David Keohan, an Irish world champion kettlebell lifter and amateur folklorist, dives into the fascinating world of ancient stone lifting. He discusses how stone lifting has been intertwined with rituals like weddings and rites of passage, revealing its cultural significance beyond mere strength. David shares his quest to rediscover Ireland's forgotten lifting stones and the deep legacy they carry. Along the way, he illustrates how this ancient practice teaches modern lessons in manhood, resilience, and community identity.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
David's Fitness Journey
David Keohan started strength training at 31, transforming his health after being told he needed multiple medications.
Running a marathon was a pivotal moment, leading him to kettlebell training and eventually a world championship title.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Discovering Stone Lifting
During COVID lockdown, David began lifting a stone carving in his shed, sparking his interest in stone lifting.
Inspired by Rogue Fitness documentaries, he started researching Ireland's lost lifting stones.
insights INSIGHT
Cultural Significance of Stone Lifting
Stone lifting has ancient roots, serving various cultural purposes beyond strength feats.
It was used in job interviews, rites of passage, funerals, weddings, and as a status symbol in different cultures.
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The novel tells the story of Marie-Laure LeBlanc, a blind French girl, and Werner Pfennig, a German orphan, whose paths converge in occupied France during World War II. Marie-Laure lives in Paris with her father, a locksmith at the Museum of Natural History, and later flees to Saint-Malo with what might be the museum's most valuable and dangerous jewel. Werner, fascinated by radios and science, is enlisted to track the Resistance. The book explores themes of kindness, greed, love, and perseverance amidst the harsh circumstances of war. Doerr's writing is praised for its vivid descriptions, moral complexity, and the way it illuminates the human spirit during times of great hardship.
The Stone
The Stone
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Liam O'Flaherty
“The Stone” is a short story by Liam O’Flaherty that vividly describes an ancient Irish lifting stone and its significance in village life. The story's evocative language and detailed description of the stone and its surroundings inspired David Keown's quest to find and lift these legendary stones. The story highlights the cultural and historical importance of these stones as symbols of strength, tradition, and community. It also touches upon the primal connection between humans and nature, emphasizing the physical and emotional experience of lifting the stone. The story's impact on Keown's journey underscores the power of storytelling in preserving and reviving cultural heritage.
For millennia, stone lifting was an important part of cultures around the world, and its significance went far beyond feats of strength. Stone lifting was part of weddings and funerals, used as a job interview to assess someone's fitness as a farmhand, and included in rites of passage and tests of all-around manhood.
Much of the world's ancient stone lifting culture has been forgotten, and rocks that used to be hoisted regularly in town squares and cemeteries have been sitting untouched for hundreds of years. David Keohan, an Irish world champion kettlebell lifter-turned-amateur folklorist, has set out to change that. In the last couple of years, David has been on the hunt for Ireland's legendary lifting stones; he uses oral and written history to search them out and learn their stories and then hoists them himself, once again putting wind under stones that haven't been picked up for centuries.
Today on the show, David shares the significance of stone lifting around the world and specifically in Irish culture, the practicalities of lifting a 400-pound stone off the ground, and what stone lifting has taught him about being a man.
The Art of Manliness 