Making fitness his mission: Don’s kettlebell passion is no secret

POUND for pound, this club boasts an enviable record of producing as many or more world champions and world record holders over the last decade than any other in Bendigo.

And after a dozen years in Bendigo, Rock Hard Training/Kettlebells is continuing to go from strength to strength.

Located these days at Thrive Fit in Golden Square, the club has been a happy home for competitive and world stage athletes to casual ones and people getting back into training after a layoff alike.

It is run by international Level 2-certified kettlebell instructor and certified judge Don Grant, the former coach of Australia’s kettlebell marathon team.

The powerfully built and super-fit 64-year-old has regularly led Australian teams overseas for world competitions – the last time in 2022 – with those teams comprising a strong contingent of Bendigo lifters.

Spend any more than a few minutes with Grant and you will near instantly be convinced of the advantages of kettlebell training, or more likely already have one in your hand.

From offering a full-body workout to boosting strength, cardio, flexibility and power, his list of benefits is long.

“There is a lot to do with endurance – strength endurance, power endurance, cardio. It’s all the important things of health and fitness rolled into one,” he said.

“The longevity of our lifters is amazing. There are some still doing well into their 70s, or 60-plus. And then you have the young ones coming through.

“But you can do it until late in life.

“I call it the ‘fourth quarter’. A lot of us are into that stage of life, but still performing well and are still strong and fit.

“Something like powerlifting, while there are some outliers, it is pretty much a younger person’s sport, but we pride ourselves on our longevity.”

Grant’s own introduction to kettlebell training came during his amateur boxing days in Queensland in the late 1980s.

“(Australian multiple world boxing champion) Kosta Tszyu did an interview with the Blitz magazine – a martial arts magazine – and he talked about how they train in Russia and he was swinging these black things that looked like a ball with handles,” he said.

“It really got my attention.

“I met him when he came up to Nambour RSL for a fundraiser and when I had a chat to him he told me about the kettlebells.

“In the late 2000s, I did a lot of seminars and was intrigued by this new training method coming out of the (former) Soviet Union and just fell in love with it.

“I engaged a Russian coach, who trains the Special Forces in Russia, and it just exploded in the West.

“A few other lifters in Melbourne and I, we were just in the right place at the right time.”

The sport has experienced another surge in popularity through American podcaster Joe Rogan, an unabashed fan of kettlebell training.

Grant remains fiercely proud of his club’s record on the world stage.

“There’s been at least a dozen world champions, but some have actually retired,” he said.

“Some of them have moved on; they have kids and a family and can’t commit as much time anymore.

“But there’s still about six still current and a few who have kept training in the group training classes but are not competing anymore. They just keep it up for fitness.

“When you are training for world titles, it’s a big commitment.”

Grant is already looking forward with excitement to the return to Australia of the world championships in 2027. The event will also incorporate powerlifting.

It will in some way make up for the cancellation due to fallout from Covid-19 of the world championships, which were scheduled to be held in Bendigo in early 2022.

 

At least 300 competitors from more than 20 countries were expected to descend on Bendigo before the logistics became a nightmare.

Grant’s passion for kettlebell training knows no bounds.

“I do this seven days a week and can say I haven’t worked in 20 years,” he said.

“People ask me when I’m going to retire and I say how can I when I haven’t worked for 20 years?

“I have the best job in the world – I’m making people strong and making better versions of them.

“I’ve been blessed to be a coach for 20 years and a lot of my athletes from back then have kids of their own.

“I’m a happy man.”

His passion is infectious.

Normie Tieman took up kettlebells four months ago at the ripe age of 68 and has never looked back.

A former school teacher who later managed the Shamrock Hotel in Elmore for 21 years before her retirement two years ago, she was convinced to take up the sport following a chance meeting with Grant while doing a gym session at Thrive Fit.

She took little persuading.

“As you age, you need to keep your strength and your balance and flexibility, and that’s what brought me here,” Tieman said.

“I’d retired and knew that I needed to keep doing something.

“So, why not kettlebells?”

Like most newcomers, it was not lifting the kettlebells that initially proved difficult for Tieman, but rather getting the technique down pat.

“I can see lots of improvement from back then – strength-wise and mastering the technique,” she said.

While she initially harboured no ambitions to compete, Tieman concedes the possibility is growing by the day.

“Don’s planted the seed,” she said.

“It was basically to get as fit as I possibly could, but he plants that seed where I’ll train you and whatever happens happens.

“He’s a good man; the knowledge that he has and his professional approach to everything.

“He has people here he has trained for years and they are just way out of my league, but he still trains me the same way he trains them.

“We are so lucky to have a man like Don here.”

A few months into her own astonishing kettlebell journey, Tieman no longer needs any convincing on the need to stay active and fit.

“Age is not an excuse to not be strong and here it doesn’t matter how old you are,” she said.

“Don has introduced me to all sorts of clients in their twilight years like me.

“There’s no reason why we all shouldn’t be strong and fit.”

Thrive Fitness is located at 28 Abel Street in Golden Square.