Kettlebells For Strength, Cardiovascular Conditioning And Fat Loss

I went to Los Angeles recently to attend a really great seminar on kettlebell training.

If you’re not familiar with the kettlebell, it looks like a cannon ball with a handle (see photo). It’s this shape that makes it so different from using a dumbbell.

The unique design causes the weight of the bell to hang off your body, with an offset center of gravity. So your body has to utilize a lot of stabilizing muscles to create balance.

Another difference is that the kettlebell creates momentum; it swings. Dumbbells don’t offer that. In daily life, we pick up babies, we pick up grocery bags and we move things around. These things have momentum. So training with kettlebells teaches us to deal with these types of activities.

Probably the most amazing feature about kettlebell training is that you build strength, get a cardio workout and burn fat all at the same time. Swinging a kettlebell around is incredibly intense. So there is an enormous caloric expenditure created by throwing the weight around.

At the seminar, we learned the six basic kettlebell movements: the swing, the get-up, the clean, the military press, the snatch and the front squat. Most of these exercises are very technical. So it’s a good idea to get some instruction before you start to throw the weight around. But with a little training, anyone can workout with kettlebells: young, old, male or female.