Why Kettlebell Training?

Kettlebell training has become very popular in the last two years and is now a common training tool among professional athletes and trainers. This is mainly for three reasons:

• The first reason is that most common kettlebell exercises are ballistic movements, which help the body to develop explosiveness and power.

• The second reason is that these movements are performed using major muscle groups, teaching your body to move as one unit.

• Finally, kettlebell training is great for conditioning, and allows you to train both aerobic and anaerobic systems in one workout. A study by the American Council on Exercise found that a 20-minute kettlebell workout burns about 21 calories a minute, or put it in another way, more than 1200 calories per hour, which is much more intense than any other conventional training methods.

Basic movements to strengthen your muscles and prevent from injuries.

Kettlebell swing: probably the most famous kettlebell exercise. Kettlebell swing is great to develop explosiveness of hip, gluteus and hamstrings and to strengthen the core and trunk muscles. This simple movement will help you to protect your back, achieve a total conditioning, and burn calories really fast.

Kettlebell Snatch: kettlebell snatch is the most powerful kettlebell exercise. With this elegant movement you strengthen your whole body. Kettlebell snatch develops power, muscle endurance, cardio and strength. If you are fit, 5 minutes of kettlebell snatch 3 times per week is more than enough to stay in really great shape.

Turkish Get-up: one of my favourite exercises, this movement is a real healer, it strengthens your whole body safely. This exercise is great because it trains your body in three different dimensions. Turkish get up has been proven to be a great rehab exercise of shoulder injuries, improving mobility and strengthening the joints.

A simple kettlebell workout with these 3 exercises.

Just add at the beginning of your regular workout or at the end of it:

Kettlebell swing (alternating hands) 50 reps.

One handed Kettlebell snatch 2 x 20 reps (1 round with each hand)

Turkish get up 2 x 10 (1 round with each hand)

Perform this circuit two times with little or no rest between exercises if you want to improve your cardio. Depending on your current fitness level, if you are a man you should start to perform this workout with a 12 to 16 kg kettlebell, and if you are a woman an 8 to 12 kg kettlebell should be enough.

Conclusion

By adding these 3 basic exercises not only you will prevent injuries, but you will also strengthen your core and back muscles and you will get both the aerobic and anaerobic benefits of kettlebell training.

David is a fitness and nutrition researcher and passionate martial arts practitioner.