Kettlebells are versatile strength-training implements that you can use in a variety of ways. Indeed, the key difference between kettlebells and comparable fitness tools, such as dumbbells or other hand weights, is the ease at which you can move kettlebells along different paths. You can lift kettlebells as much as you would any other hand weights, but thanks to the handle, you can also swing kettlebells along curving arcs to achieve different fitness results.
Hoisting Kettlebells Vertically
You’ll likely have a hard time finding an exercise in which you lift a hand weight up and down that you can’t do with a kettlebell. Performing exercises such as presses, deadlifts or front squats while lifting one or two kettlebells vertically helps build your muscles just as the dumbbell versions will. You can also perform power lifts such as cleans and snatches in which the kettlebell moves in a basically vertical direction -- although not in a perfectly straight line -- to help develop strength and explosive power.
Swinging Your Kettlebells
Moving your kettlebells along a curving path opens up your exercise repertoire to include a variety of swings. For example, you can swing the kettlebell in an arc with one or two hands, starting between your legs and then raising the weight as far as possible in front of you. Alternatively, move the weight in a full circle with a slingshot exercise in which you transfer the kettlebell from one hand to the other as you pass it around your body. Perform figure-eight exercises by weaving the weight between and around your legs. You can even turn the snatch into a curvilinear exercise by swinging back between your legs and then performing the snatch. As a result, curvilinear kettlebell activities are typically more functional exercises for athletes than vertical movements such as presses.
You can build strength by moving kettlebells along vertical and curving paths, but curvilinear motions also serve as aerobic exercise. In a study published by the American Council on Exercise in 2010, participants who performed curving snatches for 20 minutes burned about 20.2 calories per minute. Researchers compared the rate of calories burned to runners performing six-minute miles. In contrast, a typical 30-minute session of vigorous, standard weight training only burns about 223 calories in 30 minutes if you weigh 155 pounds, which is 7.4 calories per minute.
Combining Vertical and Curved Movements
A comprehensive kettlebell workout should definitely include swings, but it should also contain vertical exercises. A weekly workout schedule recommended by noted kettlebell trainer Pavel Tsatsouline includes a variety of swings in addition to vertical exercises, such as squats and presses.
- ExRx.net: Kettlebell Exercises
- Fitness: Kettlebell Workout for Beginners -- Slingshot
- American Council on Exercise: 5 Kettlebell Exercises That Kick Butt
- American Council on Exercise: Kettlebells: Twice the Results in Half the Time?
- Impetus Fitness: Kettlebells in the NFL
- Harvard Health Publications: Calories Burned in 30 Minutes for People of Three Different Weights
- StrongFirst: A Total Package Weekly Template
- Rick Kern/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images