Forming a race of Kettlebell supermen!

Posted on | March 30, 2009 |

So kettlebells and Kettlebell training appear to be becoming quite the trend lately. I’m sure some of this is due to Pavel and company, and an ingenious marketing campaign that hints at long lost Russian military kettlebell training secrets. Honestly those guys have been around in the functional training community for some time though. No, it goes further than that. Yesterday I had to go to a standard supermarket, and there in the impulse buy stand, the cover of a certain well known women’s magazine had an article about using kettlebells to turn yourself into a bikini model without sweat, discipline or effort!

Now, being a guy, I’m not completely sure I WANT to look like a bikini model. Actually, I’m pretty sure my girlfriend doesn’t either. But it didn’t stop me from pausing to reflect on this latest trend. Like most mainstream fitness trends, it annoys me on the surface, but I think there might be a silver plated kettlebell lining this cloud. To explain, there’s nothing magic about kettlebells as opposed to dumbbells. They do feel a little different, since the center of gravity is below the point where you grip them, instead of centered over your hand. The grip on a kettlebell does change a few movements like cleans and snatches significantly but with most others the different isn’t all that great.

So we’ve established that the little cannonballs with handles aren’t magic. What I REALLY do like is seeing the kind of movements they’re starting to establish as normal and accepted. Things like Turkish get ups, swings, slashers, halos and the like are all starting to appear at places like curves. You know, compound multi joint movements, driven from the hips and that involve some core stabilization. Shocking! It makes me warm and fuzzy inside when I see a woman swinging a kettlebell instead of curling a vinyl coated 3 pound dumbbell.

I’m a little concerned that this fad will pass, like any other. People will buy a 12 pound kettlebell at target, swing it a dozen times and walk away disappointed yet again that they are not morphed into a Russian commando or an anorexic waif with massive lumps of silicone. In the meanwhile, the mass appeal of this may bring the prices of kettlebells down for the rest of us and I still do have some hope. It may be a fad, but I think it’s a fad that will get a higher percentage of results than previous ones (Tae-Bo anyone?). Some of the kettlebell swinging and grunting I see in articles is frighteningly close to athletic training

While I’m rambling on the subject, I figured I’d do a quick review and comparison of the First Place Kettlebells from Perform Better. In the interest of full disclosure, yes I’m an affiliate with them, and if you’re interested in checking them out I’d suggest you do so via the link to your right ☺ That said, I’m not going to preach that they are the greatest thing ever. I have two of them, which I decided to order because they were the least expensive ones I could find, once shipping was factored in.

This was a big factor for me, since Kettlebells are fairly expensive, and shipping a big hunk of iron becomes a significant part of the cost. The bells themselves seem to be well made. The finish is a little rougher than the dragondoor ones I’ve played with in the past. The handles are also significantly thicker. Personally, I have small hands so I DON’T like this, but it boils down to preference; I’ve heard others complain about the grips on the RKC and AKC style kettlebells being too small. I do like the slightly rougher grips. I sweat a lot, and have a hard time holding onto the more expensive makes once the handles and my hands are both thoroughly soaked.

In closing, lets hear about your thought on the kettlebell craze, brands of kettlebells you’ve tried and the like. If you’re a Russian Spetsnaz Superman in league with Pavel, please don’t kill me. It also pains me to ask, but does anyone know where I can find, ahem, a 25 pound pink kettlebell? My lighter one (36lbs) is a little heavy for Rayna to use for one handed work, and she seems to find the irony of swinging around a medieval weapon in girly colors amusing.

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Comments

9 Responses to “Forming a race of Kettlebell supermen!”

Son of Grok
March 30th, 2009 @ 11:01 am

I have seen the lighter, pink (and other color) kettlebells at Big 5 sporting goods. Dicks probably has them too. I like using my kettlebells. I do a workout with them ever couple of weeks. I like them in particular for swings, turkish get ups, cleans and snatches. Certainly has not completely revolutionized my training and taken over everything creating a vodka chugging, bear wrestling behemoth russian superman though

The SoG
Jessica
March 30th, 2009 @ 7:09 pm

I use Perform Better in class so that’s all I know, but I have had problems with the bottoms being small/rubberized. I banged my knee up pretty good one day and had to stay out of class for a week while doing renegade rows and having the bell roll out beneath me.
Kelly Turner
April 1st, 2009 @ 5:36 pm

ooo you know what i love? when the kettlebells are 3 pounds each and bright pink. Cause im a woman, which means exercise is fun if my equipment matches my outfit.
Rayna
April 2nd, 2009 @ 1:48 pm

I think the only thing a 3 lb kettlebell is good for is a paper weight… or maybe for my cat to do turkish get ups with.
Eugene Thong
April 5th, 2009 @ 11:17 am

“To explain, there’s nothing magic about kettlebells as opposed to dumbbells.”

It’s so rare to hear someone admit this - kudos. Hard, consistent effort on quality exercises + sound nutrition = Magic. Whatever your preferred brand of poison.

Nice post.
Gubernatrix - All round strength training
April 14th, 2009 @ 9:37 am

One of the things that has surprised me about kettlebells is their popularity with women. I don’t know why, although I suspect it may be down to astute marketing. I recall that even in the early days there was a DVD specifically targeted at women.

Despite the marketing, what is counter-intuitive for me (and I’m a woman myself) is that women seem to be more keen to swing a kettlebell than a barbell or a dumbbell (or they are happy to use a 12kg kettlebell but not a 12kg dumbbell).

If anyone can explain, I’ll be interested to hear it.
Leslie
April 28th, 2009 @ 8:34 am

There’s nothing magic about KBs, yes, but shall we then agree that the biophysics of KBs are slightly different than DB/BBells? More specifically, where is the center of mass wrt the palm of your hand?

The more offset the center of mass is, the less leverage you have. The less leverage you have, the less efficient you are, which means the more you have to stabilize, and the heavier a weight “seems” per unit pound/kg.

Magic? No. Efficient, effective, and portable? I’d hazard to say yes.

Then again, Pavel has put the hurt on me in person and perhaps I am a little biased!

@Gubernatrix — swinging a kbell between the legs just seems more natural than pressing a barbell/dumbbell over the head. Perhaps it’s that the kbell swing works the posterior chain strongly whereas it’s not obvious how to load in a similar fashion with barbells/dbells.
cmason
April 28th, 2009 @ 2:13 pm

Leslie - I agree, that they do have some advantages. They’re a valuable tool a lot of people can integrate into their training. My concern, and a frequent theme of this blog, is people losing sight of the big picture because they’re mesmerized by the latest “gee wiz” fads.

Personally if I was stocking a gym I’d prefer to use KBs. There isn’t really anything that I do with DBs I can’t also do with them, but the opposite is not true at all.

The fact that they’re roughly double the price for the same poundage makes me question if the cost is worth it though.
micki
June 2nd, 2009 @ 8:03 pm

I’ve been using KB’s for about a month now. I have a 10 lb. and 15 lb. (yes, I bought them at target) that I switch off with.
I have to say I love working out this way and it shows in higher energy levels, better sleep,
and a real carry-over when I do other forms of exercise like running/cardio, tabatas, etc…
There are no “instant” solutions, but if a person’s willing to put in the minimum time (I do KB drills just 20 minutes 3 days a week and they kick butt!) there WILL be a definite pay off.
And of course patience pays every time.