Pumping Iron

I haven't been able to get to the gym recently, due to the vagaries of life. I do have some barbells and dumbbells at home, plus the rope and chinning bar and like that, so I'm not wasting away.

Now and then, I get ads and catalogues for fitness gear, and among these are flacks for kettlebells. If you don't know what these are, they look rather like an iron cannonball with a looped handle welded onto it, and they come in various weights, called "poods," in Russian, which is where they were supposedly developed. A thirty-five pounder is almost one pood.

I love that word: Poo-duh ...

Kettlebell Wiki

The folks who like these things, which were forerunners to dumbbells, really like them, and claim they are ever so much more effective at building strength and endurance than are other weights, as well as there being a number of exercises that one cannot really do save with kettlebells.

I have, alas, developed tendonitis in my right hand, in the joint at the base of my ring finger, from climbing the rope. Yeah, you do have to pay for some of this stuff. Too much of a good thing will cost you.

I am simply unable to do that exercise until it heals, which might take some weeks. Laying hands on the rope while the injury is acute will almost surely make it chronic, and I don't need that.

I am working around it: A couple sets of twelve or fifteen reps on the chinning bar keeps the major muscles in shape and is much easier on the hands. I'm thinking that getting a kettlebell might be worthwhile trying, though they are expensive suckers, and the shipping costs are half what the things cost ...

Anybody have any experience with these things, yea or nay, you like to share? You can email me if you would rather not post in public.