What is a Kettlebell and what is Kettlebell Training?
The kettlebell (or girya) is cast iron weight, ranging from 2kg to over 45kg, shaped like a ball with a handle for easy gripping. Kettlebells offer a different kind of training using dynamic moves targeting almost every aspect of fitness: endurance, strength, balance, agility and cardio endurance. People love it because it's challenging, efficient and you only need one piece of equipment.
The idea is to hold the kettlebell in one or both hands and go through a variety of swings(e.g., the one-arm swing), presses (e.g., clean, push and press) or pulling motions (e.g., the high pull). Unlike traditional dumbbells, the kettlebell’s center of mass is extended beyond the hand, similar to Indian clubs.
Some movements have you changing the weight from hand to hand as the weight swings up or as you move laterally, requiring you to stabilize the body and engage the core in a whole new way. Other moves require power from the legs and hips to move the weight, giving you integrated whole body movements that are often missing with other types of training.
Classic Kettlebells
Pro Grade Kettlebells
Kettlebells and Dumbbells
You may wonder, isn’t a kettlebell just like a dumbbell? In some respects they’re the same but, what makes the kettlebell different is how it’s shaped. It may look like an ordinary weight, but the handle actually changes how the weight works with your body.
With a dumbbell, the center of gravity lies in the your hand but, with the kettlebell, the center of gravity extends outside of your hand, which means it can change depending on how you’re holding it and moving it. The momentum of many kettlebell movements creates centrifugal force, focusing more attention on the muscles used for deceleration and stabilization. This type of multi-directional movement mimics real life movements such as loading a suitcase in the trunk of your car or putting a box on top of a shelve.
Dumbbells are great for building muscle and strength with slow, controlled movements while kettlebell training involves the entire body and focuses on endurance, power and dynamic movements.
Pavel Tsatsouline on Kettlebells
Pavel Tsatsouline claims that with a kettlebell, you can do pretty much the same thing as you can with a dumbbell, only better.
Why better?
According to Pavel, it is all about the resistance. For instance, if you perform curls with a dumbbell, as you are nearing the top, the resistance will become lesser. On the other hand, if you were to do it with the kettlebell, the center of gravity is displaced, forcing you to work harder to get to the top. This characteristic of the kettlebell also will develop your wrist flexor, which in turns giving you a bigger biceps.
Many sportsmen are beginning to give serious consideration to the kettlebell workout. In the Arnold Sports Festival, Pavel’s booth proved to be popular with the arm wrestler among others, with World Champion Mary McConnaughy giving the kettlebell two thumbs up.
For the chest muscles, kettlebell flyers are absolutely brilliant, giving resistance right until the top of the movement. For shoulder exercise, try doing the Scott or the Arnold press with kettlebells and you can feel the difference immediately. Training with kettlebells also will teach you to perform a proper squat. Overhead squats are one of the best ways to improving your squatting technique. Most people, however, just not interested because they can’t even get started as they can’t hold the bar far enough. Trying doing it with a kettlebell and you will feel the center of gravity is displaced, helping you with your shoulder flexibility. Amy Weisberger, the World Power Lifting Campion, tried them at Pavel’s booth and immediately gave her approval.
Kettlebells are also a great for regular people to perform the alternative exercise to the Olympic lifts snatch and clean and jerk. These ballistic exercises, even with a relatively light weight, are a great way to develop absolute strength.
Another thing that Pavel like the most of the kettlebell, is that they just look nasty and evil.
Kettlebell – The Russian Way
Pavel Tsatsouline once said that a Russian day well spent is to have Vodka at night, pickle juice in the morning (the best thing for a hangover); and in between this hangover and the next, throw some kettlebells around.
Kettlebells have been around for over 300 years, a staple for Russian strongmen. On the 1986 publication of the Soviet Weightlifting Yearbook, it is stated that it is hard to find any sport that have deeper roots than the girevoy (kettlebell) sport.
Throughout history, Russia has been consistently producing among the strongest people in the world. Some say kettlebells is the one of the main reason for it, they might be right. Kettlebell is immensely popular in Russia that in Tsarist, a weightlifter or strongman is referred to as a giverik (kettlebell man).
Kettlebells look primitive to most of us, deceptively simple. Yet it is extremely effective and versatile. The Soviet scientist now have confirmed what many Russians had already know – lifting kettlebells is one of the best method for all around physical development and fitness.
Now a new wave of kettlebell movement is hitting the United States hard, and the person responsible for this is none other than Pavel Tsatsouline.
Once voted Rolling Stones Hot Trainer of the Year, Pavel Tsatsouline is a former Soviet Special Forces instructor and nationally ranked in the Russian ethnic sport of kettlebell lifting.
Many of his followers shares identical stories. A lot of them was into bodybuilding or power lifting for years, but they all lacked the result that they craved for. It is through Pavel’s teaching that changes all that – same effort but different method, it makes all the difference in the world. Once you are hooked, there’s no turning back.
So what is so special about the kettlebells? What makes it so effective at building strength and burning fat? A simple answer would be the kettlebells handle. The handle on a kettlebell allows you to perform lifts from many angels. These variation target different muscles groups, making it a complete workout. Some of the lifts are virtually impossible to do without using the kettlebell.
Try lifting a kettlebell and you will quickly learn that in order for you to perform the lifts, you need to manipulate your body as a single unit. Human body is supposed to function as a unit, that is how nature intended it to be. A lot of the workout requires you to start the motion by moving from the toes up to the leg and torso. This synchronized movement of muscles working in tandem with each other is highly effective. A 30 minutes workout with kettlebells can be as effective a 2 hours of a normal workout.
If you are serious about strength and conditioning, incorporating kettlebell workout routines into your physical training will do wonders.
