There’s this guy that works out at the same gym as I do. I see him there every day mid-afternoon and he’s getting after it, throwing the weights around, training chest and biceps four times a week.
His passion and intensity level is inspiring; but I also know, because he’s a nice guy and I talk to him almost every day, that he wants to lose fat. And I know that there’s probably a more effective way to go about doing it than his current training system – to say the least.
My almost daily exposure to this spectacle has got me thinking: kettlebell training is like the ‘great equalizer’. Take someone who thinks they’re training hard, who’s training using this body part split, bodybuilding style workout, and have them do swings for 10 or 15 minutes. I’ve done it lots of times, and I know that this person gets smoked 9 times out of 10. In fact, most times they can’t make it the full 15 minutes.
On the other hand, I have female clients who are under 130 pounds that can do more swings and squats with a 24 kilo (53 pound) kettlebell than most men.
The point is, kettlebell training has a tendency of evening the playing field. If you think you’re in good shape, get someone who knows what they’re talking about to teach you the basics (or at the very least pick up a copy of the KettlebellBasics.net Quick Start Guide) and give kettlebell training a try.
And to help you learn more about the basics of training with kettlebells, here are a few posts from the archives to get you going:
Keep training hard!