The fitness world has officially gone kettlebell crazy.
Unfortunately many people still fail to understand why kettlebells should be a key tool in your fitness toolbox for getting excellent fat loss results, increasing strength, reducing the risk of injury and making your training much more exciting! There are numerous reasons why you simply have to include kettlebells in your training to break through plateaus in your results.
Location, location, location: You can use kettlebells anywhere, anytime.
Kettlebells have been described as ‘a gym in the palm of your hand’ – a short but highly accurate statement! Not only are they versatile in that they can be thrown in the back of the car and used to train in the park, in hotel rooms, in your back garden, in your friend’s back garden, on the beach, the list goes on.
Basically, if you have an area of around 2m x 2m and a height of 7-10 ft depending how tall you are, you can train with kettlebells.
Variety: Aside from versatility of location, possibly the most widely talked about and most captivating element of kettlebell training is the versatility of training.
No matter how committed you are to fitness and exercise as the cornerstone of your life, it can get boring if you have no variety in your training.
The nature of kettlebells means if you have a big enough set, you can be training anaerobic endurance one day, strength the next, power the next and power endurance the next.
Optimising the physical capabilities: Crucially the kettlebell is the single most effective way to learn how to use your body as one, solid, interlinked, inseparable chain of muscles and joints.
In particular, the shoulders become rock solid after a few months of kettlebell training providing great benefits to those involved in racket sports, boxing or martial arts or who perform regular weight training of any kind and are struggling to increase their bench or military press numbers.
After a year of advancing through the stages of kettlebell training to the more advanced exercises, I suffered a partially dislocated shoulder in a cycling accident.
Kettlebell training enables both methods to be achieved at once, enabling the busy person to gain maximum effect from their training in minimum time.
What more do you want?! Not only do body fat levels drop like a stone but the full body movements involved in kettlebell training will produce a great body shape.
Ladies, a tight backside, tight thighs and a slim, toned upper body will soon be on its way! Gents you can expect to develop a strong, lean, muscular physique once you have harnessed the power of kettlebells! Your investment in fitness: For a beginner, an investment of around £100-150 will get you a full set of brand new kettlebells.
For some people this can be 3 months gym membership, The difference is, you don’t have to queue; you don’t have recurring direct debit fees for a gym you never use; you can train where you want, when you want; you can get your training done in half the time with twice the results; it’s far more exciting than plodding on a treadmill or sitting on the pec dec breathing in all the putrid, recycled air of the average commercial gym and the routines you can create are limited only by your creativity! Mental wellness: You will soon find yourself creating ridiculous sessions which push you to your limits and make you feel incredibly invigorated afterwards.
Kettlebells are almost guaranteed to blast your endorphins through the roof! I’ve yet to experience a method of training which develops mental strength as well as physical ability like kettlebells do.
Because the key kettlebell exercises demand a lot of work to be done by your posterior chain as well as the core muscles, you will soon notice big differences in the way you stand.
The use of the kettlebell swings and snatches helps address this by strengthening the previously weak glute and lower back muscles.
In conclusion: Kettebell training clearly offers a huge range of benefits to beginners and advanced fitness fans alike but please do not take this to mean that kettlebells are the solution to the world’s problems! Kettlebells, like bodyweight training, gymnastic movements, Olympic lifts, speed work, and any other fitness modality should be part of a large and ever growing tool box.
If you haven’t yet harnessed the power of kettlebells, you are seriously limiting your fitness potential!
Find Flexibility in your local area
