Anyone doing kettlebell routines?

omnisis

I attribute no small part of my success in losing 20+ lbs in less than 30 days to doing kettlebell routines 4-5 times a week. I was wondering if anyone else on MFP is doing kettlebells and if so what routines are you following? Also what else are putting into the mix? For me it's been sprint-style running, bodyweight excercise routines (push-up, pull-up, squats, jump rope) and the occasional long jog. One of the great things about kettlebells is you can workout every day and the workouts are short (usually 30 mins or less) which really lets you throw them in with just about any other kind of fitness regime. As I have gotten older I've taken the "shorter workouts more often" approach and I find that (for me at least) it is more enjoyable and less stressful because I get a little release every single day (or 6 days a week in my case) and I don't obsess about "missing" workouts anymore.

OneFitMom_

I've been wanting to try those!!!!!

trimom63

I've been curious about them too for a while....I'm just not adventurous enough to give them a try I guess!!

Delicate

I love them but I havent done them without being in a kettlebell class

I find it hard to put out my own routine, i like classes but they stopped doing them

misscfe

I love kettlebell exercises! My trainer got me into them and we still use them on occasion. I also do kettlebells on my own too. I mix up my routine a lot so I don't do any one thing too often. I do mostly upper body work with them as I have patella fibromyalgia in my knees and am currently limited on my exercises. According to my trainer kettlebell workouts burn more calories then most other types of workouts.

idream2bgwen

I kettlebells!!! They are incredibly addicting and I recommend them to most people. I have never done them on my own...only in a class. But my credits are about to expire so I am considering getting a dvd and some of my own kettlebells. But in class my weights I use are 15, 20, 25, 35 and 40. Don't think I want to buy all of those. Hmmmm.... ???
:bigsmile:

nph1960

I'm just starting to add a few sets of the very basic moves after my elliptical workout. I have a Jillian Michaels Shred it with Weights DVD, but I haven't had the patience to work through all the moves. What KB workout do you do?

makinitcount44

Do you do them at home on your own or in a class? I would love a great routine for home...I only have a 10lb kettlebell though. I think that they are great!!

lauz45

I just bought a 7.5kg kettlebell today! And I can tell i'm going to love it already. At the moment i'm just trying to teach myself good form, just started doing kettlebell swings, squats, one arm swings, cleans and then like a clean into a snatch. There's a girl on youtube who has tons of really good instructional exercises (kitty8tim) so i'm using those and other sources on the net to get all the moves down, then i'll try and create some set workouts.

I've also got myself a speed rope, eventually I want to do HIIT with it, but i'm building myself up at the moment at 2 speeds, but only for about a minute each! I've done about 5 mini sessions with the rope today. I find it so much easier to exercise this way, i've got a big space in my living room so it's easy at several times during the day to pick up the rope or kettlebell. I'm building up to set workouts

omnisis

I've been using the "Skogg System" set of DVDs from Michael Skogg and I would recommend to someone looking to learn basic kettlebell moves with a solid foundation. He is the guy that Weider hired to do their "Powerbell" instructional DVD. The DVD uses 6 basic moves in each workout (swings, cleans, clean and press, high pull, squat and snatch). It took me properly a month to master just those 6 basic moves. It's not because they are hard per se, it's just a different type of exercise than anything I've ever done before. I think the approach of concentrating on just a few exercise and doing different workouts really helped my muscle memory and enjoyment of the exercise. The DVDs emphasize form which I would have never gotten down on my own unless I hired a trainer. The workouts themselves are the same 6 exercises but with varying levels of intensity from straight sets to intervals to ladders and then something called "flow" which is like a continuously moving circuit. I am still progressing thus far and I defintely haven't maxed out my capability with the DVDs.

As for the bells themselves it's kind of annoying that they are more expensive per pound/kilo than dumbbells but I pretty much stick with 2 kettlebells for all my excercises right now. Some friends of mine have bought adjustable kettlebells like the Powerbell as well but I prefer the simplicity of a simple "canonball with a handle". I don't know if I would recommend this type of workout over regular strength training for someone with plenty of time, but right now I love being able to spend only 30 minutes downstairs after the baby is sleeping and burn nearly 600 calories while also building my muscular endurance and functional strength.

Italiandoglover

I also bought the Skogg System, and in the last month have dropped nearly 12 pounds. Fantastic DVD set for at home. I also own Art of Strength series Providence and Newport, which are a more advanced kettlbell workout with15 2 minute rounds with 1 minute rest intervals. Very tough. I found a Punch gym(an affiliate gym of Art of Strength) which trains with kettlebells, battle ropes and suspension training in my area and am going to join it tomorrow morning, the overall strength and cardio workouts at the same time is the best feeling you can get. I highly recommend kettlebells, I use just 3 weight sizes myself, depending what i am going for, 3 days of weight training 2 days of cardio. Have fun with it.

djbasham

I'm very interested in incorporating kettlebells into my fitness routine. Any recommendations on what size to get? I'm 6'3" and 212lbs.

omnisis

@djbasham

Really depends on your current fitness level. If you are under 30%BF and have done weightlifting in the past then I think you could probably start off with a 35 lb bell. Even if you are a beast, 35lbs is a good weight to start out with to learn the moves. I routinely alternate b/w a 35lb and a 44lb bell right now depending on the workout I am doing and whether or not I want to improve strength or muscular endurance but if I were trapped on an island and could only have 1 piece of fitness equipment then I'd have to take my 35lb bell. The kettlebell routines are more "full body conditioning" (think boxer or mma fighter) than "musclehead" type routines which means that you won't see the huge difference in weights amoung moderately to extremely healthy individuals that you do in the gym (no one presses a 200 lb kettlebell). Although you can go super-heavy with lower reps for strength, you would be better served doing barbell deadlifts, heavy squats, push-presses, etc for that kind of thing.