Watching my father reach age 90 and my mother 85 has inspired me to become more concerned about my health and physical condition. No one can postpone the effects of aging, but seeing the challenges my parents face inspires me to establish a stronger base now while I have the chance.

As my friends Dallas and Melissa Hartwig say, “It Starts with Food,” so I started eating real, whole foods exclusively in 2010. I began to sleep better, grew stronger, and lost 30 pounds over a 15 month period. My adventures cooking healthy, whole foods are recorded at www.wholelifeeating.com.

I began working out at CrossFit North Fulton and Barbell in 2008. I made considerable strength and conditioning gains and realized one day that I was stronger at age 54 than I had been as a young man.

I  found myself looking for a new challenge as 2012 approached. I hired a personal trainer to teach me and began working out with Russian kettlebells. I love swinging heavy iron! I have been toying with trying to establish a kettlebell club, but suppose I should become more accomplished first.

I have a shoulder problem that is forcing me to do significant remedial work. My trainer, a HardStyle Kettlebell Certified Instructor, has me doing a number of exercises to stretch and strengthen my shoulders and chest so I can exercise with proper form.

I like training with kettlebells so much that I have been working out 5 days per week since I started about 2 months ago. I seem to be getting stronger fast.

I am planning to share some of my kettlebell enthusiasm on this site – links to videos, developments in training, and maybe some workouts.