Advantages of kettlebell training

Kettlebell Training Pros and Cons

Should you incorporate kettlebell training into your workout plan?

The Advantages:

1. Core strength – a lot of kettlebell moves are dynamic and full-body and therefore require you to work core
2. Functional movement – kettlebells are great at mimicing functional movement patterns and training in this way has lots of health benefits
3. Fat-loss – because kettlebell movements are dynamic and use lots of muscles, you can really get the heart rate up and burn calories
4. Efficiency – if you are time poor, a kettlebell workout will have you working muscular endurance and aerobic capacity at the same time (bang for your buck!)

Disadvantages:

1. Requires a certain level of technique – there is a risk of injury if you use kettlebells with poor form, we recommend seeing a trainer or going to a few Team Training sessions to get some instruction
2. Not the best option for hypertrophy – if your main aim is muscle growth kettlebells may not be the best option for you as the exercises are mostly geared towards endurance and functional movement patterns
3. Limited weight range – dumbbells and weight plates progess in smaller increments than kettlebells
4. Variety of exercises – whilst you can use a kettlebell for a full-body workout, overall the number of exercises available are less than working out in a gym with multiple pieces of equipment.

The verdict?

A kettlebell is a great piece of equipment for a home gym, holiday workouts, classes where you don’t want to be changing equipment all the time.

We recommend throwing a couple of kettlebell moves into your training program to increase core strength and muscular endurance and get a good little burn at the end of a strength workout!