One of the simplest yet most formidable ways to get a whole body workout - the kettlebell is often overlooked because of its simplicity.
But what is it exactly and how do we use it to maximise our health goals?
One of these funky things.
It's a bottom-heavy weighted implement. And it's what we call a free weight, meaning that you can use it and you can swing it around in any direction.
The bottom-sided or bottom-heavy aspect of it means that it can spin and rotate around the handle, which gives a little bit more function to it as well as providing a little bit more instability, forcing our body to provide that stability to be able to stop the weight from swinging around.
Kettlebells can be used to create full body compound lifts such as a deadlift, a squat, and even some overhead presses. These are really, really good exercises because they target multiple muscle groups, including the stabiliser muscles as you move through the full range of motion.
Because we can utilise the kettlebell in many different ways, we can use it to simulate different tasks and demands that we experience in daily life; like picking something up off the floor, carrying something which is a bottom heavy implement, or putting something up on a shelf or above our head.
Because of the instability, we are able to work with a kettlebell to gain strength, endurance and stability of major muscle groups in ways that regular weights can't offer. We can alter the weight of the kettlebell, the stance, hand position and the amount of repetitions we perform all to align with our desired fitness goal but ALSO to supplement our training routine. Kettlebells are used by many high performance athletes to enhance their training and cardiovascular fitness and often have translations into other areas of strength known as the 'what the heck effect' - for example performing high intensity kettlebell swings and snatches can translate into a more powerful deadlift!
So all this to say, kettlebells are a fantastic implement to use in your training. You can use them in many different ways. You can use them to develop your core strength, cardiovascular fitness, your overall strength as well as develop your stability, your balance, your flexibility and overall health.
To get all of these benefits, we'd love to see you down at our kettlebell class at 12 o'clock on Fridays.
Click here to find out more about our classes.
See you at the next one!
~ Conner
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