A long time ago in a land far away, the iron men and women used to love tough training. Each workout was a battle and failure was not an option. They took their workouts seriously. You did not see these men and women reading newspapers between sets or engaging in trivial conversations.
These iron warriors of old did not care how big their pecs were; they did not spend countless hours trying the latest new gimmicks and wonder potions. No, these men and women enjoyed brutal training that was amazingly effective. As a result, old time strongmen such as Eugene Sandow and Arthur Saxon had incredible physiques and legendary strength.
Get Back in Touch
My friends, it is time to train like a man again and get back in touch that with visceral impulse that has been locked away for years. Thanks to strength coach Pavel Tsatsouline, brutal and effective training is back in the form of kettlebell training. No need to purchase a gym membership or spend $1,000 on expensive equipment.
One or two kettlebells are all that you need. You can train at home, or go outdoors and get some fresh air. Kettlebell training is a form of training that will not only improve the appearance of your physique, it will give you strength and mental toughness that you did not know was even possible.
What the hell is a kettlebell? Imagine a black bowling ball with a suitcase handle on it and you have an idea of what a kettlebell looks like. A kettlebell is a big hunk of iron that comes in several sizes: 35 pounds, 53 pounds, 70 pounds and now 100 pounds! Although you can do exercises with kettlebells such as: bench presses, curls, and rows.
The real value with kettlebells is derived from doing high repetition ballistic work such as: snatches, swings, cleans, and jerks. In addition, to giving your incredible muscular endurance, any excess fat that you have will melt off faster than you can imagine. In addition, kettlebell exercises such as: the Turkish get-up, bent presses, and windmills, will make your midsection hard as a rock.
You might be thinking that you could do all of the above exercises with dumbbells. While this is true, anyone that has used both will tell you that kettlebells are much harder to handle and yes in this case, harder is much better.
Kettlebell handles are much thicker than dumbbells and will give you a vice grip in no time. Also, the way the weight is displaced with a kettlebell, forces you to use more stabilizer muscles and work the targeted muscles through a longer range of motion.
Related Video One-Arm Swing
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For combat athletes and anyone else who likes it tough, the ballistic shock of kettlebells teaches you how to take a hit. The above reasons are why MMA fighters such as BJ Penn and Wallid Ismail are giving kettlebells a shot. Also, it is why top strength coaches such as Coach John Davies, Charles Poliquin, and Coach Ethan Reeve recommend kettlebell training to their athletes.
Not Convinced? Try This
Still skeptical, try the following experiment with a dumbbell. Take a 35-50-pound dumbbell and try doing three sets of 20 one-arm swings. You do swings by grabbing a dumbbell swinging it between your legs and then swinging it overhead in one smooth motion.
After you have done 20 swings with one arm, switch hands and do another 20 reps. Continue to go back and forth until you have done three sets of 20 reps.
One-Arm Kettlebell Swings
Make sure you have a vomit bag ready; you are going to need it. Now if you thought that was hard, imagine making that exercise several times harder with a kettlebell. Imagine how much fat your will burn and how your muscular endurance will go through the roof.
No doubt about it, high rep kettlebell training is an aerobic workout and great alternative to stepping classes, spinning classes and anything else that strips us of our manhood.
I have been training with kettlebells for over two years now and I have never been in better shape. In addition to being lean and strong, my body has learned how to work as one unit. My muscular endurance and mental toughness have improved tremendously.
Best of all, I do not have to go to the gym to get an incredible workout. Give kettlebells a shot for three months and I sincerely doubt that you will ever want to go back to barbell curls and leg raises. Once you have been infected with the power of kettlebells, there is no going back