Kettlebell Crazy: How Stan Pike Got His Six-Pack
Stan Pike is the very model of an English blacksmith. Tall, bearded, brawny; accustomed to working hard–and playing hard: by day, turning out delicate, custom, wrought-iron furniture at his 17th-century era forge; and by night, “bashing out” reps with weights of his own design–with six-inch diameter bars–in his homemade gym.
One day a customer asked Stan if he made kettlebells. Stan had never even heard of them, let alone made them. But he was curious. After reading up on what turned out to be Soviet Russia’s secret behind how they’d beaten the snot out of free world athletes back in the cold war days of the ’50’s and ’60’s–he knew he just had to make one for himself, and learn what made it so.
“I think they originally gave [kettlebells] to the poor people to keep fit with, who quickly became very fit and very strong. The Russian government said, ‘We can’t have that,’ so they took them off them and trained their athletes with them.”
His prototype, the Pike pot, weighed 25 kg. (about 55 pounds).
In Stan’s line of work, he was accustomed to taming iron. But even in his hands, it was humbling for an inanimate object to come to life and tame the blacksmith.
“I’ve taken a 50-kilo dumbbell and swung it around, no problem, it stays put because of its handle design. But swinging a kettlebell is like having an extra joint; it hits the back of your forearm,, so you’re forced to develop a stronger grip and quicker coordination.”
But once he got the hang of it, he noticed something unexpected.
“Within two months, I’d knocked four inches off my waist, put four inches on my chest, dropped my body fat by six per cent, lowered my blood pressure and increased my bench press by 40 kilos.”
What makes Stan’s success all the more remarkable is that it occurred just as he was on the brink of his 50th birthday–a time in one’s life when it’s not expected for one to make huge gains in strength. And yet here was Stan Pike, who by his own admission had never sported a six-pack–at least not in his abs–leaner, meaner, and 88 pounds stronger in his bench press.
“You end up using those inner core muscles that everyone forgets about, and which is why so many people end up with beer guts…. bodybuilders, martial artists, bruisers, big lads on steroids, you know the sort… so many people who use conventional weight are strong on the outside, like a big strong tree, but they’ve got nowt [nothing] on the inside.”
As to the “why” of how it all works, it seems to be anyone’s guess.
“The conclusion the Russians came to was they didn’t know why they worked, but they did, so don’t ask!” Stan laughs.
His own theory is the need for total grip, total body tension, from feet to hands–which is no more scientific than the Russians. But his conclusion is the same: they work.
“I believe it’s the most sophisticated body-conditioning tool there is,” he says. Period.
And in the strength of this belief, Stan has trained everyone from women looking to burn fat and firm up their bums, to his local rugby team, the Newcastle Falcons. He’s even formed his own certification program, under the United Kingdom Kettlebell Federation.
One client of his in particular is a young woman on her own quest: to give the kettlebell nationwide attention. But more about her in my next column.
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