Industrious Exercise

Since arriving in Kenya, E and I have been blessed with the time to work out basically every day. We usually manage about six days per week, primarily runs along the road, or the beach if the tide is low enough. We also swim occasionally, but my terrible form, combined with the “rustic” green tint that the pool has taken on in the past few months, runs are much more common.

Running unfortunately doesn’t do much for upper body strength. One of the local hotels has a gym with weights, but it’s about $60 per month, for which we definitely haven’t budgeted. My friend Chris and I are on a push-up program where were supposed to be able to do 100 consecutively, which has been a nice change, but it’s not a real balanced program. I’d like to do some pull-ups as well, but because nearly all of the trees here are palm trees, there are not good pull-up branches. So basically I’m saying that I haven’t lifted weights in about six months.

The other day, as I was lugging home the 20 liter container (jerry can) of water that we refill from the hospital well every few days, my brilliant wife suggested that I could use that for lifting. It’s about 50 pounds when full of water, and with all of the sloshing, pretty unstable, making it feel heavier. Alright, time for a trip to Ukunda for shopping.

I obviously comparison shopped, and came to the decision to buy an old cooking oil container, as it had a solid-feeling handle. At 130 shillings, I’m pretty sure that I overpayed by about 30 shillings (35 cents), but I felt that it was a quality product. I wanted to make a rope handle as well, so I found a hardware duka (shop), and asked for a meter of their thickest rope. The guy tried to convince me that I needed at least 10 meters of rope because “you are using it for your borehole (water well).” I repeatedly assured him that I didn’t have a borehole and I truly needed only one meter, and finally he cut it for me.

Back at home, I hired E to tie me a good bowline knot as well as something called a “clove hitch” to keep the knots from sliding. After filling with water and a few minutes of fiddling with ropes and towels, I knew that I had something good. The finished product:




With this setup, I can now do oblique bends, bent-over rows, bicep curls, overhead press, shoulder rows, and overhead tricep press. Incorporation of a bathmat really adds something as well.





I’m currently enjoying soreness that I haven’t felt in months thanks to a big jug of water. E has put in a request for some 5 liter jugs so that she can get in on the action.