The Kettlebell – The Defining Trend in Fitness

A kettlebell is a no-frills, all-in-one hand gym that produces dramatic gains in overall fitness, including muscle building, cardiovascular conditioning, and fat loss. A kettlebell looks like a cannonball with a handle on top and a flat bottom. Unlike a dumbbell, it forces the body to do more work in the same amount of time due to the offset nature of the handle.

This actually forces your body to use more of its core and small stabilizer muscles, the two key areas where injuries often occur in traditional weight training and recreational athletic activities.

It is hand-held, either one-handed or two-handed, and can be moved in almost any direction and in any plane of motion for maximum strength training results and impressive cardio gains. Fat loss comes almost incidentally, without even having to try in many cases.

For example, a kettlebell actually forces you to work harder because it increases your range of motion through ordinary exercises. In one exercise in particular, the Swing, the user literally throws the kettlebell between their legs putting their hips and leg muscles at maximum stretch and then comes to their feet with force contracting all of their lower body muscles. It’s also an extremely effective exercise for strengthening your core and getting a great cardio workout.

Compared to using a dumbbell, your body moves through additional ranges of motion, creating more work and therefore demanding more energy from the body. This is a move you can’t do with weights or bands!

Whether you like them or not, you can’t argue with the results they produce – kettlebells are here to stay!