The Power of Kettlebells
Written By Gabriel Hunter Marsh
Liona, doing a conditioning session with an kettlebell.
A Brief History of The Kettlebell
The kettlebell, as we know it, was used in Russia as a counter weight to weigh out crops in the 18th century. It quickly became a tool used by amateur strength athletes and in the late 19th century, official strongman kettlebell competitions were born.
What do Kettlebells Do?
Kettlebells can cover broad aspects of training depending on your needs. For example, you could program them into your routine to help you gain overall strength, as part of a HIIT workout, to help improve speed-strength, or even as a prehab or rehab tool depending on the weight and movements you want to do with them. Another unique aspect of kettle bells is that you can use them in all the planes of motion without having to fork out on loads of equipment.
In effect, Kettlebells can be used for whatever you want them to be used for, making them a powerful tool in anyone’s training arsenal.
What Movements Should I do?
There are many kettlebell movements to suit each individual’s training needs. However, to get started, there are a few movements that I think athletes and fitness junkies should master first in order to build a base of strength and the proper motor unit skills required before diving into the weird and wonderful variations of kettlebell movements.
The kettlebell squat: Learning how to squat properly will improve your athletic capacity in arguably every sport. A kettlebell squat is unique compared to most squat variations; the upper back muscles have to work tremendously hard to keep the chest upright when the weight is heavy enough. This is a great tool for combat athletes when training strength and conditioning, as the position of keeping one’s hands up and working the upper back and traps simulates being in the clinch with an opponent. The zercher squat has similar benefits – see my blog on squatting for more.
The classic kettlebell swing: An amazing movement, I cannot emphasise enough how useful it is. So much is covered in this movement: an athlete’s grip, legs, posterior chain, and upper back (also highly important for combat sports athletes). This simple kettlebell movement on its own is an athletic movement because with the appropriate weight, it is a ballistic and strength exercise. Simple variations of this exercise (once the original movement is mastered) could be a double kettlebell swing — using two kettlebells in each hand, or a single arm kettlebell swing — swinging a kettlebell using one hand only to grip it.
The kettlebell press: What makes the kettlebell press different to other overhead lifts such as the barbell press and the dumbbell press is the range of movement the kettlebell press offers due to the handle position. I can’t think of any other pieces of equipment that offer such a long range of movement for the overhead press, the technique for the kettlebell press is also not as complex as the technique to safely and properly press with a barbell, meaning someone can start pressing and gaining strength in their press sooner rather than later.
The kettlebell clean: This is crucial for power development as it is impossible to perform a clean slowly. You will also gain core strength from cleaning by stabilising your core while racking the kettlebell.
If you are new to kettlebells, these lifts can and will keep you busy trying to master them for quite some time, with so many variations for progress!
