Burn up to 400 calories in just 20 minutes: That’s the result that you’ll get from a kettlebell workout. A kettlebell looks like a cast-iron cannonball with a handle on the top. These pieces of exercise equipment come in a number of different weights. You’ll make use of them as you do exercises such as lunges, lifts as well as shoulder presses.
A kettlebell workout gets your heart pumping and utilises up to 20 calories per minute which is about as much as running a 6-minute mile does. Kettlebell workouts offer exercises a lot of flexibility. You are able to include a few of the moves in your own workout or do a dedicated kettlebell workout a couple of times a week.
Kettlebells Are Great For Strength Training
Kettlebells are a great exercise tool for strength training. Yes, for many of the different exercises they’re totally interchangeable for dumbbells or types of weights. However, for some weighted moves – especially ones that require an explosive movement – kettlebells reign supreme.
This is because of the way that they’re shaped which makes them much easier to swing around. You are also able to hold them by the handle or the bell (which is the round part of the weight). This allows you to get a different range of motion depending on the kettlebell exercise which you’re doing.
In addition, the shape of a kettlebell allows you to work your muscles a little differently as opposed to a traditional dumbbell. The weight is distributed differently than the usual dumbbell so it works different muscles while doing the same movement. A kettlebell also requires more wrist motion, so your wrists and forearms get a little extra work.
Helps With Improving Core Stability And Strength
There are a different number of great reasons why kettlebells are fantastic for improving core strength as well as stability.
Many kettlebell exercises are a format of ballistic training. Ballistic training focuses on working on explosive power through maximising acceleration as well as minimising deceleration. These explosive movements are responsible for stimulating the abdominal muscles tremendously well.
Kettlebell workouts require core contraction, in addition to coordinated breathing, as the movements are extremely intense. This leads to phenomenal improvement in core strength, even when you’re not necessarily targeting your core as you would with crunches or leg raises.
Kettlebell movements are multiplanar. What this means is that will be working your core from all directions. This is vital to building well-rounded core strength.
Some of the best kettlebell exercises are offset as well as unilateral. This means that you will only be making use of one kettlebell. When you’re moving the kettlebell around on one side, you will be working your core stability as well as your strength.
These are all super important reasons why athletes train with kettlebells. Athletes require core power in order to explode through opponents, quickly change/move in a number of different directions without risking injury (twisting, turning, accelerating/decelerating), and handle loads as well as pressure from one side while still remaining upright (think about a running back taking a hit on one side during a play). Kettlebell training provides a dynamic method of accomplishing these important physical capabilities.
Contact Trifocus Fitness Academy
If you’re a personal trainer and want to become a kettlebell pro, then we really recommend that you do our Kettlebell Course. For more information, please follow this link.