Kettlebells

Gives You A Low-Impact Workout
Kettlebell training is going to provide less wear-and-tear on the joints than many other exercises. Although they deal with developing power and explosive strength, kettlebell exercises remain low-impact, as they are done with the feet remaining on the floor. This keeps you from over-straining the joints, tendons, and ligaments during your workout.
The loads are also going to be lighter than most barbell training while still providing a challenge. I have clean-and-jerked more than 500 pounds in my lifting career and still have trouble maintaining my balance on a single-leg deadlift with anything over 35 pounds (don’t laugh!). Kettlebells provide a challenge in other aspects of fitness, such as balance and coordination, without the heavier weights of barbell training.
Versatile And Space-Efficient Equipment
This simple piece of equipment will fill that void in any training regiment. Need to develop explosive strength and power? Try some kettlebell swings. Want to build strength in the upper and lower body? Then try some presses and goblet squats. Even beyond that, abdominals and stabilizers can be attacked with a total-body exercise like Turkish get ups. The options for exercise provided by a kettlebell can address virtually any area in your fitness endeavors.
Along with being versatile, a kettlebell is compact and portable. It takes up the same amount of space as a dumbbell or cannonball, and most exercises require very little space. This makes a kettlebell an ideal training tool for a lifter on-the-go: small enough to fit into any home studio or garage gym, and portable enough to take outdoors, or anywhere, really!
Provides A Full-Body Workout
Kettlebells can improve all aspects of fitness; from balance to strength, to cardio, and even to flexibility and mobility. Furthermore, kettlebell exercises often bombard the entire body and major muscle groups, providing a full-body workout.
The kettlebell swing attacks the entire posterior chain: glutes, hamstrings, and lower back. Another explosive movement, the kettlebell clean-and-jerk, gets the entire body involved, from the legs and hips to the overhead motion of the shoulders and arms. Along with explosive movements, kettlebells can get the whole body involved in purposeful, deliberate exercises. Movements like goblet squats, lunges, and presses all are slower movements that focus on building strength, while also demanding the use of stabilizers and the core.
Whether a powerful, fast movement or a slow one, kettlebells provide that full-body workout that gym-goers aim for.
Builds Muscle
A high-intensity kettlebell workout will help build lean muscle mass on any athlete. Weighted anaerobic movements performed with lots of repetitions will provoke the muscular adaptation to grow lean, tight muscle tissue. And whatever your goals, more muscle tissue will mean bigger strength gains.
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Builds Cardiovascular Endurance
Not many people think about the cardiovascular benefits of weight training, but kettlebells are great in boosting your cardio. The submaximal loads of a kettlebell allow for the athlete to move quickly through repetitions. Also, kettlebell circuits tend to be short, intense workouts, giving you that cardiovascular response from the high repetitions in a short time frame.
A 2014 study showed that high-intensity kettlebell training demonstrated an increased cardiovascular response when compared to traditional training. You can get a great cardio workout from kettlebells without the impact or timeframe of running hours on end.
Builds Core Strength
Whether a slow or ballistic movement, kettlebells demand a lot of stability and strength in the core of an athlete.
One of the best kettlebell exercises (and one of my favorites) is a Turkish get-up; this movement is a slow movement from standing to lying down and back up again, all while keeping a single kettlebell up and overhead throughout the movement. The entire body from head to toe is recruited for this movement, and it requires strength not only in the arms and legs, but a strong core as well.

Kettlebells are helpful in developing a strong core because kettlebell exercises are unilateral in nature: one kettlebell is used in one hand, causing the core to have to fight against the shifted weight load. Exercises like the Turkish get-up and kettlebell snatch constantly address core stability.
Builds Grip Strength
It’s worth mentioning the proven grip strength that kettlebells develop. Holding onto an odd object for reps without rest gives your grip an intense challenge across different movements.
Additionally, the change in grip pressure throughout a movement, like a clean, can also develop strength in the grip, as well as an awareness and control over grip strength. In the clean, the angle of the hand in relation to the kettlebell changes drastically from the finish of the pull to the catch of the clean; this will not only boost your grip strength, but also teach you the body awareness of your grip throughout an exercise.
Grip strength is vital for me as a weightlifter. A stronger grip means a stronger pull off the floor, vital in Olympic lifting. Kettlebells can help with that pulling power and strength.
Corrects Muscle Imbalances
As an elite weightlifter, I’ve had my fair share of muscle imbalances over years of strength training. While there are many ways to address these issues, kettlebells have a natural tendency to help work out imbalances.

As stated before, kettlebell exercises are unilateral movements, which will allow you to address a weaker side of the body. When I feel like I’m favoring one leg or hip in my squat, I’ll address it with single leg deadlifts or lunges.
Kettlebells and their exercises help supplement any muscle weaknesses, helping strengthen weaker muscle areas, and helping you get to a more balanced, more powerful, stronger you!