Why everyone should be swinging (the kettlebell)

No we do not mean taking your best friends partner home for a night of debauchery. What we are talking about is the Kettlebell.

The Kettlebell is a cast iron weight which looks like a cannon ball with a handle on top. It can be flung, swung or even hoisted. Fans of the Kettlebell include Jennifer Aniston, Penelope Cruz, Sly Stallone and Matthew McConaughey among many other stars. The Kettlebell is an amazing piece of equipment. Not only is it highly effective for rapid fat loss, it is cheap to buy and you do not require a lot of space to use one.

So why is the Kettlebell so effective?

Well we are going to let you into a little secret, it’s not actually the Kettlebell that is so effective, it’s the moves that you can do with the Kettlebell that melt off all that fat. Let us explain… The more muscles you can use in one exercise, the more calories from fat you will burn.

It’s simple really – ‘the bigger the exercise the more bang for your buck.’ When you train with Kettlebells, you will be using exercises such as swings, cleans and snatches amongst others. All these exercises require you to drive through the hips, activating your hamstrings – the big long muscles on the back of your legs, and your glutes – your bum (the biggest muscle in your body). You will also be stabilising and bracing your core muscles. This includes every muscle from the chest to the knees such as the transverse abdominus, obliques, ilio-psoas, spinal erectors, glute max, min and medius and many more. You will also be working your muscles designed for pulling – your back, shoulders and arm muscles ( lats, deltoids, biceps and the brachialis).

Compare this to your average workout in the gym, for example performing tricep dips off the side of the bench and bicep curls with the little pink dumbbells in the corner. These exercises solely work the biceps and triceps resulting in limited muscle activation and minimal calorific expenditure.
Now you understand that the more muscles you use during a session, the more fat you will burn. There is no question why everyone shouldn’t be grabbing a Kettlebell, and cracking on with those swings!

If you are interested in rapidly burning fat while gaining strength and increasing your cardiovascular fitness, please get in contact with the team at RESULTS PT.Personal Training Hampstead