Why train with kettlebells anyway?

So you may be wondering what kind of benefits you could receive by training with kettlebells. This is an excellent question and an important question to ask before you begin any kind of training program. No one wants to waste their time or money on something that isn't effective.

Fortunately, proper kettlebell training is very effective and provides a number of benefits:

• Due to it's full-body ballistic nature, kettlebell training is very metabolically demanding. In fact, kettlebell training can result in burning up to 1200 calories an hour! On top of the aerobic and anaerobic caloric demands of kettlebell training, we also have to take into consideration that we are performing resistance training. Resistance training further amplifies this metabolic cost by requiring calories to be allotted to repairing and strengthening the muscle tissue used during the workout. Since kettlebell training targets most of the body's musculature with each exercise, there are a lot of calories being diverted to repairing tissue instead of being stored as fat. On top of burning a lot of calories, this kind of training will dramatically improve your cardiovascular abilities.
• Again due to the compound [compound means multiple joints of action. For example, a bicep curl is an isolation exercise as it has one joint of action, the elbow. A barbell row is a compound movement as it works at the elbow, shoulders, and scapula] integrative nature of kettlebell training, we are teaching our bodies how to move efficiently and effectively. Compound exercises result in an increase in coordination between muscles, allowing them to perform the movements of sport and everyday life more easily and more powerfully.
• Kettlebell exercises such as the Turkish get-up can dramatically improve joint health (plus it's a wicked core exercise). By moving the shoulder through a broad range of motion under tension, we can simultaneously improve stability and mobility. In essence we are working to increase our range of motion at the shoulder joint while simultaneously strengthening it throughout this range of motion. Compare this to ordinary static stretching that only increases range of motion (and sometimes not even that) and typically at only one angle and we can see there is a clear winner. A recent study also demonstrated that kettlebell swings can decrease neck/shoulder and lower back pain: http://www.bettermovementnow.com/articles/Jay_et_al_2010.pdf
• Kettlebell training places particular emphasis on the lower body, back/core, and shoulders. Not only are the muscles that comprise these the ones most important for sport, strength, and day-to-day life, they also are the key areas for building an excellent physique. Whether you want to be stronger, run faster, or look great in a bikini, the tremendous emphasis on the legs and glutes will accommodate your goal.

There are many more benefits to kettlebell training, some of which will be explored later lest I run the risk of making this post far too long!

To summarize: kettlebell training will burn a LOT of calories, allow you to move more easily, improve joint health, increase strength and conditioning, and make you look good naked (or clothed).

- Jonathan