8/9/2019 6 Reasons Why Kettle Bell Training is Worth Trying

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6 reasons why kettlebell training isworth trying

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It is entirely possible that you haven’t heard about kettlebell training yet. However, I’m guessing that’s

unlikely since even the latest Rocky, at an age when most men think that lifting their TV remote is hard work,was seen hoisting them in his latest exploits. The cast of “300″ also swung them about as a major part of theirtraining regime and kettlebells are increasingly being used by athletes, film stars and the military. So what arethey, why the upsurge in popularity, and most important of all, what can they do for you? Well, here are six

reasons why you should train with kettlebells and four drills on training with kettlebells. These aren’t the onlyreasons and exercises possible but they’ll get you started!

A brief history of kettlebells:

There’s a lot of argument about the origins of kettlebells, with the Russians and Scots both laying quite vocal

claim to developing them. The most plausible reason for their existance was that they were used as a form of certified weight on scales around 150 years ago for measuring grain and other agriculture foods in markets. Itis thought that a test of ones strength in those days was based on how heavy one of the kettlebells you couldlift over head. As famous lifters of the time moved into using dumbells for developing muscle as well as testing

strength, the explosive power benefits of Kettlebells got left behind. Mankind has always been fascinated bytests of strength and training with weights in some way, shape or form has always fascinated men ever since

we stood upright. What can be said, especially in recent times, is that the Russians have taken kettlebelltraining and developed it into a highly technical and extremely demanding sport (more on that later)

Six reasons:

1. You’ll get a full body workout.

The kettlebell basics focus around three core lifts - the swing, snatch and clean and jerk. What links all thesedrills together is that they force the body to work as an integral unit. Power is generated from the legs, driventhrough the hips and expressed through the arms. Every single muscle is brought into play and every single

muscle is worked hard.

2. Train your other half.

That is, the other half of your muscles. Traditional gym weight training routines concentrate on slow,

controlled lifts. Missing are exercises that specifically work explosive movements. Muscle fibres can be dividedinto two types, slow twitch and fast twitch. Slow twitch muscle contracts at a slower rate and you can

probably guess how fast twitch fibres contract. Again, the core kettlebell drills focus on fast, explosivemovements which focus on training your fast twitch muscle fibres.

3. Work those hips!

Your hips and legs are some of the strongest muscles in the body. Okay, they aren’t the most useful for posingon the beach but for almost all sports, powerful hips will always be vital. Kettlebell ballistic drills work theglutes, hip flexors, abdominal region and erector spinae hard and will convey greatly improved athletic

performance.

4. Get a grip. 

Grip strength can be divided into sub categories, namely, crushing grip, pinch grip, thick bar grip, leverageand bending. We’ll cover these in depth at a later date; for now, in this article, we’ll go over how kettlebells

can be used to develop grip strength. A well designed kettlebell will have a thick handle and ballistic pulling of heavy weights is a great way of developing grip strength. Why? Picture a 32kg weight held overhead. Imagineit in freefall and only your grip is stopping it from forming a big crater in the garden. Now imagine that sameweight being explosively pulled upwards to get it overhead again. That should give you an indication on the

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grip demands of kettlebell training!

5. Unparalleled conditioning.

Kettlebell Sport training develops strength, endurance and cardiovascular capacity equally and to extremelevels. Unlike standard gym routines with a prescribed breakdown in number of sets and reps, kettlebell sport

specifies a fixed training period where the only two goals are to reach the end of the period and to beat yourPB. There is constant time under tension as the kettlebell cannot be released. Even “resting” with the racked

kettlebell requires exertion and one of the major benefits is training your work capacity in spite of everincreasing fatigue.

6. Primal.

There is something primal about kettlebell training. Anything involving heavy weights instinctively sharpens

the senses, gets the blood flowing and adrenaline pumping. Its quite possible this is down to someevolutionary instinct warning you that dropping said weight onto your head or some other, more sensitive,region of the body causes a great deal of pain but I personally believe it comes from strength exerted and

power generated. And you don’t get that sensation in your typical workout. Find one that’s hard, makes youwork, makes you sweat, makes your curse in seven different languages, but also makes you feel like a much

better person by the end of it!

Four Drills:

Some of these four drills aren’t the “classic” drills but they are some of the most effective ones!

1. The kettlebell swing.

This is the foundation drill for all kettlebell work and is essential to master first. It’s also one of the most

comprehensive exercises ever and will train everything from your calves to your fingers! The basic startposition applies to all kettlebell drills. Start with your feet, shoulder width apart, with the kettlebell parked

between your legs. Push the hips back and grab the kettlebell with straight arms. Lift the kettlebell and swingit back deep between the legs. Explosively snap the hips to propel the kettlebell upwards and forwards. Oncethe kettlebell reaches the peak of the swing, squat back and allow it to return to the start position. Once you

have this down, progress to one armed swings.

 

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3. The kettlebell Bent Press.

The bent press is one of those old school exercises that everyone tends to ignore, which is a shame as it is agreat exercise! It’s a fantastic developer of REAL core strength (none of that Swiss ball nonsense) and will

really strengthen your shoulder stabilisers. You’ll also get a sense of satisfaction that you’re doing something

that has probably never, ever been seen at the gym! The first step is to clean the kettlebell and hold it in therack. This description and the accompanying video assumes that you’re bent pressing with the right arm. Step

forwards with the left leg slightly. Shift the right arm back so the elbow points backwards and the fist is facingforwards. Anyone watching you should see your fist, elbow and hip all aligned. Tense the upper body and lockthe arm in position. Now LOWER the body under the weight, leaning the upper body to the left and continue

dropping and turning until the arm is fully extended.

 

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• Which order should I do things in? I like doing separate ballistic and grind days but for those on tighterschedules work the grinds first but DO NOT work to fatigue or failure, two sets will suffice, and then work on

the ballistic drills.

• Why Kettlebell style training? - I find it complements normal training, adds spice to your workout, reducesboredom of always going to the gym, can be done at home in the garden on a hot day or a cold day in the

garage, is great for strength and power that will definitely help other sports. The sport is formed of two lifts,the Kettlebell Snatch and the Kettlebell Clean & Jerk. We’ll teach you these lifts in future articles, for now we’llshow you how to use Kettlebell Sport training to get fitter, stronger and a hell of a lot tougher. In kettlebell

sport, once you lift the kettlebell you are not permitted to let it go or set it on the floor. One set of ten minutesis the standard length and all you do is crank out as many reps as possible in that time frame. Why is this so

brutal? Well, it’s brutal simply because you never get any rest over the ten minutes. You have to learn tomanage your ever building fatigue and develop and refine increasingly efficient technique. Try this

experiment. Clean your kettlebell and hold it in the racked position. Start your stopwatch and tell me how youfeel after one minute. Two minutes, three minutes, five minutes, seven minutes…and if you’re able to speak

after the tenth minute, I salute you! And advise you get a heavier kettlebell. Try it. It sounds simple but Ipromise that you’ll be sweating buckets. If holding it for ten minutes is that hard, how hard is it to knock out

ballistic drills for multiple reps? You get the point.

We hope you enjoyed this article and have gained a new appreciation for a unique, tough and highly effectivetraining method. Feel free to shoot us questions and watch out for future articles.

© Ken Liu, London Kettlebells

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