What are kettlebells?

The kettlebell has been described as a ‘canon ball with a handle’, but once you use them, you will be amazed at how versatile they are and what you can do with them. Kettlebells (KB) are available in a range of sizes from 4kg up to 80kg. Whilst most gym users spend more time than they need to in the gym doing cardio and weights separately, people who kettlebell are using both cardio and weights at the same time, which is why they are so effective at improving fitness, stamina and strength without gaining bulk.

What’s so good about them?

When using a KB the weight is off-centre, which forces the body to use its core, decelerating and stabilizing muscles more efficiently. This leads to more muscles being activated making your body fitter and stronger for every minute you have a KB in your hands. The centrifugal force that kettlebells create works muscles more completely than with traditional weights.

As a beginner one of the main kettlebell exercises used is called the Swing. It’s a squat with the bell being pulled like a pendulum from between your legs to an upright position at eye-line and down again. This simple exercise uses nearly all the bodies’ muscles. The idea is never to lift the bells as you would a barbell or dumbbell, but rather to let momentum do the work where the force comes from the hips and legs and not the arms. Momentum plays a very important part of kettlebell training.

Functional science (the new buzz in the fitness world) has identified that the body’s joints move in three directions: forward and back, side to side, and turning left and right. These are called ‘planes of movement’.

It is now known that joint movement is responsible for muscle movement and not the other way around which was the old way of thinking. Therefore the muscles are reactive to what a joint is doing to make the muscles work. Dumbbells and weight machines only work in a single direction/plane, whereas kettlebells work in all three plains of movement and they work aerobically (cardio heart/lungs) and anaerobically (muscle system) at the same time.

To be fit in all three planes of movement is most important for lifestyle activity, because you’re dealing with motion in all directions—lifting and placing a heavy suitcase, gardening, playing with children keeping a good posture at your desk at work and in day-to-day life you need an all around fitness to lead a healthy life so that at the end of your day, no mater what it brings, you are not left fatigued.

Kettlebell training will leave you with a ‘lean, athletic, powerful, and highly functional’ body. Plain and simple, it is the fastest way to change the shape of your body and enhance an active lifestyle.

Find out more about how the PBP system works and our courses.