Kettlebells For A Serious Challenge!

by Kirk
(Miami)

As part of my self-made fitness plan, I have a set of Kettlebells. But they are more effective than I thought!

Kettlebells are fitness tools of Russian origin. A Kettle Bell is a (cast) iron ball of a certain weight, with a handle attached. This allows different dynamic workouts to be done with considerable effectiveness, because different muscle groups are addressed through it.

I bought the Dragon Door bells, pretty sturdy things! Ok. This is really a little bit different than playing with dumbbells. Not only because the weight is much higher (my dumbbells were about 5-7 kg each, and my kettlebell is 16 kg), but also because it really is much more intensive and a lot more demanding on the muscles!

And if I see power users doing in 5 minutes an 80 + reps Snatch workout, or do the 'Snatch Test' with a 24kg kettlebell - that is truly impressive.

Ironically, I learned quickly that much remains to be learned. I was puffing and huffing to get my 16kg kettlebell up at all, all of 3 times. Darn!

Sure, flexibility and momentum help, but I was so happy and optimistic I immediately purchased a heavier bell. With that I thought I would be fine: 24KG. And in a few weeks another 24kg came for me to work with, too.

An extra tip to double your workout effectiveness: Do a combination of Kettle Bell swings with Tabata interval training. Tabata training is an interval during which you workout for 20 seconds at full power (full throttle!) alternating with 10 second rests. A total of 8 times consecutively to each other.