Is Kettlebell a Good Workout?

I love kettlebell workouts. I love everything about them. I love how much fun it is to throw around a “bowling ball with a handle” and how completing a workout makes me feel. Not many people know what kettlebell is, but essentially, it’s a weight that you can do swings, or AB circuits with. My mom and I got our first kettlebell DVD a couple Christmases ago. We got the Kettlebell Kickboxing Scorcher Series created by Dasha Libin Anderson  The DVD claims to “burn 400-600 calories in under 35 minutes”. But, are kettlebell workouts a good and healthy workout choice?

Kettlebells date back to Ancient Greece and eventually made their way to Russia in the 18th century. Since then, it has been apart of the Russian culture and a way to develop strength. They made their way to North America late in the 20th century.  Recently they became popular with the military. Kettlebells can range from 5 lbs to 80 lbs, and you want to use only what you can handle.  But what makes them stay around for centuries? For one, they are portable.  You don’t need extensive workout machines to use a kettlebell. You pick one up and you’re ready to swing wherever you are. They are fun and relatively affordable.

Kettlebell uses a lot of muscles during the workout. When you swing, you use full body motions bringing together the core, legs and arms. The university of Southern Denmark did a study and found that when doing a kettlebell swing, your lower back and buttocks experience high-level activity.  This leads to positive outcomes. Your back gets stronger, meaning less back pain, and you become in sync with your breathing, which makes it safer to breath and exercise.

The research group of Chad Schnetter, John Porcari, Carl Foster and Mark Anders set up an experiment to test the benefits of kettlebell workouts. They took a group of people and had them do different kettlebell workouts for 20 minutes. They concluded that within those 20 minutes, they burned on average 272 calories; each member responding positively about the kettle bell workout.  Another study was done similar to Chad and his group’s and they concluded that “kettlebell training could be a useful addition to strength and conditioning programs that aim to develop the ability to rapidly apply force,” and that “Kettlebells appear to be suboptimal for increasing aerobic power and maximal strength.”

The only negative effects that come with kettlebell workouts are the same that come with any workout; fatigue, back pain, and injury. But that’s the risk you take when you pick up weights. For me, kettlebell is a way to build up my strength and stamina. It allows me to be healthy and powerful in a short amount of time. During my experience with kettlebell, I became stronger in a short amount of time and built up endurance as well. I think that the research backs me up when I say that kettlebell is one of the best methods of working out and getting healthy.