If you’ve never heard of Kettle Bell training, you’re not really alone, despite information on it being readily available on the internet and, lately, on national television. Then again, it isn’t so mainstream and well known that you could expect to see Regis Philbin and Michael Gelman trading quips and swinging a broad path with a Kettle Bell just shy of Kelly Ripa’s head – though they may think about it between commercial breaks.  

If you’ve never seen one, a Kettle Bell may look odd Well, a Kettle Bell is a bowling ball type object (about that size) with a handle on it. It’s typically fashioned out of cast iron, and comes in a variety of different weights, depending upon your core strength and condition at the time you begin training with them. Most often, you can purchase them online or in fitness stores in weights varying from 20 lbs to 50 lbs. Because they are not supposed to approximate an apples-to-apples

Like any form of training, Kettle Bell training has emerged as a new, popular form of resistance training, utilizing an innovative apparatus with which to work. But KB training is far from some nostalgic craze.  The Kettle Bell’s roots and origins are steeped in Russian strongman culture, and the apparatus has been in existence since the 1940’s. Kettle Bells were, in fact, created as a training device for Russian strongmen, and other explosive strength-dependent athletes. The first official KB competition was held in 1948 and subsequent competitions followed as the “sport” became more popular in the USSR. Since that time, various track athletes, and Olympic weightlifters have used KB training to improve their performance.

Kettle Bell lifting was a means by which wrestlers and other sportsmen were able to “cross-train” for their respective sports. Many of these titans claimed to owe their success, in large part, to KB lifting, and devised many exercises that could creatively and effectively utilize this apparatus to create strength, stamina and resilience in their given athletic arena.

But it’s critical for an athlete to know when and how to use this method of training, and be able to understand how to utilize proper technique for the movements, since they are somewhat unconventional and require an already developed base of strength in the core and joints. Safety is important since these are unconventional movements using resistance. Take the time to develop some precursory core stability, general strength, mobility and flexibility before endeavoring this sort of training method. We suggest using medicine balls, general core work such as Pilates and pliometrics beforehand.

Geoff Eliason, Assistant Strength Coach for Indiana University, uses Kettle Bell training to enhance his track athlete’s performance, strength and explosivity. “The periodization model used for track athletes at IU begins in September of each school year, with a four week period of general fitness training, followed by a six week cycle of strength training, and a four week phase of power training. An in-season training plan for indoor and outdoor is implemented, followed by a three week transition phase and an eight week off season phase that focuses largely on work capacity and strength. It’s during this transition phase, the off season phase and the precursory general fitness training that we use the Kettle Bells.”

After all “work capacity” provides the building blocks to handle greater volume and higher intensity throughout the yearly training cycle. Work capacity is what KB training is all about for, say, a throwing sport. As Elias says, “It provides the means to train using high volumes while effectively taxing the nervous system, developing overall strength, functionally training the abdominals and low back, and provides phenomenal mobility and flexibility throughout the extremeties and shoulder complex.”

For a bodybuilder, who does not make a name by throwing a discus or javelin, Kettle Bell training might seem less appealing. But if strength and work capacity improves through the use of KB training, and shoulders and trunk become fortified with the ability to handle greater intensity and workload, this can only be a benefit.

You may look at Kettle Bells and think, “They look like differently configured than dumbbells, but can’t I do virtually the same thing with the free weights in my gym?” Well, the answer is, they look like dumbbells but function much more like medicine balls that you toss around, but that never quite leave your fingers and hand. They merely travel along an arc or range of motion that is much broader than the traditionally narrow range of motion one uses with a dumbbell or barbell, so it really does appear to be a kind of “swing” that never sees the apparatus leave the hand. Because it demands a broader range of motion, that means that a great deal more core stability is involved, and a great deal of core strength is developed as a result. 

Conventional weight/ resistance training develops short burst strength: the user hoists maximum poundage for relatively few reps in order to maximally stimulate muscle hypertrophy. Sustained strength, however, is different from short-burst strength. Sustained strength is an athletic attribute particularly prized by wrestlers, boxers, mixed martial artists, football, and basketball players. The common thread is participation in events of long duration where last minute flurries of strength make the difference between winning and losing.

Systematic use of KB training provides the elusive athletic attribute of sustained strength. It is one thing to lift a bus or a grand piano or squat 1200-pounds with a burst of short, and brutish power, but it is quite another matter to exert significant strength deep into a lengthy and grueling training session, athletic competition or event.

Many players in the NFL might have the ability to bench press 400-pounds at the beginning of a sixty-minute session in the iron room, but how many could bench that same 400 in the last two minutes of a grueling game? Sustained strength is  specific, and is nurtured and developed through systematic training. KB is capable of providing the means to do this. Through the use of multiple sets conducted with little rest, higher than normal repetitions and an exaggerated range-of-motion, sustained strength is gradually developed over time, and continues to improve steadily. This means a lot of practice!

Powerlifters, bodybuilders and athletes who train using modern day resistance training tactics are tremendously strong within the technical definition and range of the specific exercises they practice, but in-between strength is something these exercises do not provide. KBs fill in the gaps that separate conventional exercises from each other, and build the elusive in-between strength that is capable of producing a physique that many believe can only be built by using anabolic steroids.

But consider this… if you practice only one type of movement, within a very narrow, specified range, and that provides just one stream or type of strength, and development, what could be achieved by pursuing anything outside those very tight lines? Kettle Bell training colors outside of those lines.

Generally speaking conventional weight training exercises can be reduced to two dimensions: either push the resistance away, or conversely, pull the resistance towards the body. Often athletic situations demand the application of strength from positions of disadvantage and poor leverage. Kettle Bells provide the means to execute movement and performance within those situations, injury-free.  KBs provide muscle power, outside the lines of convention, filling in the gaps that exist within the confines of conventional weight training.

SAMPLE KETTLE BELL ROUTINE (there are a vast amount of routines and exercises available on the internet or on DVDs and in books)

Indiana University’s Strength Program – 5 Kettle Bell Exercises

  (For all: 3-5 sets x 6-10 reps)

TWO HAND HIGH PULL

This exercise is initiated with the bottom position of the squat. While grasping the KB, the athlete keeps his chest up and back flat, actively extending the legs and hips, followed by an upright row motion of the arms. The KB is returned to the ground immediately in a squatting motion. The next rep is immediately executed.

TWO ARM SWING

The starting position is the same as on the high pull. The athlete extends the legs and hips dynamically, in the same manner. But instead of finishing the movement with a pulling motion, the KB is driven away from the body until the arms are fully extended away from the body and are parallel to the ground (similar to a front raise for shoulders). Return to starting position and begin the next rep immediately.

ONE ARM HIGH PULL

This exercise uses the same exact technique as the first two, but is carried out using one arm at a time.

ONE ARM SWING

Begin using the exact technique in all three above, in the squatting position. Hold the KB with the right hand (then left) with palm facing the left leg. The legs and hips are aggressively extended as the KB is driven to right arms’ length away from the body. The athlete then switches hands, grabbing the KB with the left, and then the athlete returns to the squatting position with the KB in the opposite hand ready to go.

ONE ARM SQUAT TO PRESS

The KB is supported on the right shoulder and held with the right hand. Standing in an erect position to start, the athlete proceeds to descend into a squat. As he aggressively stands up from the squat, he drives the KB overhead to arm’s length. The bell is then returned to the shoulder as the athlete returns into the bottom of the squat for the next rep.

Short List Benefits of KB 

  ~ Develops strength, flexibility, mobility, and sustained strength and power

  ~ If you can begin using KB and remain injury-free, your potential to remain injury-free throughout other types of workouts and while engaging in sport-specific activity, is very likely

  ~ Your body will not only be more functionally strong, powerful, mobile and flexible, you’ll also derive immense cardiovascular and fat loss benefits from high intensity training

  ~ You’ll achieve an in-between/ sustained strength you could not achieve through conventional methods, which gives you the ability to perform longer at a higher rate of performance in any capacity

Short List Disadvantages of KB

  ~ You need a well-developed base of core strength prior to endeavoring any KB workout

  ~ The potential for injury, without a good base of knowledge of form and function using Kettle Bells, means that you quite often need supervision

  ~  They are awkward and do not store easily

  ~  If you’re not careful, you can mercilessly whack other body parts in the swing

  ~  You have to be very mindful of understanding the relevance of a particular weight

A final note on cardiovascular intensity…

When you are able to work out at the same relative strength, through a longer duration, yet each passing moment is of the same high intensity as the first and last, you are achieving a lung-searing state of cardio fitness that has to be felt to be appreciated. As anyone who has experimented with short and long duration cardio can attest, a new realm of fitness from cardio training develops. This kind of cardio training facilitates the mobilization of fatty acids and stored body fat that, when used with a sensible diet, can transform a body into shape much more rapidly than those hour long, low-intensity cardio sessions you may have thought you had to do in the past.