Reviving an Ancient Ritual with David Keohan
For more than a thousand years, young people in Ireland proved their strength not in gyms, but on village greens and windswept headlands, lifting stones older than memory. These were not party tricks. Each stone carried story, status and belonging — a rite of passage into adulthood, a tribute at a funeral, a celebration of harvest and life.
Then the stories faded. The stones stayed in the earth, waiting.
David Keohan is the man who went looking.
A former world champion in kettlebell sport, David has spent recent years travelling Ireland, tracking down legendary “stones of strength”, lifting them again, and resurrecting a culture many thought lost. In this feature — drawn from his conversation with Sam Penny on Why’d You Think You Could Do That? — we explore how one man’s curiosity has rekindled a global movement.
It’s not just about lifting weight. It’s about lifting memory.
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From Obese and Out of Breath to World Champion
Before stones, there was struggle. In his early thirties, David was overweight, breathless on stairs, and convinced he had asthma. A doctor gave him medication — but he chose movement instead. He ran. He gasped. He wanted to quit. He kept going.
A hundred metres became a kilometre. A kilometre became ten. “Asthma” vanished. Weight dropped. Life opened.
Then kettlebells came along — and David wasn’t just good. He excelled. Within two years he represented Ireland. Soon after, he became a World Champion.
But his most meaningful strength discovery was still ahead of him — buried beneath generations of silence.
Lockdown and Three Stones in a Back Garden
When COVID shut Ireland down, gyms went dark. David needed weight to lift, so he dragged three stones from his garden — two decorative ones made by his wife.
It was therapy. It was survival. And then it became fascination.
He watched documentaries on Basque, Icelandic and Scottish stone lifting — cultures where young men proved their strength by lifting legendary rocks tied to story and identity.
There was one stone that grabbed his heart: the Fianna Stone in Scotland — said to be used by warriors in Fionn mac Cumhaill’s legendary band.
That was the spark: If Scotland had this… surely Ireland once did too?
The Fianna Stone and a Spiritual Shockwave
David and his mates piled into a campervan and went on a stone-lifting pilgrimage across Scotland. They left the Fianna Stone for last.
Standing above a rounded boulder weighing 127kg, tied to one of Ireland’s greatest mythic heroes… something shifted. Lifting it wasn’t a gym feat — it felt like touching history.
He lifted the stone — and in that moment, David knew: Ireland once had stones like this. And they needed to be found.
Discovering Ireland’s First Recorded Lifting Stone
Online searches gave almost nothing — except one academic paper referencing a short story by Liam O’Flaherty, describing a legendary lifting stone on Inis Mór in the Aran Islands.
Granite — pink — sitting in a hollow — surrounded by “bruised stones”. A proving ground for young men seeking honour.
David travelled to the island and searched for hours, surrounded by thousands of rocks. Then he saw it: the only pink granite boulder in a sea of grey limestone.
He tried. He failed. He returned — seven times over three years — training hard in between. Locals gathered. A circle formed.
Finally, he lifted it to his chest and kissed it three times — fulfilling a tradition untouched for generations.
The story hit national media. Ireland remembered.
What Stones Meant to Irish Life
Through folklore, David pieced together what these stones once represented:
- Funeral games — strength used to honour the dead and uplift the living
- Harvest festivals — celebrating survival and community effort
- Manhood tests — a visible step into adulthood
- Weekend challenges — a communal proving ground after Mass
Women lifted too. In County Clare lies a 112-kg Clach na mBan — the women’s stone — where female lifters were celebrated as equals.
Colonialism and Cultural Loss
If the culture was so rich — why was it forgotten?
Penal laws suppressed Irish language, story and tradition. Then the Great Famine struck — or as many describe it now, population genocide. When your family is starving, lifting stones isn’t priority — survival is.
Entire oral traditions vanished as villages emptied and culture was replaced with silence.
The stones remained. The stories didn’t.
Pride and a Culture Reawakened
After the Aran discovery, messages poured in:
- A farmer remembered a “test stone” in his fields
- A man on a neighbouring island knew stones in a graveyard
- Villagers in Clare mentioned men’s and women’s stones
David bush-bashed through nettles and briars with a billhook, rediscovering stones at ancient forts, mountaintops and monastery ruins.
Every lift re-anchored identity:
And in the eyes of Irish youth — something woke up.
Young People and the Hunger for Rites
Today, adulthood is marked by paperwork: a legal birthday, a driver’s licence. But where is the earned transition? The challenge? The shared pride?
Stone lifting offers:
- Adventure — many stones require long hikes
- Embodied truth — no filters, no shortcuts
- Ancient connection — hands where ancestors placed theirs
- A quest — training with purpose
Rites of passage aren’t outdated. They’re needed more than ever.
The Global Spread
The movement is now international. David introduced a stone into the US Highland Games circuit in Boston — where over 150 athletes queued to lift “a piece of Ireland”.
Irish diaspora communities treat these stones like returning family. Kids pose with them like relics.
Canada, England, Brittany and Australia are following suit.
The culture isn’t stuck in the past — it’s spreading into the future.
10 Lessons We Can Use
- Begin before you feel ready.
- Respect the land and its stories.
- Research is good — discovery is better.
- Your biggest strength is consistency.
- Stories give strength meaning.
- Share the stage.
- Include others in the quest.
- Pride can heal communities.
- Small traditions can change lives.
- The only permission you need is your own.
Lift Your Own “Impossible Stone”
You may never hug a 170-kg boulder on a storm-lashed island — but you do have your own stone to lift.
Maybe it’s:
- Scaling a business that feels stuck
- Preparing for a future exit
- Building systems that give you freedom
If you’re ready to take on a challenge that scares and excites you, I can help.
Links & Resources
- Follow David on Instagram: search “David Keohan Stone Lifting”
- Documentary (RTE): Made of Stone
- Folklore archive: duchas.ie
- Podcast home: sampenny.com/brave
- Free strategy call: sampenny.com/chat
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