Top 5 Benefits of Kettlebell Training

Top 5 Benefits of Kettlebell Training

Kettlebell training has rapidly become the new fitness craze, and with good reason.  Who doesn’t want to burn fat, improve endurance, and increase strength all in one quick workout?

1. Muscle Integration versus Isolation

For hundreds of years, kettlebell training has focused on muscle integration rather than isolation.  Unlike dumbbells, kettlebells promote ballistic exercises, such as swings, clean, snatches, and jerks.  The off-centered weight recruits multiple muscle groups to work in unison, providing a greater physical challenge to the body versus standard dumbbells, and therefore burns more calories.  Ballistic movements are not the only exercises that you can profit from by using a kettlebell, as there are many others, including the turkish get-up and windmill, both of which develop a solid midsection and increase shoulder stability. With kettlebells, the whole body is trained with particular focus on the core and back muscles.  The versatility in exercises, which can include both fast and slow-twitch muscle fibers, makes kettlebell training one of the most effective (and cheapest) ways to get an effective workout.

2. 30 Minutes or Less

Perhaps the most enticing benefit of kettlebell training is the ability to push out a calorie-blasting workout in less than 30 minutes.   Kettlebell training, when done properly, is performed with minimal to no rest and incorporates both cardiovascular and resistance training. This enables you to perform a killer total body workout in about half the time of a standard gym workout.

3.  Shed Fat

Kettlebell training is a great way to promote fat loss. First, swinging around a heavy weight that recruits multiple muscle groups increases your metabolic cost, and therefore burns maximal calories. Second, the interval style training encourages muscle confusion, which is necessary for optimal fat loss. Lastly, the combination of cardiovascular and resistance training promotes lean muscle mass, which can tap into fat stores long after your workout is complete.

4. Variety and Fun

Kettlebell training can be fun and provide variety to your workout regimen. As there are hundreds of simple and unique exercises you can do with a single kettlebell, it’s easy to avoid boredom.

5. Improve Muscle Endurance

The high repetition type of training that is used with kettlebells improves muscle endurance. Specifically, kettlebell training can significantly increase muscle endurance in the back, an area of the body that’s often overlooked in weight training.

It doesn’t stop there! These are only a few of the numerous benefits of kettlebell training. This type of exercise is tough, however if you gradually build up the intensity and duration of your workout, kettlebell training can provide a fabulous workout to get you fit, lean and healthy in a surprisingly short amount of time