The Kettlebell

The Kettlebell

Recently I have been including a lot of kettlebell work in my training.  I’m not training for a specific event currently, just to stay strong for life and as such I don’t need to focus on a specific barbell lift, I can just train for the fun and challenge of it. So why use kettlebells? I like them because of the offset weight, which means they can be used to pull and swing explosively.  With a little practice they can be excellent for pressing with that offset weight naturally pulling the arm back, so it tends to aid form.

The kettlebell can still be a little divisive though, with coaches on one side of the argument such as Pavel Tsatsouline, who’s description of the kettlebell is of a panacea for all that ails you.  On the flip side of that coin, we have coaches like Mark Rippetoe[1] declaring it entirely useless. The truth, like most things, is somewhere in the middle. It is a tool that can be employed, it is not necessarily going to be the solution to all thing’s fitness (though it is certainly versatile) and as it has mass it isn’t useless either.

For example, as part of the Saxon trio’s act Arthur (the strongest of the three) would lift a heavy kettlebell that one of his brothers would be sat upon, overhead. Footage thought to be from the first Olympics also shows the kettlebell being used as part of the weightlifting competition.

With the introduction of the three Olympic lifts in 1928 and the decline of the vaudeville strongman act through the 1920s, the kettlebell saw a bit of a decline, at least it did in the western world where the barbell became king. At the beginning of the twenty first century however, thanks to authors such as Pavel Tsatsouline[2] the kettlebell saw an enormous resurgence and now it is a commonplace tool again. As they started to become available again, they have generally been cast iron, and whilst initially they were available as 16kg, 24kg and 32kg (which were the traditional sizes) one can now get kettlebells in sizes from as small as 2kg to the whopping 92kg[3].  There is a sport of kettlebell lifting and this uses competition sized kettlebells (all the kettlebells in the range are of equal size). Competition kettlebells are usually steel and hollowed out to some extent on the inside. They are either left hollowed or have more material added[4] to various extent dependent on the stated weight.

Typically people tend to be in one particular camp or another, so often you’ll find people who only train with kettlebells or only train with barbells or dumbbells.  If you only have access to a few kettlebells you can still get strong using just them. You don’t have to limit yourself though, there is no reason why you can’t mix barbells, kettlebells and dumbbells into the same program.  This is what I’m doing just now. I shall touch a bit more on using the kettlebell over the next few weeks so watch out for new articles.

[1] Mark Rippetoe, author of “Starting Strength” published by the Asgard company 2005.

[2] Pavel Tsatsouline’s book “The Russian Kettlebell Challenge” published by Dragon door inc 2001 is generally seen as restarting the interest in Kettlebell lifting in the West.

[3] Available from Rogue.

[4] In Russia it was often lead that was then poured in through a hole in the bottom.