Great Stoner Workout: Kettlebell

Sort of in line with my yoga routines, I am always interested in new ways of compressing time by getting more bang for your effort. A couple of weeks ago I was introduced to the Russian kettlebell and began to research its potential as a workout tool. Also similar to yoga, the kettlebell mentality is one of fluid calmness and of finding a peaceful way to harness extreme power.

The kettlebell is essentially a cannon ball with a handle attached to it. As far as I can tell, it involves the harnessing of momentum to gracefully maneuver some pretty intense weights. The path I took into kettlebells lead me to Pavel Tsatsouline‘s Enter the Kettlebell.

Pavel refers to all of his students as “comrades” and drops funny lines throughout his book/DVD (including a line about metrosexual hand creams). Overall, he offers sound advice and movement instruction. If you can chuckle at the Russian Superman buzz phrases, there is a truly solid method of staying shape to be seen.

I like kettlebells because you can do them anywhere, they rock you to the core in under 30 minutes, and they offer the chance to strengthen your whole body with just a few simple movements (simple doesn’t mean easy!).

Pavel covers several activities in his series, but the beginner workout is comprised of just 2 exercises: The Swing and the Turkish Get-up. The recommendation is that for the average woman, start with a 10-20 lb kettlebell, for the average man, a 35 lb kettlebell. Normally you will find the measurements in kilograms instead of pounds, so be sure you ask for help if it’s unclear.

The Swing: Basically holding onto the handle and using your hip flexors to stand-up with vigor and create a swinging pendulum with the kettlebell swinging back and forth between your legs and topping out when your arms are chest level. This can also be done one-handed.

The Turkish Get-up: This one starts with you on your back and the kettlebell next to you on the floor. You get the kettlebell positioned on your chest and secured with one hand then you press the kettlebell to the sky, slowing standing up without bending the arm with the weight at all.  The video makes it much clearer:

There are lots of variations out there, but many kettlebell pros swear by just these two maneuvers. Personally, I set up a starter routine of 20 Swings followed by 5 minutes of Turkish Get-ups. Do that three times with a couple minute rest in between and you’ll be feeling why this holds such potential as a killer workout done safely, cheaply, and privately. As a side note, I train Wing Chun Kung Fu and I have found yoga and now kettlebells to be just the perfect companion workouts to keep me in good shape.

Give it a shot and let me know what you think guys!