I have received a lot of really cool presents for my birthday in my 30 some years of life. When I was a kid, GI Joe was my favorite. Legos were big on my list for many years as well.
As I got older, my desire or need for a birthday present began to dwindle. During the last several years I have truely felt that I have been blessed with everything I really need or even want really. My birthday had actually turned into an awkward time where people gave me stuff I really didn’t have to have and felt bad they spent money on me.
However, things are changing yet again as my daughters are getting older. My wife and I are trying to make sure we get presents (with our daughters’ help) to make the holidays and birthdays more fun for them. It usually comes with my wife and I buying our own present and then letting the spouse take credit for it. I hate to admit it, but this year was the not an exception. I knew what I was getting. I had received a gift card to Dick’s, so I had a kettlebell in mind already.
However, my schedule was a little too hectic to pick up my kettlebell, so my wife went for me. I had planned on another 35 pounder (I had one at work already) and when she called me, so told me about an adjustable one. It sounded cool to me I supposed, but I was blown away when I came home. Here is a picture below:
I know the image is a little small, but you get the point. See the four plates in the center? They are actually just filler. You have to add your own plates, whether 5 or 10 pounds. The top and bottom together are 20 pounds, which becomes your base weight. So you can add up to four plates. Any less and you need to use the filler plates (light plastic filled with air). So for example, I put on two 10 pound plates with two filler plates for a total weight of 40 pounds (20 pounds of plates added to 20 pounds base weight). Oh yeah, awesome.
Seth Crooks and I tested it out the other week in a workout by doing Kettlebell Swings. It was perfect. And if we wanted to lighten the load to do something like Clean and Presses, it only takes a few seconds.
The Adjustable Kettlebell – best birthday present ever!!
Wow. I want. I’ve been putting off pulling the trigger on kettlebells and have been subbing out dumbbell work in their place, but I think its time to get off the fence. The other adjustable ones I’ve seen use their own weights, I dig that this uses standard plates.
I love the price, especially when a 35 pound kettlebell costs about $86 with tax at my local sporting good’s store. I already had some old plates lying around, so it was just the $45 dollar cost and now I have from 20 pounds on up to 60.
Not that I need above 40! 🙂