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Articles by Jeff...
• 2007 World SWAT Challenge
• Challenge at the Shot Show
• Competitive Shooting Q&A
• New Life, New Strength
• Strongman Swing
• Roadside Assistance
• The Fighter's Four
• The Power of Three
• The Tactical Ten
• 2005 Arnold Classic
• Bridging Part 1
• Bridging Part 2
• Turkish Getup
• H2H Kettlebells
• 88lb. Pull-up Challenge
• Fun with Kettlebells
• One-legged Janda Situps
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H2H: Kettlebells Circuits
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New Life, New Strength
By Jeff Martone
There are two things I never tire of hearing:
- The personal testimony of believers reflecting God’s amazing grace and
- The physical transformation of broken people, overcoming all odds, contrary to “conventional” wisdom and “main stream” training methods. It is my hope that the following true story will inspire and motivate you as much as it did me.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
“My name is Ken Love. I’m 64 years old and weigh 202 at a height of 6’1”. Almost 7 years ago, February 1, 1999, I was lost in a world of alcoholism and compulsive gambling. I drank 3 to 4 quarts of Jack Daniels each week and another 3 to 4 cases of Miller Lite beer on top of that. I had been drinking that heavily since I was in my late 20s. I owed $250,000 in gambling debts. I didn’t have or make that kind of money. I drank everyday and gambled everyday and I was eat-up with self-pity. I was an atheist or so I thought I was, but on that particular day God struck me sober and delivered me from gambling in one fell swoop in a “Damascus Road” type experience. Since that day the Spirit of Christ living in me has prevented me from drinking and gambling.
The life-style I was living as you can well imagine had wrecked me physically and mentally. I discovered the Dragon Door website and started lurking around there sometime in 2000. I purchased PTP and a set of weights and began doing deadlifts and pull-ups as my two exercises. I was 57 at that time. I seemed to have some natural ability in the deadlift and I soon had to purchase additional weights. I was very ordinary in pull-ups but I did make progress. Over the next several years I purchased several kettlebells from Dragon Door which I primarily used for the military press. I took a basic course in kettlebell training from Dave Randolph, RKC in 2003. I also began doing weighted pull-ups. I read Jeff Martone’s Dragon Door article on pull-ups with the 88. Recently, I purchased the T.A.P.S. system from Jeff and his Tactical Pull-up dvd. I have been very pleased with the pull-up system and dvd. The T.A.P.S. system is easy to install and very well-made. I particularly like the adjustable height bar. Jeff’s dvd is well-done and very informative. My numbers are as follows:
| Regular deadlift January 7, 2006 |
- 470 lb. |
| Farmers walk deadlift, December 5, 2005 |
- 500 lb. |
| Kettlebell militaty press (right arm) |
- 88 lb. |
| TCS pull-up 1 rep |
- BW + 88 lb. |
| Kettlebell snatch 25L & 25R for a total of 50 |
-w/ 53 lb. |
My goals are to get my RKC certification in April of 2006 which means I have to get my snatch total up to 56. After RKC, I plan to do double kb workouts, including weighted pull-ups, starting with two 53s and hopefully working up to two 72s. I’ll use the Farmers Walk implements to check my deadlift ability once a month or so.”
Ken was kind enough to send me some pictures of him training. He also sent me a video clip of him pressing the 88 pound kettlebell to critique his technique. He technique was clean and his performance….inspiring! I don’t know about you but I have some new training goals to work on this year.
Click Here to see Ken deadlift 470lbs and set a new personal record.
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