Kettlebells over barbell? Really?

kettlebell workouts are INCREDIBLE. it improves hip drive, grip strength, tones all muscles in your body and improves cardiovascular endurance *all in one workout!* throw in some exercises tabata-style and you'll have a killer workout. i do KB/tabata workouts every saturday for 1hr and i'm WIPED after every workout.

How do you make a 4min workout last 1hr?

all of the KB classes i've done aren't pure KB but mixed in with Tabata moves. KB lifts and swings are about half of that but then we alternate lifts/swings with things like burpees, plyo training, bear crawls, ab work, ab work with KBs etc.

No offense but tabata isn't a type of move. It is a timing sequence, and a tabata workout by definition can only be 4 minutes long. Regardless of the exercises used, if a workout does not follow the specific timing sequence of 20 seconds work > 10 seconds rest 8 times in a row, it's not a tabata workout and shares nothing in common with one.

Also, I want to agree with someone who said earlier in the thread that this doesn't have to be an either/or approach with regards to KB or Barbells (or dumb bells). Why not incorporate them all into your routine? Along with some bodyweight type exercises as well.

All approaches have benefits that can be leveraged. Just align the benefits of each with whatever your particular fitness goals are and follow a program that includes exercises that are most beneficial to your goals.

I know it sounds like I'm over-simplifying everything. That's because I am. But really, that's about all there is to it.

Personally, kettlebells are easier for me to teach. They can also be safer.

One good example is with the deadlift. With a kettlebell, you can straddle the weight, bringing it closer to your center of gravity, which takes some of the load off your back. It also teaches you to reach back with your hips opposed to rounding your back.

A lot of people that learn to deadlift with a barbell let the weight get too far away from their body, get themselves hurt, and decide to go do leg curls instead.

Tell your trainer that you're OK learning the movements with kettlebells, but once you get the hang of it you'd like to switch to barbells, to gain strength.

They both have their positives and negatives. I do both, but with an emphasis on barbells and free weights.

My thing? If I went to a trainer for the purpose of learning how to workout with a barbell and the trainer told me not to bother without a good reason, I'd get another trainer stat. If you hired an installer to lay carpet and they came with tile and refused to lay the carpet, you'd kick them out, right? Or you went to Zumba and they changed it to a Spinning class because it was "better" you'd be mad, right? This is YOUR fitness and YOU hired THEM. Unless they had a legit health concern about you doing barbell work, then that's what you should be doing if that's what you want.

You could be passive aggressive and say you didn't realize they didn't know they didn't know about barbell training and could they give a name of someone that can? :P

in short they're supposed to be better because the kettlebell weight isn't centralised to your wrist so you're using more stablizing muscles when using them, also because of this they're supposed to be very good for toning

where a dumbell or barbell requires less stabilizing because it is central to your wrist

also @godan2b sorry... but how on earth do kettlebells take up less space? to get the versatility of dumbells in kettlebells you'd need a trunk full of them lol

kettlebells aren't my thing but i do see why they're popular, and probably do work the way people are saying but i wan't conventional looking muscles and i don't trust these give that effect given how you see some people who are toned up these days looking... weird

Lol! What a load of nonsense!

Get under a heavy barbell and do some squats and tell me your stabilisers are not under stress. Or OHP. Or (insert-name-of-heavy-barbell-compound-move-here)

That last paragraph may need some unpacking, because I couldn't really understand it. I did recognise the word "toned" though and I thought "Uh oh......"

in short they're supposed to be better because the kettlebell weight isn't centralised to your wrist so you're using more stablizing muscles when using them, also because of this they're supposed to be very good for toning

where a dumbell or barbell requires less stabilizing because it is central to your wrist

also @godan2b sorry... but how on earth do kettlebells take up less space? to get the versatility of dumbells in kettlebells you'd need a trunk full of them lol

kettlebells aren't my thing but i do see why they're popular, and probably do work the way people are saying but i wan't conventional looking muscles and i don't trust these give that effect given how you see some people who are toned up these days looking... weird

Lol! What a load of nonsense!

Get under a heavy barbell and do some squats and tell me your stabilisers are not under stress. Or OHP. Or (insert-name-of-heavy-barbell-compound-move-here)

That last paragraph may need some unpacking, because I couldn't really understand it. I did recognise the word "toned" though and I thought "Uh oh......"