My History with Kettlebells

I got involved in lifting weights in my later years of middle school. I was a tall, very skinny, 120lb kid with the musculature of an asparagus. With many of my friends involved in football, I felt rather obligated to grow a little. I did what any 14 year old with no knowledge of strength and conditioning would do: I did bicep curls and ran. A lot.
This type of training yielded two things: minimal results, and an obnoxious amount of frustration because of it. That put an end to my conditioning until two years later I purchased an adjustable dumbbell set and a pull up bar. Now with the tools at my hands, I was on a mission to get stronger. Or, rather, as a skinny 16 year old, I was on a mission for abs. At least that's what the mass media and Men's Health magazines told me I needed, and being rather impressionable I dug into it. Of course, all I focused on at this point was my upper body and doing a sickening amount of situps. Again, my results were minimal, though this time I did actually gain some strength, but absolutely no conditioning or endurance to speak of. I still couldn't run very well, and I still absolutely loathed it.
My training for the next couple of years was spotty at best, until year and a half ago I came across a fitness program online which called for kettlebell swings in one of the workouts. I did my best to mimic the movement with a dumbbell, and I started to think there might be something to this. After a few months of training at this higher intensity and actually doing functional movements(squats, deadlifts, pushups, pullups, swings, etc.) I went out and purchased my very first kettlebell. It was a 53lb (24kg) CAP brand Kettlebell, and I couldn't wait to get home and use it. I tried a set of swings, and it was completely different. The design of the kettlebell placed the weight farther from my center which increased the length of the arc and necessitated more strength per repitition from me. A quick set of 21 swings had me breathing heavily, and although I wanted to do more, I had to go to work that day. I was by no means a master when I first picked it up. The bell was entirely too big for me, although, looking back, it is a scenario I am now an advocate of. The bell was heavy enough that I had to literally grow into it, which regulated how quickly I could progress. I couldn't snatch it without first developing the strength and power from swings and the overhead strength from pressing. I was hooked.
Now, due to circumstances, I was left without a car for a year, and my drive for fitness pushed me to craft my own home gym. I had a pull up bar, and I purchased gymnastic rings, and my kettlebell completed it. With nothing except this equipment and a stopwatch, and a great deal of free time on my hands, I trained hard. I trained very hard. Harder than I ever had. Hard enough that my running improved by never doing it. Hard enough that my very first time deadlifting heavy I was able to pull close to twice my bodyweight. Kettlebells helped me fall in love with strength and conditioning, they made me revel in the pain and exhaustion one feels in the middle of a workout, and look forward to doing it again the next day, or often, a few hours later. I had finally found a valuable training tool that I could capitalize on and make quantifiable and constant progress by using.
Kettlebells made me strong enough for sport. Which sport is subjective to each person--tennis, lacrosse, soccer, skiing, overall health or even flipping 700lbs tires for fun. Whatever it is, I speak from experience when I say that kettlebells and hard work will make you strong enough for all of the above.

-James