The Kettlebell Makes It's Return

How can something that looks like a medieval cannonball invigorate your workout program, increase your resistance to injury, assist in pain management, and rehabilitate from current injuries? The Kettlebell is a centuries-old Russian training tool that looks like a cannonball with a handle. It appears that, originally, Kettlebells were counter-weights used in Russian markets. Country folk started throwing them around and eventually they became very popular in Russia as a training tool. In 1913 the Russian magazine Hercules reported "Not a single sport develops our muscular strength and bodies as well as Kettlebell athletics." A Russian strong man was referred to as a Kettlebell man--girevik. Girya is Russian for Kettlebell.



The human body consists of over 640 skeletal muscles in which approximately 63 percent are stabilizers, and balance muscles. Traditional weight lifting exercises such as with a dumbbell tend not to fully utilize the stabilizer/balance muscles. This is due to the fact that traditional weights work on one plane of motion and rely on leverage and stationary fixed positions. However, in our normal lives our bodies move in three planes of motion. They are the Sagittal Plane, the Coronal Plane and the Horizontal Plane. For those of you not familiar with these terms, Sagittal refers to is an imaginary line that travels vertically from the top to the bottom of the body, dividing it into left and right portions. Coronal refers to a vertical plane that divides the body into belly and back sections. Finally, the Horizontal Plane refers to the transverse plane is typically depicted as a horizontal plane bisecting the body at the top of the hips, so that the body is partitioned into superior and inferior, or top and bottom, halves.



Approximately 90% of all traditional weight lifting such as with dumbbells is a Sagittal Plane movement only. This is particularly interesting considering that 70% of all injuries occur in the Horizontal Plane. This is where the advantages of the Kettlebell come in. As opposed to the dumbbell which is virtually symmetrical, the Kettlebell is highly unstable and unbalanced because its design is asymmetrical. The instant a person picks up a Kettlebell it triggers instability, which engages all 38-core muscles. With proper training, the Kettlebell workout is the simultaneous equivalent of a jogging or sprinting heart rate (cardiovascular), fast ballistic multi-tasking movement (nervous system), fast ballistic movement (muscular), and deceleration forces (skeletal) all in unison.



Furthermore, Kettlebell training is fundamentally different from conventional weight training methods in that it is not derived from a bodybuilding archetype. In other words, Kettlebell training is about developing functional ability as an active, vital, strong human being, not about merely making superficial changes and aesthetically-oriented workouts. As the long history of the Kettlebell proves, it has many benefits to offer those who use it on a regular basis. These benefits include:



• The building of endurance.
• Toning and Strengthening of almost every muscle of the body.
• Allows you to take harder hits.
• Increases flexibility.
• Helps you to shed fat.
• Gives you the freedom to get an intensive workout from home.



Personally, I have numerous friends that suffer from conditions that came from sports or improper weight lifting techniques. Some examples I have seen or experienced myself are rotator cuff tendonitis, lower back pain, shoulder injuries, tennis elbow, golfer’s elbow, nerve damage, scoliosis, obesity, and chronic fatigue. As a rehabilitative method the Kettlebell is excellent at restoring elasticity to scar tissue. As flexibility increases the pain from past injuries subsides drastically. If you are experiencing pain, and traditional methods have not worked to relieve it, I would recommend consulting with your local rehabilitation/pain management center to see if a Kettlebell program is right for you.