But A Faithful Man, Who Can Find? 

Welcome to this week's edition of Fit Tip Friday!"Making time" for exercise is a familiar battle for men in the church. Myself included. Several important responsibilities require our time, strength, and energy: marriage, children, extended family, work, church, friends, etc... And somewhere in the jumble we try to find time for a workout. Conventional wisdom talks about managing these responsibilities as a "balance".  

Phrases like "Work/Life Balance" are used to describe the tension of managing responsibilities. The word picture is of a balancing act, like a tightrope walker in a three-ring circus, who carries a pole and walks the fine line between the weight of different responsibilities.However, there is a fundamental issue with using "balance" as the word picture. "Balance" is definitionally passive.Someone who is balancing an object reacts and responds to that objects' shift in weight. As objects are added to a man or as the objects move, he responds by a shift in position to maintain his center of gravity. There are times and seasons where our responsibilities do shift in weight, and we do have to react. But passively waiting on our responsibilities to move before we do will result in a tail-chasing pursuit of reacting to your responsibilities. Perhaps a better description, and a more biblical one at that, is the idea of faithfulness to the roles and responsibilities God has given you.   

Faithfulness was the trait present with the 5 and 2 talent stewards (Matthew 25:21, 23) who received the praise and reward from their master. And it was absent from the man with the 1 talent (Matthew 25:26).A faithful man is a trustworthy man, a man who keeps his word, fulfills his duty, and diligently does what is assigned to him.And faithful stewardship is active. It requires an intentional management, pursuit, and completion of the roles God has assigned you. God has given all of us roles, people, and tasks to be faithful to as a steward. And in His kindness and mercy, He gives us strength in seasons to be faithful to those things.  And this list is often long. In Stuart Scott's "Exemplary Husband" (no affiliate links), Scott lists out several of these responsibilities, which includes the faithful stewardship of your body: (*I added two more of my own to the list)

• Your wife

• Your children

• *Your immediate/extended family

• Your church family

• Your money

• Your possessions

• Your time

• *Your tasks/responsibilities at work

• Your talents and abilities

• Your physical body

• Your spiritual gifts

• Your ministry

Faithfulness to all of these responsibilities is not easy, which is why faithful and trustworthy stewards are scarce. 

"Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness; but a faithful man who can find?"

- Proverbs 20:6

But this is the call as a steward. It's a call God will help us with and one He will give us strength to accomplish. And the faithful steward has the ultimate reward waiting for him at the end:  

"Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master"

- Matthew 25:21

The Kettlebell Swing

The Kettlebell Swing is one of the five kettlebell exercises I introduced last week, and it's the cash cow of the kettlebell exercises. It's a proven model for building strength, it's well established, and it's a movement worth learning. The KB swing works every part of your body: your shoulders, arms, back, core, and legs. A demonstration video, instructions, and applications are below:  

VideoLink

Instructions:

• Place the kettlebell about 12 inches in front of you. 

• Stand with your feet forward and placed more than shoulder-width apart.

• Bend at the knees and "sit down" into a deadlift position.

• Grab the kettlebell and pull it back between your legs. 

• Extend your knees and hips, using your hips' power to swing the kettlebell, until your back is straight and your arms are about parallel to the ground. Exhale at the top of the movement. 

• The hips power the swing. The kettlebell is an extension of your arms, which are just along for the ride. 

• On the downswing, "sit down" and bend at your hips and knees until you return to the starting swing position.

• Practice, practice, practice!

Applications:

• Practice with a towel looped between the handle of the kettlebell. This will help you practice using your hips instead of your arms. The KB is just an extension of your arms. 

• Do 10-30 KB swings as a warm-up exercise. 

• Do 10-30 KB swings as a cool-down exercise. 

• Do KB swings within a set time. Target 12 minutes of KB swings, with periodic breaks. 

• Do a high number of KB swings, with periodic breaks. Target 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, etc.. and increase the target as you become stronger.

• Try one-handed KB swings once you have mastered the KB swing.