If you’ve been a reader here long enough (1st post–2007), you know that I have been a fitness fanatic since forever. I first wrote about a kettlebell here and I was really excited to have 15 pound KB!! In my workouts now, I regularly swing either a 35 or a 53 and it is still challenging, especially when doing things such as Turkish Get Ups and One Arm Snatches.
Investing in a kettlebell is one of the best things you could do to ramp up your training, change your training or just test your strength. For my personal training, I like to use the kettlebell to improve my core strength and my upper body strength – one arm at a time– with movements such as the one arm snatch and the Turkish Get Up. We all have one arm that is stronger than the other, right? I use the KB to help improve my weaker arm and can see a difference when doing things such as handstand pushups and in the Olympic Lift, the Snatch.
How can a cyclist/runner/swimmer utilize a kettlebell and how can it help them? Well, if it’s used correctly it can improve midline stability, balance, overall strength, and stamina. Particular to a cyclist, for example, the 2-hand swing can help with upper body strength. A split squat lunge can improve leg strength and a farmer’s walk with two kettlebells can improve grip strength. In runners who typically have weak upper body strength swinging a kettlebell can help with that. Finally, in swimmers who have good upper body strength, they can use a KB as a barbell with exercises such as a front squat, weighted goblet squat, walking lunges as well as swinging the kettlebell above their heads to help improve their cardiovascular strength.
Kettlebells are just really great conditioning tools that can benefit all athletes and non-athletes alike. You can train yourself in these movements and there are many resources online to help you learn techniques and to design workouts.
If you’re an athlete in a different field as those mentioned above and use the kettlebell for your sport, please leave a comment! We would all love to hear how other athletes use a kettlebell for training or possibly for sport?
2 responses so far ↓
1 boot camping // Aug 9, 2012 at 3:15 am
kettle bell is really very good if you want to increase your arms strength rather upper body strength
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2 Seth King, CSCS // Aug 9, 2012 at 6:59 pm
Great info! Kettlebells are really underutilized I think. My favorite way to use them is in Tabata Training protocols. 4 brutal minutes for an amazing warm up or cool down. Good article!
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