[buckeyefanandy]

I wanted to see if anyother audiophiles where into this other hobby of mine.

Thanks

[srayle]

Hey,

I discovered kettlebells a couple of years ago,
and really, really loved them. After many years of
working out with free weights, I was screamingly BORED
of weights and the whole gym scene--bad rock music played
too loud, stale air, rude or unfriendly people. I had read about
kettlebells in the Dragondoor newsletter, and knew immediately
they were for me. I was able to get in the best shape of my life,
(I'm 47), back and trunk and arms/legs were unbelievably solid,
but of course, life sometimes gets you out of shape, and upon working
out again I went too heavy with the kettlebell presses and got a very sore
shoulder which has been slow to recover. In short, though, I LOVE them.
I really liked that they were:

1. They are very portable.
2. got rid of my free weights lying around.
3. great cardiovascular workout.
4. good total body workout, mind body coordination, not boring.

I also got into clubbells, and now Smartbells.

Steve

[JohnR]

How do you use them?

[John Casler]

How do you use them?

They are used similarly to dumbbells with various lifts.

They have recently gained popularity (they were quite popular a long time ago) because their off center handle makes them less stable than other lifting devices like dumbbells and barbells.

This instability makes them more difficult to use, because it causes the body to call upon the "stabilizers" to allow you to lift (apply force) to them.

Some even call them "swingbells", since they have a tendency to swing during the reps.

You can perform most common dumbbell exercises such as curls, presses, laterals, flyes, kickbacks, high pulls, rows, etc, as well as a few more interesting variations.

They were used quite often in old time strongman shows where the strongman would do a lift called a "two handed anyhow".

On this lift they would lift like 300 pounds with one hand and then swing up a 100 pound kettlebell for a total of 400 pounds.

See the book cover by Arthur Saxon below, where he is in the middle of that type of lift.






http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=VID073

[John Casler]

For more info, look here:

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/category.aspx?categoryID=96

 

[Emil]

Running is for wusses   If you want to burn fat, swing one of these things around for a while.
Funny this being discussed here.

I'm using kettlestacks  http://www.kettlestack.com/node

As you can see, adding or subtracting weight is simple and more cost effective than buying a new kettlebell. Never swung a real kettlebell so i cant compare. Cant say that I have any complaints using a kettlestack.

[cmedwin]

John Coltrane
Etymotic headsets
hard work, good hardware
................and kettlestacks
it works for me

[maxwalrath]

I tried it a few times, but only in intro courses at the gym.  My knees were in rough shape at that time and didn't agree to well with some of the technics.  It is one hell of a workout though. 

Having never done it before, the one where you keep one hand directly above you with the kettlebell and try to get up.....damn that was tough.  There was a "competition" of sorts at my gym during a health fitness expo, a bunch of people trying to go for the maximum number of swings (squat to a forward pelvis thrust) in 3 minutes for a free month at the gym.  Some people were in pretty rough shape.