Absurd? To Keith Surette stone lifting makes perfect sense
Keith Surette admits some people might think it’s absurd “to fly halfway around the world to lift rocks.”
But there’s much more to it. The 44-year-old, who has operated Jones Gym in Yarmouth for nearly 12 years, has traveled to many parts of the world to challenge himself when it comes to lifting stones, saying it’s deeply meaningful to carry on a tradition that is so steeped in history and folklore.
His latest trip was to Sweden where the heaviest stone he lifted was one of the The Grindsvederna Stones weighing 385 pounds.
“This stuff is an extremely big deal to me. Stone lifting is a beautiful tradition and my favorite thing.”
In this Q&A, Surette talks about his passion.
Q: What is some of the history of the stones? A:
In Sweden, they’re all farmhand stones, for the most part. If you wanted a job at that farm you needed to be able to lift their particular stone. Sometimes farmers would have a couple of different stones. Some heavier than others. If you could lift the heavier one you would get more pay. You would be treated better.
The stones are purposely very rounded. Makes the grip more difficult. Farmers, of course, need to have a strong grip.
Q: How do you prepare for stone lifting? A:
It depends on where you’re going. How heavy the stones are. What shape they are.
I knew the stones would be more round than a previous trip to Scotland. Lifting many stones, especially over the course of many consecutive days, is going to give you biceps tendinitis. I tried to mimic that the best I could in the gym. I would purposely train stones, make the biceps sore. Only give myself one day of rest. I would purposely do some holds using the atlas stones to condition the biceps. Then I would do it all again. That was mimicking a stone-lifting tour as best I could.
It absolutely worked. Although I still suffered from some bicep tendinitis, this was the best it’s ever been.
Q: Does weather impact lifting?
A: Weather can make a
huge difference. When round stones are wet they become almost impossible to grip. The biceps have to work even harder. For about the first four days of this trip, all of the stones were wet. That made them much more difficult.
After that, the weather became pleasant. The stones were dry, which worked out good because I was lifting most of the heaviest stones at the end of the trip.
Q: Why did you go to Sweden? A:
It was a pretty easy choice. There were only a couple of countries remaining I hadn’t been to that have historical stones, Sweden being one of them. The other one is Ireland. Other than that, the Faroe Islands. They have a completely different way of stone lifting … to move the stone one inch off the earth. That particular style doesn’t interest me, currently. I want to be able to stand up with the stone.”
Q: Are you running out of stones? A:
I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily running out of stones, but you can only go so many times. Sweden has well over 100 stones. I could definitely go there another three or four times and lift just as many stones on each trip if I chose to.
Q: Which stone of your trip interested you most? A:
The Kungslena Stone. It was very heavy. Very awkward. It was the very last stone of the trip. It had an extremely cool history. If you could lift it a certain amount of times in front of the village members, you would be able to take the farmer’s daughter’s hand in marriage.
It just goes to show you how times have changed.
That was a very practical thing at that time. Your physicality mattered that much. If you were strong, you were useful. There weren’t any machines. We’re talking hundreds of years ago.
It wasn’t the heaviest stone I lifted, it was 368 pounds. The heaviest stone I lifted was 385. But the Kungslena Stone had a more interesting history and was unlike any other stone. It was an extremely difficult stone to lift, especially being in a fatigued state, so I was very happy with that.
Q: What was your biggest highlight? A:
That’s an extremely easy one. It was the lightest stone, it was 99 kilograms, or 219 pounds. We were on an island spelled Oland, but not pronounced like the beer brand.
It was on somebody’s land. The farmer was there. We talked to him about the stone. He did know some things about it.
His dad was also on the land. He was 80 years old and had tried to lift the stone when he was a young man but could not. He remembered someone attempting to lift it in the 1950s and they couldn’t. He had never seen anyone lift the stone in his entire life. They couldn’t believe I had come all the way from Canada.
He got to watch me lift it. After I asked if he would be willing to take a photograph with me. He drives a motorized scooter. He could barely walk. He insisted on getting out of his scooter and standing up next to me with his son.
That was absolutely the highlight of the trip. It was a beautiful exchange. He was so happy to see somebody lift the stone and to see the history and tradition continued.
Q: Do you plan on doing more trips? A:
I do. I think Ireland will be next. And in other places there are stones being rediscovered all of the time.
In Iceland in 2019 they only had a dozen stones. Now that number has literally tripled because so many stones have been rediscovered.
I wouldn’t be surprised if I go back to Iceland and Sweden. We’ll see.
I know it’s a very unusual thing and not everybody gets it. But those that do, I think that they have a great appreciation for such a tradition and carrying it on.