From the age 6 to 30, my life was spent in schools
passing exams. The next 10 years saw me sitting in
front of computers 12 hrs a day. At 40, I stood
5'7" and weighed 195 lbs and it was not a pretty
picture. The wakeup call came after a physical
checkup and I was sentenced pre-diabetic. Over
the next two years, I lost 50 lbs, finished my first
marathon barefoot, and snatched health back from
the jaw of diabetes.

I started swinging kettlebells around mid-2015,
after reading Tim Ferriss. Armed with Pavel's
Kettlebell Simple and Sinister, I laid down a gym
mat on my bedroom floor, picked up a 16kg and
started to swing. It felt great, of course. But I was
sloppy in form and eager to go heavy. During
the next 6 months, I went through injuries in the
lower back, the right shoulder, and the right
wrist, but always recovered and returned to train.

I don't know if more preparation would have saved
these newbie injuires. Training with a pro might but
that would have been a luxury. For a middle-aged
computer geek like me, some knowledge comes
from making mistakes and fixing them.

One year later, I progressed to but felt stuck at
24kg. That was when the idea of training as a
"practice" as stressed in the book and by
experienced folks began to make sense. I asked
myself: "Would I be happy doing S&S with a 24kg
the rest of my life?" Hell YES! I would count
myself truly blessed. This change of attitude
seemed to be a paradigm shift as I was no longer
in a hurry. Had I acquired that attitude pre-training,
I would've avoided most injuries. Without it, technical
preparation wouldn't have helped much.

I had never thought I could and therefore never
tried to look good.  It's vanity, I had always
believed. Kettlebell training changed my
appearance, regardless. Another inch of waist size
was knocked off from what I thought my minimum,
the shoulders and backs of the T-shirts were puffed
up, muscles and veins started to show on the arms,
etc., without me putting on any weight.

The advance in the outer game seems to have a
profound effect on the mind and spirit. My sense
of language has become keener. I felt more
confident and relaxed through the day. Aging might
have something to do with it but even my view on
life has changed. It is either mid-life illusion or it
must be how it feels to be reborn.

Patience and persistence paid off. No work was
wasted and progress came quietly. Early Jul 2016,
I started to mix in the 32kg, strongly. Last
night, after 100 32kg swings, I did 4x24kg and
6x32kg GetUps. It's good to have goals. I will be
very happy the day when I reach the Simple goal,
i.e., to do 100 single-arm swings in 5 minutes and
10 GetUps in 10 minutes, all with the 32kg.
Meanwhile, let me enjoy the journey and savor the
freedom my training brings every single day.