There are a few very important things to consider as you begin your kettlebell training. For one thing, you have to actually know what kettlebells are. For another, you have to have some idea why kettlebell training is a good idea for you. And third, you have to know proper kettlebell swings and exercise techniques in order to make maximum use of your time with the kettlebell. While the exercises you do are very important, knowing why you have to do them is the primary motivating force that will get you up and at ’em during every step of your training.

Kettlebells: What is Kettlebell Training?

A kettlebell is a piece of exercise equipment that improves cardiovascular health and builds muscle with proper use. For lack of a better term, kettlebells resemble cannonballs with handles. If you still cannot picture this, visualize a heavy round metal weight with a U-shaped handle protruding from the top of it. This description describes your standard kettlebell; however, just like almost any other type of fitness equipment, kettlebells are available in an assortment of shapes.

Kettlebell Training vs. Weight Lifting

Many people deny the idea that kettlebells can be more effective than weight lifting, and argue that muscle mass is what’s most important. This is false. Kettlebell training exercises are less like lifting weights or performing regular calisthenics; they’re much more comparable to hard physical labor, such as what you would experience working on a farm. To further explain, when you swing a kettlebell or hold it out at arm’s length, you’re not only exercising your major muscle groups, but also working the tendons and ligaments of your joints. These ballistic movements closely simulate physical labor, which can give you real strength with a better range of motion and power than regular stationary lifting.

So in other words, if you chose to lift weights in order to prepare for chopping trees, you’d still experience some difficulty adjusting to the movements as the range of motion is limited to your arms as you stand in one position. If you instead prepared with a kettlebell, then you’ll be able to adapt your fitness program with exercises that mimicked the range of motion and full body use required to chop trees and thus adjust with ease.

Besides being inexpensive and convenient, kettlebells provide countless variety in the types of movements and exercises you can perform, creating virtually unlimited training combinations while on your fitness journey. The diversity in kettlebell interval workouts will satisfy your need for variety as you train, so you’ll never get bored as long as you focus on training properly and learning basic kettlebell techniques. Overall, kettlebell training is a low-impact, high intensity training system that is portable, flexible to your needs and provides an excellent full body workout.