I realised a long time ago that living in a foreign country gives me life opportunities that I wouldn’t have got had I stayed at home. Over the years I have ice skated on the sea, heard wolfs howling while boating on a lake at midnight, been north of the Arctic Circle, taken part in a fire walking festival, and climbed Mount Fuji.
Soon I will be able to chalk up another expat life experience. I will attend a Dinner with Joe Desena, the founder and CEO of Spartan. For those of you who do not know what Spartan is, I have included a link to their website at the bottom of this post.
Some of you will know that I am a keen runner, and have dabbled with body weight training. About 6 years ago I toyed with the idea of running an obstacle race in Malmo, Sweden. It was a short 8 km race but it was the obstacles that interested me. Being a runner is better than being inactive – but being able to do an obstacle course with all round body strength is so much better. Think Tarzan and you get the idea.
All of my childhood exercise had only built leg muscles, I had never developed real upper body strength. This, I believe, is one of the reasons that I started having back trouble when I was 18 – without strong muscles to support my back it was left more vulnerable. I did the worst thing possible once I hurt myself – I stopped exercising all together.
I learnt my lesson almost 20 years later and after a year of combined running and functional weight training I felt more than 10 years younger. I had boundless energy, no pain, and amazing flexibility. Anyway, back to this obstacle race in Sweden. A friend was entering and invited me to take part with her. If I remember correctly she did amazingly well, finishing within the top 10 female finishers. I was really tempted – but the weekend after I was signed up for my first half marathon and I didn’t want to do anything to risk that.
What I know about Joe Desena is that he wouldn’t have said no. He would have taken part – probably carrying his kettlebell with him and finding other ways to make the course harder for himself. Looking back on my life I see I have done and experienced a lot. But I also know that I could have done more. I cannot say how many experiences have I missed by playing it safe.
How will I respond if Joe suggests that I train with him after this event…?
Further Information
The Body Weight training regime that I followed was developed by Mark Lauren. There is a book “You are Your Own Gym” and an app which I found very useful. You can check out his website here: https://www.marklauren.com/
Here is a link to Spartan Race: http://www.spartanrace.uk/en
I was inspired to write this article after reading the following post about Joe Desena: https://life.spartan.com/post/why-is-this-man-carrying-a-kettlebell
While I was reading the article above I was immediately transported back 30 years ago to my grandfather’s living room. My family was in the Horticulture business and my uncle was talking about how people would:
- go out and buy appliances or tools to make their daily lives less physically demanding.
- then go out to a gym to get the exercise they could already have had, had they not had these tools.
Learning Till I Die 
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