“Disclaimer”
No piece of equipment, simple or complex, will change your body if not used properly. No single exercise is a stand-alone tool which can harvest results, if not performed correctly, at the proper intensity, or at the right time.
In most cases, as often as it happens, automobile accidents are the fault of the driver. The victim will do one of the following things: Become momentarily careless, miscalculate the capability of the vehicle, or misjudge his own ability. So it is with exercise. The equipment poses no threat when treated with respect. So just because you’ve been driving your SUV for many years; doesn’t mean I’m going to let you jump in a loaded 80,ooo lb. Freightliner and try going up—no—down, a steep hill…
So why would I allow you to pick up one of my bells without first teaching you technique? Unfortunately there are those who would profit from the marketing of a “new craze” in exercise without a respect or understanding of its proper place or purpose. I am not one of them.
Kettlebells are metal balls with handles. Their shape allows the user to manipulate leverage and velocity in a way that often cannot be duplicated with dumbbells or barbells. That’s it. So, with ballistic exercises such as a swing or kettlebell snatch, be aware that fast-moving things are harder to control than slow ones! But herein lays the simultaneous advantage of this type of training.
More or less, the benefits of this type of training are: Lower back stability through increased muscle endurance and improved lumbo-pelvic rhythm, “power endurance” in the hip, a decreased body composition due to a high metabolic demand, a reduced chance of non-contact knee injury, and the learning of the valsalva pressurization technique. Get this from doing one exercise—the kettlebell swing!
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