Kettlebells for Beginners

Because of their unique shape— sort of like a bowling ball with a handle attached—kettlebells are able to incorporate a much larger range of motion than other methods of weight training, while also working in some cardio because of all the swinging. Studies show kettlebells can provide a higher-intensity workout than more traditional  weight-training routines in a shorter amount of time. Plus, a kettlebell workout can burn up to 20.2 calories per minute (that’s about as much as running at a 6-minute mile pace!). Researchers believe this faster calorie burn is due to the total-body movements performed when kettlebells are used in an interval-training routine. Kettlebells also employ more “everyday” ranges of motion when compared to traditional dumbbell movements, helping to build strength in muscles that are used naturally in daily wear and tear. Plus, they’re able to not only work the larger muscle groups, but also the smaller “stabilizing” or gripping muscles (like those in the arms and hands).

For anyone from novice gym-goers to advanced lifters, kettlebells can be a good way to add variety to a strength-training regimen. Plus, research suggests the explosive movements of kettlebell training can also help reduce neck, back, and shoulder pain among adults who had complained of pain before training^[2]. Another study suggests kettlebell training can also be effective in rehabilitation programs with injured athletes because of the weights’ ability to help build functional strength and power^[3].

But finding and getting started with kettlebells can be hard— and sometimes dangerous! 

The Choice is Yours

We want to be fit, attractive and healthy, but accomplishing this isn’t as straight forward as it should be. We are bombarded with the latest trends and fads in the diet and fitness market, each one promising to give users wonderful results if only they spend the money to purchase it. Sadly, many diets and fitness fads ultimately fail to deliver, leaving individuals just as flabby, saggy and unhealthy as they were before and poorer to boot since most fads don’t come cheap. So what is a girl to do? Turns out, the choice is hers.

Fads come and go, and it can be very difficult to tell what’s legit and what’s not. Low-fat, no-fat, low-carb, no-carb, raw. The list goes on. Each fad will have experts who back it wholeheartedly along with testimonials that seem too good to be true. We want it to work; sometimes we even need it to work, so we buy in and get that book or purchase that new DVD series. For some people, this purchase marks the start of a lasting life change but for the overwhelming majority, they will still be out of shape and unhappy a year after trying thefad diet or exercise routine. Why don’t fads work for everybody? Why are those results just not typical?

What makes fads attractive is the fact that they promise extreme results in exchange for doing extreme things. Let’s use the Atkins diet as an example of a classic fad. Eliminate all carbs from your diet by following the Atkins diet and you’ll drop a huge amount of pounds in no time, only to gain them back the moment you chow down on a dinner roll during a moment of weakness. Very black and white and extreme. This diet works for people in the short term and this fueled its popularity, but then the negative long term results began to surface.

People started to have trouble thinking clearly, suffered from insatiable urges to indulge in carbs of any persuasion, grew increasingly depressive and unhappy, and some even died from impaired kidney function and heart problems caused by eating a diet so out of balance with the body’s nutritional needs. It turns out that the body needs good, complex carbs on a daily basis! The irony is that many people felt more comfortable with using this diet than getting lipo or a tummy tuck, which would have been a lot safer overall.

New diets tend to be safer than the prototype of the Atkins diet, but that doesn’t make them effective for the long haul. Be apprehensive when presented with extremes in any form! Trust your own common sense and feel free to ask the opinion of a professional in the field before starting any new diet. Nutritionists have madediet their life’s work, and they are more than happy to share their knowledge with you. They are trustworthy, and it’s a fantastic feeling to have an expert on your side.

When it comes to fitness fads, they can be just as bad in their own way. Most of us know that the latest gadget won’t give us a perfectly flat stomach and six pack abs in as little as 5 minutes a day, but what about popular programs like P90X, 5×5 or Insanity? Those popular fitness programs fully disclose that their program requires an extreme amount of dedication, work and even pain in order to gain the results they promise. If individuals can stick to the grueling regimen, they will reap serious results. However, most people fail to do so.

The most effective and popular program on the market might not be the best fit for you personally. Why work against your personality and inherent traits when they could be worked with instead, leading to natural momentum and flow? The long term results will be excellent if you can find a routine that you’ll be happy to stick with year after year.

For example, are you energized by the stretching and poses of yoga? Then perhaps power yoga or Pilates would be the best workout for you, whether they are currently in style or not. On the other hand, do you get bored easy and require a new endeavor to be big and challenging in order to maintain your interest? If so, the rigorous challenge of P90X or Insanity could be just perfect for you, despite the fact that these two fitness programs are also fads at the moment. Know yourself and work with your strengths and weaknesses. The choice is yours and it’s all about you!

The same advice applies to diet. Everyone has their own nutritional type and this is why some peoplemanage to live well as vegans and others on high protein diets while the majority lose energy on such extreme plans. Chances are high that your ideal plan will involve a healthy balance of proteins, fats, vegetables, fruits and complex carbs. Nutritionists are happy to point their clients in the right direction and make diet easy, so working with one is highly recommended. If this isn’t possible, just listen to your body and use your common sense. Who knows how food makes you feel better than you do?

Your physical fitness levels will soar once the right diet and fitness plan are implemented, taking you to exciting new heights of strength, endurance and vitality. By exercising and dieting daily, the body has no choice but to let go of even the most stubborn of fat deposits. In some rare cases where diet and exercisejust aren’t enough, a tummy tuck or lipo may be used to rid yourself of embarrassing problem areas. This is a desperation move, but in a pinch there is nothing wrong with using plastic surgery when all else fails. The best choice is to consult a personal trainer and nutritionist first; they might have valuable insight that will help with eliminating those troublesome problem areas

Workout 101

Ok, you want me to perform four sets of 12 reps and superset these two exercises, then do a drop set on my next three exercises? Wait, what?

Does this ever happen to you? All the bodybuilding and workout jargon leave you confused and almost frustrated that you just want to walk out on your workout?

Hopefully, after reading this article, you’ll have a better understanding as to what you’re reading prior to your next training session.

The Basics

Let’s start with the basic terminology – exercise, reps and sets.

Exercise: When you’re reading a workout routine you found online or in a magazine, the first thing you’ll probably see is the exercise, which is what you will be performing in your workout. For example: squat, overhead press, bench press, tricep kickback, etc.

Reps (Repetitions): Reps are the amount of times you will lift and lower the weight of an exercise. For example: you pick up a dumbbell and lift and lower it 12 times for a bicep curl exercise. Each time you’ve lifted and lowered the dumbbell this counts as one full rep, so doing it 12 times you’ve completed 12 reps.

Sets: Sets are a group of reps. The 12 reps you just did for bicep curls? That was one set. This is when you take a 30-second or 1-minute rest. You pick your weight up and do another 12 reps – there’s your second set!

Are you still with me? Good, because I’m moving on to something a little more confusing.

Other Workout Collyer That You’ll Likely Want to Know

You’ve probably heard of terms such as superset, failure, drop sets, forced reps, partial reps, giant sets, and even 21s. But what does it all mean?!

Let me break it down for you:

Superset: A superset is a combination of one exercise performed right after another with no rest in between.

Failure: Failure is literally when you do reps of an exercise until you physically cannot perform to a fully contracted position.

Drop sets: Drop sets are sets where the weight is decreased in each following set in a group of sets. For example, you can decrease the weight and increase the number of reps or decrease the weight and keep the number of reps the same. Drop sets can also be referred to as reverse pyramid sets because you begin with the heaviest weight and reduce it.

Forced Reps: When performing forced reps you need a spotter, which is someone to guide you while you perform an exercise. When doing a forced rep your muscles are fatigued and it can become unsafe. You perform a forced rep after doing your normal repetitions. Usually two to three reps with the help of a spotter are added on to your set.

Partial Reps: Partial reps are reps that are done in a particular range of motion (ROM). Partials are usually done toward the end of your regular set and can sometimes be more effective than full-range reps. Partials help build strength and really burn out the muscle.

Giant Sets: Giant sets are great for people looking to burn extra body fat in a shorter period of time. They usually consist of four sets of four different exercises that work the same muscle group with very little rest in between. At the end of a giant set, rest for a minute or two.

21s: 21s is when you perform an exercise with three different ROMs for 7 reps within the same set for a muscle. For example, it’d be 7 reps at the bottom of the ROM, 7 reps at the top of the ROM, and 7 reps for the full ROM.

Give yourself a pat on the back; you’re now more knowledgeable with workout jargon. You should be able to easily read and understand a workout log from magazines or a workout journal. Congratulations!

Dedication

You think you know pain, but you have no idea. The heart thumping, chest expanding, lactic acid burn of your last workout was a walk through the meadow.

Somewhere, there’s a guy who did it in half the time it took you. He suffered. Plasma forced its way into his lungs, causing him to hack on repeat. He choked down bile halfway through, and ended on his back, pupils dilated to the size of dimes.

While you were walking around, telling your friends how hardcore your workout was, Guy Number Two was still collapsed, the prospect of driving home as daunting as climbing K2 during a snowstorm.

When he finally stood up, he didn’t say a word.

CrossFit is a decidedly masochistic pursuit. To be any good at it, you have to enjoy the pain. You have to push back the threshold day after day, until last year’s traumas feel like an hour-long rubdown at the Canyon Ranch. One day, you find a threshold that takes the whole thing just a little too far, and you get scared to go back.

The men and women that decimate your times are not superhuman. They’re not particularly genetically gifted. Hell, most of the top CrossFitters in the world would get absolutely pummeled in your standard game of rugby, buried by larger athletes begat by larger parents.

What differentiates these individuals is not a gift, but an unreasonable desire to push self-imposed suck beyond its logical limits. What comes out the other side becomes legendary.

Like any human pursuit, we seek ways around the hard part. Limited range of motion and new techniques. Dropping the deadlift from the top, bouncing it off the floor. Squatting above parallel and not standing up all the way. Chicken-necking above the chin-up bar, and reviewing the tape to see if we made it.

We want the reward (speed) without the sacrifice (pain).

This is not conscious cowardice. It’s pure out-and-out rationalism. At some point, the next threshold is the one that takes it too far, leaving us in an exercise-induced hallucination that lasts a few moments too long. Our hearts bounce around our insides for one beat too many, and our lungs beg to explode for an unwanted extra second. Every exhalation coincides with a constriction of vision, and the cold taste of copper.

No sane human being would enjoy such a feeling.

Still, the glory beckons. Surely, with enough training and the right supplements, there’s a way around the Hard Part. Enough sleep and enough vitamin B will get you the sub-whatever time without the attendant pain. There’s no need to redline your heart rate or pop capillaries. No need to ache so badly at night that you can’t sleep. Surely, there are ways around this.

Fortunately, the steroids are a no-go, and the exercises are done correctly or not at all. The only way to legend is through ever-mounting piles of pain. The meadow has to tilt at 45-degrees, and he rubdown at the Ranch must be done with Brillo Pads. If you can talk, you’re not trying hard enough. If your nerves aren’t frayed and ready to rebel, you’ll never get there.

Do yourself a favor, and realize that there’s no technique in the world that will save you. There are no pills, no secrets, no passwords on the path to greatness. You’ve got to embrace the pain, push the threshold, and feel the suck, and then you’ve got to muster the courage to go back six times a week.

After all, the world is a lot brighter when your pupils are the size of dimes, and massaging your sternum with your heart starts to feel good after a while. The plasma finds its way out of your lungs, and eventually you’ll be able to drive.

Sometimes, lying on the floor is its own rewar