Kettlebell training has a large number of different advantages and lets you train your body from different angles and in a far more functional range of motion.
But what’s really great about the kettlebell is versatile it is as a tool and how it allows you develop your fitness and health in numerous different ways.
If you want to build strength, then you can do so by using single joint isolation movements and heavy resistance. This will create muscle fiber tears, flood your muscles with metabolites and generally help you to encourage more growth.
At the same time though, you can also use a kettlebell to lose weight and it happens to be particularly well suited to that goal. Let’s look at how you might do that…
The Exercises
The great thing about the kettlebell is that it allows you to perform resistance cardio. This means you are using cardiovascular training that increases your heartrate and helps you to burn fat. At the same time though, you are also lifting weight, which protects your muscle from breakdown and increases the challenge, thereby increasing the amount of calories burned and the amount of effort involved.
Also useful, is that the kettlebell allows you to train in this manner on the spot and without a lot of tools. Unlike running, you can enjoy kettlebell training in any whether and in a short space of time.
And to get the very most of this, you can combine the kettlebell as a tool with the HIIT modality. HIIT is ‘high intensity interval training’ – a form of exercise that challenges you to alternate between brief bursts of high intensity exertion and shorter periods of relatively steady-state exercise.
In this case for example, you might perform the kettlebell swing for 1 minutes and then rest for 30 seconds before going again.
The kettlebell swing is an ideal movement for resistance cardio that involves swinging the kettlebell between your legs and then straight back up in the air using a slight hip thrust movement to provide the forward momentum.
The Diet
To lose weight, this training must be combined with the right type of diet.
That diet should be one that is relatively low in calories. The objective here is to burn more calories in a day than you consume. So if you normally burn 2,000 calories and consume 2,200 calories, you can increase that burn to 2,400 using HIIT training and you can then reduce the amount you eat to 2,100 calories. Now you’re losing 300 calories every day!
Try to eat more protein and you will support more muscle growth while reducing fat storage. Combine this with 4 workouts a week, lasting about 20 minutes each and you should start to see the results you’re looking for using just this one tool and one movement.
Remember though, weight loss is only achievable if you change your entire lifestyle and habits. It is not enough to simply add in an exercise and forget about it! Walk more, spend less time in front of the TV and reduce unhealthy snacks!
