A kettlebell resembles a cast-iron cannonball with a handle at the top of it. This exercise equipment comes in various weights. You’ll utilise them as you do movements such as lunges, lifts as well as shoulder presses.
A kettlebell workout gets your heart pumping which makes it a fabulous exercise! Training with kettlebells uses up to 20 calories per minute. This is equivalent to running about one and a half kilometres in six minutes.
What Are The Benefits of Working Out With Kettlebells?
Kettlebell workouts give a lot of flexibility when it comes to designing your routine. You can incorporate a few of the moves into your own workout. Alternatively, you can do a dedicated kettlebell workout a few times a week.
There are tonnes of other amazing benefits that come from performing kettlebell exercises. Kettlebells are widely recognised for improving overall strength, core power, balance, flexibility, as well as coordination. In addition, a kettlebell workout will also incinerate fat and sculpt healthy and lean muscles.
As a kettle bell has an off-set centre of gravity, usually about 15 to 20 cm away from your grip on the handle, it is more difficult to control. This means that any kettlebell exercises are going to need strict and controlled form.
Here are a number of other benefits of including kettlebell exercises into your fitness routine:
- Combines Strength and Cardio – Do ballistic exercises that combine strength, cardio and flexibility training.
- Improves Functional Strength – Affects a number of muscle groups which assist with everyday tasks and daily life.
- Compact and Portable – You only need one or two kettlebells to train you entire body and these are easy to store away.
- Fun and Versatile Workouts – Kettlebell exercises offer a wide variety of movements that target every muscle group for a total body workout.
How to do a Lunge With Kettlebells
Lunges are an exceptional functional exercise which is responsible for building muscle as well as power in your lower body. In addition, this type of exercise can enhance your mobility as well as range of motion.
If you’re looking to supercharge the intensity level of your lunges, try adding some weight with kettlebells! You can truly challenge your lower body, in a number of ways, by simply changing where and how you hold the weight(s) during your lunges.
Dead Lunge
A dead lunge is a stationary lunge variation. In this exercise you don’t move your legs forward or backward. However, you bend and straighten at the knee in order to move your body up and down.
- Begin with your right leg in front and your left leg behind. Your legs should have a tiny space between them. This is so that your feet aren’t in the same line.
- Hold one kettlebell by the handle in your left hand. Make sure that your arm is straight down.
- Engage your lat muscles so that you can keep the weight stable and to assist you with promoting a straight and tall spine as well as upper body.
- Let your right arm float outward to your sides in order to assist with balance. Inhale as you bend at both knees. While you’re doing this, keep your upper body tall.
- Engage your abs in order to assist you with keeping your balance.
- Sink down. Stop when the kettlebell reaches close to, or touches, the floor.
- Exhale as you power up. Engage your quad and glute muscles as you do this.
- Repeat between eight and 10 times per side.
Racked Reverse Lunge
The racked reverse lunge is undoubtedly one of the kettlebell lunge variations that challenges your balance the most. This exercise requires you to balance while you hold the kettlebell at chest-height. At the same time, you’ll move one foot back and forth at a time.
- Grab two kettlebells. Bring them up to the rack position. Put your feet next to each other about hip-width apart.
- Tighten your abdominals. Keep them tight as well as engaged during the entire motion.
- Inhale and step your right foot back. Sink down towards the ground in one swift movement.
- Keep your upper body tall and straight. Ensure that you keep your lat muscles engaged so that you can hold the kettlebells tight in the rack position.
- Squeeze your glutes and quads. As you exhale to come up, bring your right foot back to the position it started in.
- Repeat the movement on the opposite side. Alternate back and forth for between six and eight reps per side, per set.
Become a Kettlebells Master with Trifocus Fitness Academy
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Are you keen to learn how to incorporate kettlebells in your clients’ routines? Check out Trifocus Fitness Academy’s Kettlebell Course to find out how you can do this! Read more here.
