What was old is new again.  Is it nostalgia?  Not this time.  Kettlebells have actually been around for hundreds of years in one form or another.  It’s just a tried and true method of “swinging” your way into shape that doesn’t involve big band music and poodle skirts.  So what is a kettlebell?  It’s basically a cast iron ball similar to a cannonball where a loop that you can grip is welded to the ball giving you the ability to lift it and even swing it every-which-way when doing whatever exercise or drills that come to mind.  Normally the weights you see will vary from 10-100lbs in varying increments.

The primary purpose of kettlebell training is to increase functional strength and explosive speed.  So most “swingers” in the kettlebell lifestyle are athletes who are training to increase their performance in their respective sport.  Honestly when I first saw them my question to those who use them was, “What’s the difference between kettlebells and dumbbells?”  Seeing as how both can be gripped with one (or sometimes two) hands, my first impression was that kettlebells are just another marketing scheme to sell fitness gear.  But the “swingers” swear by them for several reasons that are legitimate on several fronts.

When it comes to swinging a kettlebell with two hands, it has an advantage over a dumbbell since most dumbbells have a narrower grip.  This narrow grip in dumbbells is because A) they are really only meant for one-handed use, and B) they have plates on both sides that gives weight to the dumbbell.  Also, since kettlebells are a smooth and compact ball, it allows you to avoid bashing yourself in the knees if you are swinging the kettlebell between your legs.  With larger dumbbells you would have to perform the same movement with possibly an unnatural stance.

When it comes to stability for overhead presses, kettlebells are much more stable due to their lower center of gravity when compared to dumbbells.  In addition, the ball portion of the kettlebells stabilized since it will maintain contact with your forearm throughout the press that further adds stability.  In fact, dumbbells often require much more assistance from training partners when doing presses overhead since they are so unstable when using the heavier weights.  While instability is good for developing your coordination, the risk to reward ratio falls dramatically once you are getting into the weights that could severely injure you should you slip in the slightest.  Kettlebells also have risks of injury if used improperly, especially to the wrists, but as long as you are not performing the “catches” where you whip the weight around your wrist, your risk of injury is negligible if not non-existant altogether.

Finally many people just prefer training with kettlebells because they are quick to grab during transition when doing circuits and are less cumbersome during the movement.  Due to their flat bottom, kettlebells will not roll away from you if you need to put them down quickly only to pick them up quickly later.

Since kettlebells are dynamic pieces of training equipment, describing the complex movements of swinging and pressing does not do them justice.  Therefore we’ll be assembling a series of instructional videos that will give you a better idea of what to expect in this hot “new” trend in the fitness lifestyle and post them here.  In the meantime, feel free to ask our resident kettlebell expert coaches as to how you might incorporate them into your training.  If anything, kettlebells make for an outstanding source of variety to keep your training fresh and interesting.

I plan to do a local version of this documentary as I posted earlier here in the Philippines.  For inspiration, below is the full version of Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days.  Most Filipinos can relate to this film since just as Americans are a diverse group with a wide range of ethic backgrounds so is the average Filipino.  Most Filipinos are a one or a mixture of the following ethnicities:  Chinese, Malay, Japanese, Korean, Caucasian, Black, Latino, etc due to several hundred years of foreign occupations, refugee immigration, and military bases stationed here.  So the documentary does an outstanding job of picking a wide range of races and ethnicities to show how the program will theoretically work for all of those who can take it seriously and follow it with discipline for 30 days.

Throughout the film you will see how many drugs and medications these individuals will be able to abandon forever and blow the minds of their doctors who, up until then, had never seen or heard of curing something that was “supposed to have no cure”.  You will also see the struggles of some of the subjects with respect to how they must deal with the “withdrawal” symptoms of food.  As I’ve said before, there is no doubt that food is one of the most powerfully addictive “drugs” that will give you both euphoric highs after eating and crushingly depressive lows when you are deprived of a craving.  But when watching this film be sure to ask yourself whether or not cravings are “natural” or rather a highly addictive side-effect of eating unhealthy processed food.  While I’ll always say that everything in moderation is okay, obviously that is a very relative statement for many people who have little restraint.  To be clear, those who abuse their bodies and feel the dramatic highs and lows are technically no better than the addict or shabu junkie on the corner looking for their next fix.

Again, think about what I said above when watching this film.  Also notice that those who put their heart and soul into the project got more out of if than they believed possible.  What made them successful was that they had an open mind.  A few others in the film were negative, self-loathing, prideful, and defeatist in that they could not accept that they had been doing something wrong their entire lives.  They could not accept that “authorities”, i.e. their doctors might have been all wrong this whole time.  As I’ve said elsewhere, pride is a very powerful thing and something that I do not fully understand.  Pride is so powerful for some people that they’d rather die and take everyone down with them (like the crab mentality) to avoid admitting that they made a mistake.  Even if you can get them to admit that there is nothing wrong with learning from their mistakes (since nobody is perfect) they resent you as if you take pleasure in their faults.  Nobody can possibly win in a situation like that.  Therefore for something like this to work, it often requires a group effort and support from those who are going through the same things that you experience.  Just like working out where you are much more motivated to train inside of a gym since you feed off of the energy of those around you, the best results of a detoxification eating plan are seen when you surround yourself with positive and like minded people.

Finally take note that while this documentary focuses on diabetes, it also can be applied to treating or curing nearly every chronic disease known to humankind.  There is no greater power to cure than a healthy lifestyle and good nutrition.  Food is the ultimate “medicine” and, when used properly, it can treat or cure anything.

Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days Part 1

Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days Part 2

Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days Part 3

Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days Part 4

Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days Part 5

Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days Part 6

Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days Part 7

Be sure to pass this along to all of your friends and family so that they too may help ease the suffering of another or even save a life.  I have yet to meet someone who wasn’t changed forever after watching this documentary.  In the future, the life you save may be your own.