Why You Should Train With Kettlebells
Kettlebell training is becoming more and more popular, and rightly so.
Walk into any commercial gym, and you’ll likely find some kettlebells floating about.
Maybe they’re tucked away or hidden in a corner. Because the majority of gymgoers don’t know how to use them correctly. Or haven't ever got the right coaching or instruction.
But, hey, at least they’re available for you to use.
Ready and waiting to be picked up and lifted by those wanting to practise their kettlebell skills. To learn how to use them, and their body properly, to improve their strength and conditioning.
Hopefully, that someone is YOU!
This unique piece of strength training equipment is unlike most others.
If you’re looking for maximum results with minimal time investment, look no further than kettlebell training.
In this article, I am going to outline six reasons you should train with kettlebells.
In no particular order, let’s dive into some of the biggest and best benefits of training with kettlebells.
1. Fat Loss
So you want to get leaner and stronger?
Well, my friend, you’ve come to the right place!
If your main health and fitness goal is to shed a couple (or a lot of) kilos and drop body fat, the kettlebell has you covered.
QUICK NOTE: Nutrition will always be the primary driver of fat loss. No question about it — there’s no way around it.
But…exercise and movement DO play a role in getting unwanted weight off, too. So let’s discuss it.
While using commercial gym gear and standard strength equipment like machines is easy and convenient, it’s not the best option.
Here’s why.
Your body, as an organism, thrives on saving energy. That’s how we’ve survived so long as a species, to become the most dominant force on the planet — by saving our energy.
Pretty smart from an evolutionary standpoint. But not great from a fat-loss point of view.
So, how does this relate to you and your fat-loss efforts?
Machine-based exercises that use a pre-determined path, or a pulley system — think: chest press, lat pulldown or leg extension. They don’t make you work that hard from a stability standpoint.
Plus, they generally only work one or two muscles at a time.
They are energy-conserving training modalities.
That’s why so many people (who happen to spend all day sitting at work) go to the gym and use them. To sit down on a machine for “exercise”.
Riiiiight.
That makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it?!
You sit down, push on a lever or handle, and the weight moves. Hardly a surprise why so many gymgoers turn up week after week and year after year, with little to no results to show for their efforts.
This might explain why you’ve never experienced the results you want by attending your local gym in Perth.
The machine-based approach doesn’t cut it.
To Drop More Fat (And Quicker) You Want Energy-draining Exercises. NOT Energy-saving Ones.
Whether you’re doing the quick kettlebell lifts like the “ballistics”. Or the slow kettlebell lifts like the “grinds”, you will spend more energy.
This is because you have a free weight that you need to control, stabilise, and move. Rather than something that has a fixed path.
Plus, you’ll be lifting heavy or fast, and you’ll use using your entire body to move the weight. Not just a few muscles here and there.
That means more weight coming off and faster fat loss for you!
2. Heart Health
Want a way to develop your cardiovascular capacity without damaging your joints or the brutal impact of long-distance running?
This is where the ballistic movements really shine.
The acceleration-focused exercises: kettlebell cleans, swing, and snatch.
Learning these movements and practising them correctly will teach you;
How to breathe correctly
How to lower your heart rate
How to recover quicker between intervals
How to push yourself harder without overdoing it
How to increase your lung capacity without traditional “cardio”
How to get more results out of less training (through increased movement and heart efficiency)
These are all concepts and principles that I teach my students here in Perth.
And it's something I can help you with if you live in Western Australia — when you come in for a Kettlebell lesson in Perth.
Don’t think kettlebells will challenge your cardiovascular or respiratory system? I will change your mind.
Below is my attempt to complete the test of the world-renowned kettlebell program Simple and Sinister, by Pavel Tsatsouline.
Enjoy watching me suffer for 16 minutes!
Now that you’ve had your fun watching me get my ass kicked by one kettlebell. Let’s get into the specifics of heart health, and how kettlebells can improve yours.
Stroke volume, heart rate, and blood pressure are all things that can be improved with very little impact on your body.
If you’ve never heard those terms before, let me explain what they mean.
Stroke Volume
The amount of blood your heart pumps per beat (measured in volume per beat)
Heart Rate
The frequency of your heartbeat (measured in beats per minute)
Blood Pressure
The amount of pressure in your arteries as your heart contracts and relaxes (measured as systolic — first number and diastolic - last number — blood pressure)
Think about it like this. You want your heart to be as efficient as possible.
Why make one of the only muscles that never get a rest (until you’re dead) work harder than it needs to?
This is what “heart health” means and what it looks like.
You want your heart to pump THE MOST amount of blood, at the LOWEST FREQUENCY, and with the LEAST AMOUNT of pressure.
This is why I routinely perform 10x10 on my kettlebell swings and sometimes 20x5 sets of kettlebell snatches.
It forces the muscles to work hard for a brief period of time, strengthening them. But then I get the aerobic benefits through the high number of sets I do.
This is called A+A training, by the way. Short for “Alactic + aerobic”.
Can you see how that works?
Short bursts of intense work followed by a brief period of rest. Repeat until fit & strong.
3. Core Strength
The phrase “core strength” gets thrown around all too often these days. Especially by people who can’t actually explain what it means.
Core strength is your ability to produce movement at your extremities without movement occurring at your trunk — the areas between your shoulders and hips.
How?
You try to resist movement of your spine (left/right, forwards/backwards and/or twisting) while other joints produce the desired action.
Another way to think of it is “anti-movement”.
Let’s take the 2-arm kettlebell swing as our example.
You can see there is movement at the hips, via a ‘hip hinge’. The hips go backwards and forwards.
There is a bend at the hip joint — but NOT at the spine.
My spine stays straight, but changes from horizontal to vertical-ish.
There is a slight backward lean, from the ankles, due to the need to counterbalance the 40kg bell out the front.
If your spine rounds (flexes) or arches (extends) noticeably through this movement, you no longer have a neutral spine. Your spine has changed shape.
It’s this change in the spinal position we want to avoid.
This has likely occurred due to your core musculature (the muscles of your trunk, abdomen, hips, and surrounding areas) not adequately doing their job of stabilising.
You Do This Is By “Stiffening Your Trunk”
NOT by sucking your stomach in.
NOT by pulling your belly button towards your spine.
NOT by hollowing your abs.
But by actively tensing the muscles so they contract and stiffen like a thick block of wood or a piece of sheet metal. Your body becomes one unit, fully connected.
Here are two ways to think about this, to help paint the picture of what I mean.
Imagine someone is about to punch you as hard as possible in the stomach.
“Brace for impact”
Assume your kettlebell swing stance, and have a friend try to move you from it by gently pushing you in different directions.
“Resist” any movement
Doing one, or both, of these drills, will help you understand what getting tight feels like and what bracing your core actually involves.
4. Hypertrophy
When it comes to building muscle, there are a few things to take into consideration.
What type of training are you currently doing?
How good/poor is your recovery?
What does your current diet consist of?
How much protein are you eating on a daily basis?
Once you have some of this vital information, we can discuss training and its role in muscle hypertrophy.
In kettlebell training, there are three main variables you need to manage and account for.
VOLUME
1.0: The number of reps you complete (NL = Number of Lifts) you do per exercise [measured by: sets x reps]
2.0: Or the total weight lifted (TL = Total Load) [measured by: sets x reps x load]
INTENSITY
The weight of the kettlebell you are using. If you work with a few different bell sizes, this can be described as “light”, “medium” and “heavy” days.
DENSITY
The amount of work you complete in a given time. You can adjust this up/down through your work-to-rest ratios.
For brevity’s sake, I will keep this next part simple and concise.
Over time, your training should become more difficult, and you must do more.
Of what? One of the training parameters listed above.
Increase the volume, intensity and/or density.
That is the way you build muscle, and get stronger. By forcing your body to do more work over time.
By lifting heavier, doing more reps per set, or by increasing the workload. Your muscles will only grow if they are gradually exposed to higher demands.
This is known as the SAID principle — Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands.
Your body only changes and adapts if it has a reason to. You must provide it with one.
Unfortunately, muscle building isn’t a priority for your body. As I mentioned earlier, it wants to save energy.
It doesn’t want to spend it on repairing and rebuilding existing muscle tissue. Or working even harder by growing new muscle tissue.
Because that would be inefficient from an organism standpoint.
This is why you must stress it and load it consistently, over time.
Those are your parameters to work with.
5. Grip Strength
Tell me, what shows strength and illustrates more power?
Someone who gives you a weak handshake that resembles more of a wet fish.
Or someone who has an iron-tight grip on your palm and almost crushes your hand.
Yeah, that’s right.
A strong handshake is superior in every way imaginable. It’s not even close!
Now, I’d like to draw your attention to this.
How many exercises require you to hold, grip, or carry a kettlebell in your hand?
Pretty much all of them.
Some require a solid “crush grip” to lock that bell in place. While others need some finesse and a lesser grip so the bell can rotate around your hand, and vice versa.
In either case, a stronger grip will serve you better.
For your grinds, you will have the ability to generate more total-body tension, get tighter, and therefore, generate more force. This ultimately means you can lift heavier.
For your ballistics, you can turn the ‘power dial’ down, and save your grip for more total volume, or higher rep sets.
Completely up to you. Pick your poison.
There are no benefits to having a weak grip.
But there are many gains and benefits to be had by strengthening your grip.
6. Power
Saving the best for last.
One thing you need to understand if you want to become a more powerful human being is a simple math equation.
Power = Work ÷ Time.
There are two ways you can accomplish this.
Do more total work in a workout (as mentioned earlier)
Do the same amount of time quicker.
There are a few key ways you can do this.
Increase how many sets or reps you perform per session
Increase the total load you lift
Decrease the time each repetition takes
My preferred method is one that may surprise you.
Work on improving your movement quality.
This means, drilling and refining your technique so it becomes more efficient.
…Not easier — but more effective.
There is a huge difference!
Rather than doing more of what you’re currently doing. Perform what it is you’re doing with better technique.
“More isn’t better. It’s just more”.
Let’s take the swing as an example.
If the speed of the kettlebell starts slowing down and the reps become, slow, sloppy, and laboured — it’s no longer ballistic.
It has become a ‘fast grind’. You don’t want that.
If you want power, train for power!
You cannot accelerate a kettlebell, or any weight for that matter, if it’s too heavy or you’re highly fatigued.
This is why selecting the correct kettlebell for your skill and strength level is so important.
Ballistics = FAST
Grinds = SLOW
Your goal is to impart as much speed as possible into the kettlebell. The intent behind your reps should be “bell speed”.
If your swings, cleans, or snatches aren’t crisp, powerful or have a “snap” about them, start there.
When I say speed, I’m referring to the concentric phase. The upward phase of the movement, not the down.
Accelerate the bell to the highest degree you are capable of.
Don’t rush the float — it’s the only rest you get.
But pay attention to the upswing, because that is the part that generates the momentum. That should move quickly!
If it doesn’t — drop your ego, go down a bell size, or two — and reclaim (or build) that lost speed.
The same principle applies to your one-arm swings, cleans, and snatches.
There You Have It!
Six compelling reasons for you to grab a kettlebell and start using it to improve your physical capacity.
Whether your goal is to become leaner, stronger, muscular, or more powerful. Or a combination of those, you have a tool in the kettlebell that can help.
Like all tools and devices, they are only as good or useful as the operator. That’s you.
If you feel like your skills need some improvement and you’re willing to put in the time and work to get better, I can help.
Do you live in Perth? I invite you to come in for a 1-1 kettlebell lesson with me so I can help you in person.
Don’t live in Western Australia? Grab my online course, Kettlebell Training Essentials. Discover everything you need to know about mastering the fundamentals of hardstyle kettlebell training, wherever you are.
Now, go forth.
Strength is a skill. Go and practice yours!