The benefits of kettlebell training are numerous, and while it’s an increasingly popular form of training, it’s actually been around a lot longer than most people realize.
From circuits to flows, you can work with kettlebells in more ways than you think to develop power or improve your cardiovascular endurance.
If the sight of other people swinging these weights has made you want to learn more about what they can do for your own fitness, we’ve compiled a comprehensive list of the many advantages of kettlebells right here. Read on to convince yourself why you should start training with kettlebells today.
12 Benefits of training with kettlebells
1- Improve your core strength
There are a few reasons why kettlebells are great for improving core strength and stability.
First, many kettlebell exercises are a form of ballistic training. Ballistic training works explosive power by maximizing acceleration and minimizing deceleration. These explosive movements greatly stimulate the abdominal muscles. They require core contraction and coordinated breathing, as the movements are intense. This leads to significant improvement in core strength, even when you don’t necessarily target your core as you would with crunches or leg raises.
Second, kettlebell movements are multiplanar, so you are working the trunk from all directions. This is essential for developing full core strength.
Third, some of the best kettlebell movements are offset and unilateral, as you will only be using one kettlebell. By moving the kettlebell on one side, you’ll be working your core stability and strength in a big way.
These are all vital reasons why athletes train with kettlebells. Athletes need core strength to explode through opponents, change/move quickly in multiple directions without risking injury (twisting, flipping, accelerating/decelerating), and handle loads and pressure on one side while remaining upright (think of a runner taking a hit on one side during a play). Kettlebell training offers a dynamic way to achieve these important physical capabilities.
2- Full-body training
One of the main advantages of kettlebell training is that it provides a full-body workout. Most kettlebell workouts are compound and functional exercises. This means that these exercises will work multiple muscle groups and multiple joints simultaneously. This even includes smaller and more difficult to work groups, such as the stabilizers.
This is advantageous as it means that your workouts are overall more effective: even if you target specific areas of your body to train, the nature of kettlebell exercises means that you will be training your entire body in addition to specific muscles.
The use of a greater number of muscle groups further increases the effectiveness to burn greater amounts of calories. The more muscles involved, the more fat will be burned.
Part of the magic of kettlebells is that they are not only good for your heart and lungs. They can also help you fire up your muscle strength – and even build mass – throughout your body. Since most kettlebell workouts recruit muscles from head to toe, everything from the kettlebell swing to Turkish get-ups will make you a much stronger lifter.
3-Fat burning and low-impact exercises
While traditional cardio exercises, such as jogging, can be a great asset for strength athletes, they can put a lot of strain on the body. Adding hours on the treadmill to your workout may not be the most effective cardio option if your recovery isn’t perfectly tailored to that plan. Because your feet stay planted during even the most explosive kettlebell movements, you won’t be putting the same repetitive stress on your joints and connective tissue as running.
Many kettlebell exercises are ballistic in nature, making them ideal for low-impact cardiovascular training. Circuits and flows with kettlebells don’t take up much time, are performed with submaximal loads and place high demands on your cardiovascular system. You can increase your endurance in much less time. The more efficient your engine is, the more volume you can handle in your other workouts.
Kettlebell workouts have an impressive calorie burn due to the multi-planar nature of these exercises; the more muscles you activate in a single exercise, the more calories you burn.
In addition, kettlebell exercises are excellent for supporting an individual’s performance during powerlifting exercises, such as barbell deadlifts.
This is due to their ability to aid in muscle strength and conditioning, which in turn leads to an individual being able to perform heavier lifts. This results in an increase in muscle mass, which contributes to overall fat loss, as it is a known fact that muscle burns fat.
Kettlebell exercises are also high-impact metabolic exercises that are performed in short, powerful bursts, which increases metabolic rates through afterburn. EPOC, or excessive post-exercise oxygen consumption, is when the body will burn calories at a higher rate even after completing your workout, and is the calorie burning principle behind High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and Sprint Interval Training (SIT).
If you’re interested in the benefits of kettlebells for weight loss, the Clean & Press performed with a lightweight kettlebell is a great compound movement to increase your heart rate and maximize afterburn. This also builds endurance and strength through core, lower body and upper body work.
4- Gain muscle
Exercising with kettlebells does not increase muscle mass like weight training does. Instead, it increases the amount of lean muscle tissue. You will notice that people who are serious about training with kettlebells train with high intensity and are muscular. They have lean muscle mass, not bulky bodybuilder-type bodies.
Not many people today want to be huge, not only is it a pain to eat enough to get that big, but once you are huge, you lack the ability to move at your best potential.
Kettlebells will make you look great and move even better.
Kettlebells can build dense muscle, which is achieved with higher reps and shorter but intense workouts. This training method is the best for increasing testosterone (i.e. metabolic workouts).
5- Improve your stability and coordination
Unlike machines, which require force input in a predetermined direction, or the linear direction of weights, one of the best advantages of kettlebell training is that the weight of a kettlebell is not evenly distributed. This means that these exercises require more muscles to be involved in order to control the weight and remain in a stable position.
The center of gravity of a kettlebell is 15 to 20 centimeters away from the handle, making it difficult to control. Kettlebell exercises teach the body to deal with a changing center of gravity, which not only improves coordination, concentration and balance, but also replicates the forces one would encounter when playing sports or performing everyday physical activities.
Since the kettlebell is not balanced, neither are the exercises performed with it: when performing the exercises, the body is forced to employ stabilizing muscle groups to counteract the kettlebell’s shifting center of gravity.
This means that even if a kettlebell movement targets a specific muscle group, you are engaging an additional range of muscles to help balance the body and center the kettlebell. An example of this is the Kettlebell Push Press, which primarily targets the triceps, but also engages the lower back muscles for stability.
One of the benefits of using kettlebells is “proprioception,” that is, a coordinated sense of body position in motion. By controlling the trajectory of the kettlebell, you can swing the kettlebell over your head, from side to side or between your legs, all of which trains the brain to be aware of where your body is in relation to the kettlebell in motion.
Having strong stabilizer muscles in all ranges of motion, along with increased core power, as we discussed in one of the benefits of kettlebells above, means your balance will be exceptional.
6- Improve your posture
Kettlebells are great for the posterior chain. Many of the best kettlebell exercises target the entire back.
Exercises like kettlebell swings are ballistic movements performed from a hinge position, which will make your glutes, hamstrings, lower back, mid back and trapezius exceptionally powerful. This translates into jumping higher, running faster and kicking harder. And, probably most importantly, it will improve your posture.
But it’s not just your posterior chain that will be put to the test. By doing regular kettlebell exercises, you’ll quickly develop the major muscles in your hips, core, shoulders and neck as well… and these are all vital aspects of having good posture and a strong butt.
7- Increases flexibility and range of motion
Kettlebells keep the body flexible as the exercises are movement patterns rather than isolation exercises. The movement patterns of kettlebells require you to move through multiple planes of motion while controlling strength, spin and range of motion. Naturally, you will be improving your mobility by slowly increasing your limits. Over time, you will have much more flexibility and your joints will become more stable and stronger.
When it comes to sports and the real world, this is crucial as it will decrease the chance of injury to your joints, ligaments and muscles.
8- Develops explosiveness and speed in the hips
Kettlebells are phenomenal for learning to produce speed and strength from the hips.
One of the main and most effective kettlebell exercises is the kettlebell swing. The benefits of swinging with kettlebells are that they train the hips to produce force in both strength and speed.
The reason hip strength is so important is because it ensures stability and helps prevent injury. In addition, the hips play a very important role in many athletic movements, such as jumping, sprinting and coming out of an athletic stance explosively. Knowing how to maximize hip strength is essential in power and speed sports.
9- Corrects muscle imbalances
Kettlebells can help you detect weaknesses in your strength, movement and coordination.
You may notice that you lack mobility in the raised position or that your right side is stronger than your left. When you realize this, you can easily target specific areas and perform movements to help even things out.
Kettlebells are said to make you feel comfortable in awkward positions, and this is very true for those who have been training with barbells and machines for a long time.
Working on your weaknesses and imbalances is very important to be injury resistant.
Everyone has muscle imbalances, but not everyone takes steps to correct them. Most just compensate by adjusting their form, activating muscles that shouldn’t be activated or using momentum instead of strength. Compensation is not something you want to do when it comes to fitness. Instead, focus on your sticking points and overcome them.
10- Improve your joint health
Kettlebell exercises are total body compound movements that are ideal if you want to improve or maintain joint health.
One of the health benefits of kettlebell training is that stronger stabilizing muscles mean better support for joints, especially knees, elbows and shoulders, and kettlebell exercises also help strengthen ligaments and tendons.
In addition, the fluid swinging movements used in kettlebell workouts are often much easier on the joints in general. By starting with lighter weights you can gradually increase your strength, especially those that support the joints, which means your joints will be protected and strengthened.
Similarly, the benefits of using a kettlebell include a positive impact on joint flexibility; improving the elasticity of joint tendons and ligaments, while reducing joint inflammation and swelling will also improve overall joint health.
For those who are especially concerned about knee joints, kettlebell swings strengthen pelvic flexibility with greater utilization of the hip joints rather than the knee joints. These benefits of kettlebells mean you can strengthen muscles and joints with reduced impact on your knees.
The benefits of kettlebells are remarkable when it comes to joint health, and the positive joint support will help prevent future injuries and general soreness.
11- Increase your grip strength
While you may think that grip strength is not too important for overall health and fitness, it is actually crucial for most functional movements and weightlifting exercises. Grip strength is necessary for a wide variety of everyday tasks, from opening jars to lifting weights.
Not only is it essential for breaking personal records in deadlifting, but it is also essential for training in judo, powerlifting, MMA and rock climbing, calisthenics and climbing.
The benefits of kettlebell training for men and women include effective grip strengthening. This is due in part to the basic design of the kettlebell: kettlebell handles are thicker than those of barbells and dumbbells, which means they require greater grip and forearm strength to use.
In addition, the center of gravity of a kettlebell is often in motion during exercises, which means that, along with the weight of the kettlebell, the wrists and fingers are forced to work harder to control the kettlebell, ultimately improving grip.
In kettlebell workouts, the combination of an off-center center of gravity and ballistic movements means you are forced to keep a flexed forearm while the kettlebell is in motion. This strengthens your grip from all angles (and increases bone density in the wrists and elbow joints).
It’s important to keep in mind that when training with weights it is the grip that will flex under tension before the muscles fatigue; this limits the number of reps or maximum weight, and can ultimately hurt overall strength performance and muscle gains.
12- Simplify your training
You don’t need tons of equipment or overcomplicate your workouts to be effective.
Simplicity is proven. Simple works. All you need is consistency.
If we were stranded on an island and could choose one training tool, it would undoubtedly be a kettlebell. Because with kettlebells you can train strength, endurance, balance and flexibility. That’s all you need..
So, if you’re overwhelmed with all the equipment out there, simplify your life by starting with kettlebell training.
All you need is a 30-minute workout every day. Plus, you don’t need fancy exercises. The best standard kettlebell exercises can train your entire body. Think swings, goblet squats, clean & presses, push ups, pull ups, and you’re going to get into great shape. The best part is that these exercises are easy to learn.
You only need one or two kettlebells to train your whole body.
If you’re looking for home gym equipment that really allows you to train strength, endurance, balance and flexibility (the 4 key components of fitness), kettlebells are the most cost-effective and space-efficient option.
Instead of purchasing a squat rack, barbell, weighted plates, dumbbells, bench, etc., all you really need is a set of kettlebells. Not only will it be less expensive, but it will also only take up a fraction of the space. You’ll be able to leave them in your living room or garage without cluttering it up, which is not possible with a conventional gym.
Plus, if you want to do a workout in the park or outdoors, kettlebells can easily be transported to wherever you want to train. You can throw them in your car and be on your way in a matter of seconds. Kettlebells are, without a doubt, one of the most effective portable training tools available.
What about you, don’t you train with kettlebells yet?
When you read this article you might think that we are paid to sponsor kettlebells (we wish we were, but we’re not). The truth is that it is one of the most effective tools that exist when it comes to training and they offer a lot with very little
We recommend that you go to a gym where you can try a kettlebell workout and decide for yourself if they are worth a try or not
As always, we would like to remind you that before starting any physical activity, especially if you have any kind of injury or illness, it is best to consult your doctor or a specialist
In the gym, kettlebells are useful equipment. It has a lot of advantages, as this blog explains. This site is excellent for fitness trainers.