So, we’ve heard [testimonials] from obstacle course runners, powerlifters, and military types. But what about cheap idiots?
We lost water after some tree roots snapped the power line to the well. An electrician came out and confirmed we’d need to rewire the whole thing. The problem? The fuse box is over there, and the well head is waaaay over there on the other side of the property. This would require burying a line 24 inches underground through the front yard—which sure seemed a lot smaller last week. Oh, and it’s full of tree roots. And did I mention I live in North Carolina? That means 100% red clay.
We tried to hire a landscaper, but the cost to dig the trench was higher than the electrician’s bill. And the earliest anyone could come out was over a week away. By then, we’d already been without water for a week. My wife was threatening divorce.
So I thought, “I’ve got a shovel. How hard could it be?”
We scheduled the electrician, and he said he could wire the house on Sunday. That gave me four days to dig a 24-inch-deep trench. In red clay. Through tree roots.
I did it in 1:2 shifts: 10 minutes of digging, 20 minutes of “resting” (doing other chores). Start at 8 a.m., go until 8 p.m.
About six that night, the electrician called. He could do the work tomorrow.
My work-to-rest ratio immediately went to 1:1: 10 minutes on, 10 minutes off. And I got it done. I dug a trench 24 inches deep and at least 36 feet long, stopping often to chop through tree roots, some as thick as my arm. In red $%#@! clay.
I never gassed out. I barely even broke a sweat. Aside from some lower-back stiffness and a few blisters on my hands, I felt fine the next day.
I attribute this almost entirely to Kettlebell Simple & Sinister, my default training routine. When the electrician arrived, he was gobsmacked to see what one forty-five-year-old in a Transformers T-shirt had accomplished with an axe and a shovel in a little over 36 hours. Let me tell you, this keyboard jockey took a blue-collar contractor’s astonishment as real praise.
Kettlebells, y’all. They deliver.
