outside. I ran out and noticed the daughter of my landlord crying out to the neighbours for help for her Dad who fell unconscious due to some heart related problem on the 2nd floor where they resided. I ran upstairs to check and noticed that the landlord was lying unconscious on the floor and a couple of neighbours surrounding him were trying to lift him up and carry him downstairs. On seeing that these people were unable to lift him up, I immediately took position around his head and carefully placed my arms under his head as to support him well and asked the other persons to lift his lower body. With great caution we managed to carry him down the narrow staircase to the front gate and managed to put him in the back seat of the neighbor’s car, ready to take him to the Max Hospital.

When I reached the hospital later on and met the landlord’s family, the landlady met me and thanked me in front of everyone for my help in lifting and carrying him to the car safely and quickly and pointed out that the Doctor has told her that more delay in getting him to the hospital could have been fatal for the patient. I insisted that it was not me but the effort of the whole team of people and the blessings of the Almighty that his life was saved.

Business example – There were at least two instances where I received boxes containing rubber mats in one instance and tiles in the other instance delivered for the business use and there was no labour available but a couple of members from my team. Holding these big boxes itself was tricky and carrying them upstairs to the third floor multiple times felt like it sucked the life out of the body. At the end, it felt like one hell of the workout.

My beliefs regarding my Strength Training Practice – I strongly believe that years of practicing different movements in my strength training practice have played a huge role in all of the above life situations. Although, different human movement patterns like pushing, pulling, lunging are important but what stood out most amongst these is lifting heavy weights from the floor (Deadlifting) and carrying the weights over a distance. To give you an instance of how I use “Deadlifts” and “Loaded Carries” in almost daily life situation is when I receive a heavy crate or box of fresh coconuts around 15 (most of the times) from the nearby Safal Vegetables Store.

Solid Foundation will keep you safe and strong – In my Strength Training practice, while lifting heavily loaded Barbells and Kettlebells, I take great care in setting up properly and maintaining tightness in the lats, abs, glutes, quads and proper breathing technique. When you keep practicing these important aspects time and again, these tend to become a part of you and they all come into play in the real life situations. In those moments, you don’t have to think much on these aspects as now they kind of kick in automatically and you get the job-at-hand done in real life situations without hurting yourself in the process and with much ease. Imagine me getting hurt my back in any or all of the above examples I quoted. That would have been disastrous for my spine. But with the foundation of the right Strength Training Principles under my belt and with their regular practice, I feel greatly equipped to deal with situations life might throw at me.

A simple home set-up – Folks, frankly speaking you don’t need any complicated set-up to do weight training and get really strong. I highly recommend installing a Pull-up bar, investing in a few kettlebells and a TRX Suspension Trainer. I have written blog post specifically on what I am recommending – TRX blog post and Kettlebell blog post. Please click on these links and have a read.

Share your experiences – How equipped do you feel to deal with real life situations? Is your Strength Training Practice built on Solid foundational Principles? Please share your experiences in the comments below and if you need my support in getting you started or in laying down such Solid foundational principles in your Strength Journey, do connect with me by emailing me at [email protected] today. I look forward to reading your experiences soon. Take care.