5 reasons you should be using kettlebells for health and wellness.
For those of you that are unfamiliar with kettlebells, I feel sorry for you. Kettlebells are simple, but dramatically effective, they build muscle, torch body fat and can be used as a corrective exercise tool. My honest opinion is the kettlebell is the best and most effective exercise tool ever made. I have been using kettlebells consistently for the past 9 months or so and plan on using it as a staple in almost all of my weight training workouts. Here is a list of my top 5 reasons why everyone can benefit from kettlebell style training.
Cost effective
One 35 lb kettlebell costs around $86 on Rogue Fitness’s website. What does a one month gym membership cost? Last I checked it was around $50 a month. You can construct a proper full body workout with a kettlebell fit to your current fitness level and based on any goals you have. Keep in mind if your goal is to squat, bench and deadlift for powerlifting, obviously only using a kettlebell is not a great idea. Why would anyone want to spend $600 a year to go to a gym when you can get off work, go straight home and get your workout in. Purchasing a kettlebell will keep more money in your pocket as well as give you more time to spend as you like.
Build muscle and strength
Hopefully I do not step on any toes with this next statement but, I feel everyone should be focusing on building muscle and strength no matter what their fitness or health goals are. Having muscle and strength throughout our lifetime helps us in so many ways. When we are young we go, go, go, dealing with kids, dealing with work, dealing with the stress of everyday life and having the muscle and strength to deal with life, will improve anyone's quality of life. Muscle and strength plays an important role in keeping us healthy. Having muscle improves body composition and increases our basal metabolic rate, it helps improve stability in joints by taking stress off of our ligaments (making dealing with the little ones easier), aids to keep our hormones in check by improving body composition and its relationship to testosterone and estrogen ratios. The list of things muscle does for us goes on and on. As we age it is harder and harder for us to maintain muscle mass, which begins to limit our physical activity. The more muscle we lose the less we can do and the more strength begins to decrease faster. There becomes a point when our window of physical activity becomes smaller and smaller, mainly because we do not have the strength that we had when we were younger. During my short time as a PTA, I have seen what a decline in strength does to one's health and wellbeing. People can no longer stand up from a chair, they can no longer walk to the bathroom, they can no longer feed themselves due to not having enough strength to bring a fork to their mouth, they develop sores on their bodies from not being able to move and are stuck to bed. I personally feel the number one thing we can do at a younger age to help this is, improve muscle and strength at a younger age and maintain what strength and muscle we have accumulated into our older years. Luckily, kettlebell training is proper for anybody, at any age, and at any fitness level. When you are strength training and building muscle with a kettlebell, think of multi joint exercises (listed below are my favorites).
-Goblet Squat
-Lunges
-Suitcase Deadlift
-Bent-Over Row
-Overhead Press
-Swings
-Cleans
-Farmer Walks
Burn body fat
What's nice about kettlebells is the way it is designed. You have a handle attached to a weighted ball, this makes it very easy to swing. The kettlebell swing exercise is one of the best overall exercises to help with most fitness goals. This is especially true for burning fat. You can use the kettlebell swing as a form of cardio. Interval style cardio sessions are my go to for this type of cardio and are really the only way to go, since kettlebell swings get your heart rate up really high, and really fast. You can do tabata intervals, which are 20 sec of swinging with 10 sec of rest, 8 times! That doesn’t seem too bad does it… You can do pretty much any rep or time scheme you can think of, 10 reps with 10 seconds of rest for 100 reps, 100 reps for time stopping whenever you need rest, or even 30 seconds on 30 sec off for 30 min (definitely for the strong minded individuals). Also the muscle you can gain with kettlebells will definitely increase your metabolic rate, which will increase the amount of calories you naturally burn through the day. Lastly, what is nice about kettlebells is they are extremely versatile and the only limiting factor is you not being able to think of how to use it to assist in reaching your specific goals.
Improve posture
Any fitness program using any piece of exercise equipment, when implemented correctly will improve an individual's posture. Exercise in general is one of the easiest ways to improve posture, which will inevitably decrease chronic aches and pains. Kettlebells make it really easy for someone to improve their posture, due to their unique design as well and ability to use it virtually anywhere. Most exercises you do with a kettlebell are going to challenge your core and postural stability. Having the kettlebell in the goblet squat position makes your upper back thoracic muscles turn on to resist being pulled to the floor. Carrying a kettlebell at your side challenges your glute medius to stabilize the hips and spinal lateral flexors to resist being pulled to the side. Doing a kettlebell swing works hip extension and stretches the hip flexors when done properly, as well as causes upright thoracic extension. There are many exercises that can be done with a kettlebell that will challenge your postural stability and improve posture. Someone just needs to learn how to implement the correct exercises with proper form to achieve the benefits. Always seek out a trained professional to get you moving in the right direction.
Get outside
Like I said earlier, kettlebells can be used virtually anywhere! If you own a kettlebell you do not have to go to a gym during the specific gym times. You can literally workout when you want, and whenever you want. Say it is a beautiful day outside, load up the kettlebell and drive to the beach or the park. If you tend to work late, take it to work and do 15 minutes of exercise during break time or during lunch. Say you have a horrible commute after work due to rush hour, have a kettlebell in your car, pull into a parking lot and workout until traffic gets manageable. There are so many ways you can add kettlebells into your daily routine that only enhance someone's quality of life. Also getting 15 min of sun will only enhance your health, leading you to live a happier and more fulfilling life.
Adding a kettlebell into my workout routine has changed my life. I used to have chronic back pain everyday that would limit me in doing the things I wanted to do. I would avoid certain activities that I enjoyed due to the fear of exacerbating my pain. Since I have started utilizing a kettlebell into my workouts I have noticed an incredible improvement in my symptoms. I now can go a month or more without having any signs of back pain and can notice the chronic pain symptoms creeping back when I stop using the kettlebell for a few workouts. The kettlebell is by far my most favorite piece of exercise equipment and I hope you give it a shot! If you have any questions about training or getting started using a kettlebell feel free to shoot me a message! Have fun and stay healthy!