Kettlebells are a great way of training, but do you know about the benefits!?
Builds lean muscle and shreds fat
Kettlebell exercises won’t build crazy mass like heavy barbell exercises can. Instead, it increases the amount of lean muscle tissue. You’ll notice that people who take kettlebell training seriously, they train with high intensity and have a lean muscle mass, not big bulky bodybuilding type bodies.
Kettlebells can build dense muscle, which is achieved by higher repetitions and shorter yet intense workouts. This method of training is best for boosting testosterone (i.e. metabolic workouts).
Calorie burner
Kettlebells provide a super quick way to shed some pounds. A study by the American Council on Exercise (ACE) found that the average person burns around 20 calories per minute during a standard kettlebell workout, meaning you could burn 400 calories in a 20-minute workout.
Easy to store
Buying your own kettlebell is a great investment since these nifty weights are far easier to store in your own home than barbell or dumbbell weights. Kettlebells are also much cheaper and more compact than machines.
Functional workout
Kettlebell training can work out all the muscles that you use in everyday life, making daily activities easier, whilst also improving your posture. The fluid swinging movements often used in kettlebell workouts are also easy on the joints. So be kind to your body and pick up some kettlebells!
Great physical and mental workout
Surprisingly, many kettlebell workouts also work your brain. The swift swapping of the weight between hands, and transferring of weight between different sides of the body, requires focus and coordination. This makes a kettlebell workout mentally stimulating too!
Improves core strength and stability
Many kettlebell exercises are a form of ballistic training. Ballistic training works on explosive power through maximising acceleration and minimising deceleration. These explosive movements stimulate the abdominal muscles tremendously well. They require core contraction and coordinated breathing as the movements are intense. This leads to serious improvement in core strength, even when not necessarily targeting your core like you would with crunches or leg raises.
Improves awareness and coordination
Kettlebell movements are very dynamic. You will be swinging them around - above you, to your side, in between your legs, side to side - this will necessitate that you are completely aware of your body. This focus and mind to muscle connection will develop, leading you to improved proprioception (coordination; the sense of movement of the body and its parts). This is very different than conventional training with barbells or machines because the movements are linear and less dynamic.
Increases range of motion
Kettlebells keep the body loose as the exercises movement patterns rather than isolation exercises. Kettlebell movement patterns require you to move through multiple planes of motion while controlling the force, torque and range of motion. Naturally, you will be improving your mobility by slowly increasing your limits. Over time, you will have much greater flexibility and your joints will become more stable and strong.
Versatile workouts
Kettlebells are a great addition to your workout, they are fun to work with, focused on movement patterns and are able to help support you with whatever workout or goal you have!
You wont ever get bored training with a kettlebell, with a wide variety of exercises to choose from, you are able to incorporate a kettlebell with strength training, Circuits, HIIT, Tabata, AMRAP, EMOM's and much more! Grab your kettlebell and get going!
Looking to get going with a kettlebell workout?
Get your kettlebell out and lets get to work! Here is a 30 minutes live whole body kettlebell workout we done back in January 2021. The session is great for all abilities and can be completed anywhere as long as you have your kettlebell with you (and internet signal).
For this workout, I recommend you need the following;
8-12kg Kettlebell (Female), 12-16kg Kettlebell (Male)
Yoga Mat (optional)