Kettlebells
Review by Joann Bally CSCS
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The kettlebell is a traditional Russian strength training device. It’s as simple as they come: an iron ball with a rigid handle. The kettlebell owes its current popularity to Pavel Tsatsouline, a former Soviet special forces trainer who now trains U.S. law enforcement personnel and anyone else with the money to get into his seminars. He teamed with Dragon Door, and they somehow made the iron ball a hot fitness item. Most people who use a kettlebell want to get stronger, but it will also give you some anaerobic fitness and muscle toning. It’s supposed to be a hard workout, so if you don’t like those, the kettlebell isn’t for you.
I recently went a couple of months without going to the gym, which is a long time for me. I was having too much fun working out at home with my kettlebell. When I went back to the gym, I tested myself on a few machines and dumbbell exercises I had done before. Training is specific, but I wanted to know if I maintain strength in those exercises with the kettlebell workouts. I was actually able to do an extra couple of reps at the same weight in the leg press and shoulder press. I slipped a bit in the pulldown and vertical bench, and was about the same on biceps curl, triceps extension, and hanging leg raise. So it seems I generally maintained strength on the gym exercises through kettlebell work.
Dragon Door makes a good pair of kettlebells. You can probably find cheaper ones, but make sure the company is reliable. Get your training materials from Dragon Door. Pavel’s books and dvd’s are entertaining as well as educational, and there are other good materials as well.
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