“The use of kettlebells has grown immensely over the past few years, as they can offer a great bang for your buck when it comes to time spent exercising and quality of results,” says ACE’s Chief Science Officer Cedric X. Bryant, Ph.D. “A person can easily burn several hundred calories in a brief period of time using these iron orbs, which makes them appealing to those looking for time-efficient results. Kettlebell-themed workouts and kettlebell-only gyms are popping up everywhere in order to cater to the high demand of this growing fitness trend.”

The study tested men and women between the ages of 29-46 years old and was led by John Porcari, Ph.D., and Chad Schnettler, M.S., both research experts at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse Exercise and Health Program. After establishing a baseline, the subjects continuously performed kettlebell snatches, quick lifts over the head, to a certain rhythm during a 20-minute period.

After carefully measuring oxygen consumption and blood lactate, this study confirmed the average study participant burned approximately 20 calories per minute during a typical kettlebell workout. This equates to an astounding 400 calories during a 20-minute workout. In terms of calorie burning, these results are equivalent to running a six-minute mile pace, or cross-country skiing uphill at a fast pace.

Researchers credit the brisk calorie burning to the fact that the kettlebell snatch workout is a total-body movement performed in an interval-training fashion. Study participants were observed to achieve exercise heart rate that ranged from approximately 86 to 99 percent of maximum heart rate and 67 to 91 percent of maximum oxygen uptake, suggesting that the use of kettlebells provides a much higher-intensity workout than standard weightlifting.

“Overall, kettlebell use can produce remarkable results, which is what virtually all fitness enthusiasts look to get from their workouts,” Bryant continues. “Kettlebells not only offer resistance training benefits, they also will ultimately help people burn calories, lose weight, and enhance their functional performance capabilities.”

A complete summary of the study can be found on ACE’s newly created “Get Fit” Web site, designed to inform, inspire, educate and motivate people to become fit and lead a healthier, more active lifestyle.

For more information on ACE and its programs, call (800) 825-3636 or log onto the ACE Web site at www.acefitness.org.

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At my granddaughter’s school picnic, I suggested that we work off our lunch on the jungle gym (Williamston’s McCormick Park has an awesome playground!). We did pull-ups, rope climbs, crawled through tires and tight spaces–even went hand-over-hand on the horizontal ladder (this last one had been off limits to me in the past due to a weak shoulder. I credit my renewed tendon strength to the kettlebell). At the end of the afternoon, my granddaughter dubbed me “the awesomest Papa in the world!”

I’ve also converted to the World Kettlebell Club’s pro-grade bell. As previously noted, these are humongous bells of uniform size, from 18 to 140 pounds. So at such time as you change up to a heavier weight, the feel of the bell is the same. The consistent size is a boon for competitive kettlebell lifters, for whom proper form is critical while performing a 10-minute set of jerks, snatches, or long cycles. And like any Sunday-morning athlete, you can’t beat playing with the same regulation size piece of equipment the pros are using.

I’ve always gone for what’s simple and basic. That’s why I’ve lately pared my KB workouts to the aforementioned triad: the one-arm jerk, the snatch, and the long cycle, or clean and jerk. I’ve found these to be beneficial in working the entire body. Here’s a laundry list of what you get with just these three lifts:

The Jerk: works the shoulder, triceps, quads, glutes and chest

The Snatch: works the legs, glutes, back, arms, chest, and abs

The Clean and Jerk (aka “Long Cycle”): works the hamstrings, quads, hips, glutes, lower back, biceps, triceps, shoulder, and the chest

Not to mention, serious cardio and strength endurance (have we missed anything?).

The two variables in this program–or more accurately, three variables–are reps per minute, duration of the set, and combination of exercises. (More on this in a future post)

By the way, if you hate crunches, learn to love doing the snatch. This exercise looks scary, but is well worth learning. This will whittle your waistline without any direct abs work. (A word to the wise: the pros wear Ace bandages on their wrists–a good investment)

Another favorite of mine for tightening the midsection is the pull-up. Invest in a doorway-mounted bar (the simplest to install without tools is the Door Gym–I’ve seen them on sale at Walgreens for about $30). I do a daily set of ten pull-ups, first thing every morning. Just hanging from the bar, you can feel your entire torso opening, all the way down to your pelvis.

That and a few miles run or a brisk walk, should set you up for your day

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Exit Pavel and the RKC. Enter Valery Fedorenko and the WKC-the World Kettlebell Club, that is; with national chapters around the world-including the American Kettlebell Club, here in the U.S.

According to Valery and his constituents, what has passed for kettlebell training over the past decade, in this country and the world over, would be barely recognizable in Russia, where it is regarded as a sport; namely kettlebell-or “girevoy”-sport. Everything about the way the bell is used is different, as well as the bell itself.  Instead of iron bells of varying sizes from four pounds on up, the official bell is made of steel in a uniform size from 8kg on up to 32kg-plus, and identified by color: pink for 8kg, or 18 pounds, on up to the Russian Red 32kg or 70 pounds; with all the colors of the rainbow in between. Sets are not done for a fixed number of reps, but for time: from one minute, on up to ten minutes in competition. Reps are noted in that time period; but the important thing is learning how to pace yourself, and how to rest in the rack or the lockout positions.

Further deconstruction kettlebell training as we’ve known it-which is pretty much stripping away all the bodybuilding and power lifting stuff-and we’re left with three basic lifts: the jerk, the snatch, and the clean and jerk. What does that do for you? Everything!  Consider: the jerk-works the shoulders, triceps, quads, glutes and chest; the snatch-works the legs, glutes, back, arms, chest, and abs; then add the clean to the jerk, and you additionally work your hamstrings, hips, lower back, and biceps (no more stinkin’ curls!). It gives strength and endurance to boot.

I for one have found this narrowing of choices to be a boon to my training. Whereas I had once had upwards of 60 exercises to play around with-and never get very good at any of them-I can now focus my attention on three lifts, and concentrate on perfecting my form and gaining proficiency at them.

Or, as Dan John would say, “You have no choice but to get strong!”

Check out the American Kettlebell at their website:

www.americankettlebellclub.com

You can also watch videos of Kettlebell Sport Events on Youtube. Enter “American Kettlebell Club”

[By way of explanation: the AKC trains with competition style bells. These are made of steel and come in identical sizes, but are filled with varying densities of iron or lead and color-coded according to weight: red for 32kg; green for 24kg; yellow for 16kg; blue for 12kg; and just recently, a pink model in 8kg. (to learn the equivalent weight in pounds, multiply by 2.2). Their fitness program places its emphasis on Olympic-style lifting for both fitness and competition; namely the clean, the jerk, the snatch, and the long cycle, also known as the clean and jerk.]

I DON’T WANT TO DO KETTLEBELLS!

Anyone else would’ve loved being in my position… working directly with World Champion Valery Fedorenko and Eric Liford, Editor of WKC/AKC every day as Office Manager of American Kettlebell Club.  Any question about Kettlebells or training at my disposal. But I wasn’t interested in picking up the bells.  There were many times Eric would say, “Just see what you can do with the 12kg.” Finally, I gave in. I worked directly with Coach Fedorenko a couple of times, but the 12kg just seemed too heavy. So instead of putting in the effort, I whined, and I told the guys when they made a Kettlebell lighter than the 12kg i would try it. I’m sure you know what happened next… The 8kg Kettlebell and the Fitness program. No more excuses.

Some people make fun of the pink “girly” Kettlebell, but I thought it was cute. Nevertheless, I still wanted to be lazy. So it was begrudgingly that I picked up the 8kg to test what level I could do. I actually didn’t do too bad. The guys explained the different levels of Fitness Program and the rules… I wasn’t allowed to go to the next level until I passed the current one. Not allowed?! That made me want to do it more. So I started working hard to pass the levels. I wasn’t interested in competing, but i was interested in challenging myself to make it to the next level. I started picking up my 8kg every day, on my own, to see what I was capable of–sometimes in the gym nearly an hour. I started seeing results fast. The more results I got, the more I was hooked.

I also started running as part of my working out. I had never been able, in my whole life to run a mile, or even a 1/4 mile without stopping because my sides hurt. After a couple of months using my 8kg, I was able to run a mile without stopping. I was able to keep adding a lap to my run to where I can consistently run two miles without stopping. And even though I’ve never been heavy, I started to lose weight and see some tone.  During this time, I was still telling the guys that I was never going to work with the 16kg or anything heavier… I didn’t want to do sport and the 16kg was too heavy. Eric told me that really I just needed Kettlebells for fitness, not to compete.

Then i started seeing videos… Girls my size working with the 16kg for for long periods of time. “Why can’t I do that? They’re my size!” I said. “They’re just stronger than you,” was the response from Eric. Coach Fedorenko would tell me of girls smaller than me doing a crazy amount of reps, one after the other, girls my size and smaller, lifting the 16kg, the 24kg and the most recent is cleaning the 44 kg! It really amazes me every time! So after much reluctance, I started using the 12kg in my Fitness Program. After a few days, I went back to my 8kg because the 12kg was just too heavy… It wasn’t too heavy–it was just harder! But after picking up the 8kg again, it was too light! And even in the few days of using the 12kg I saw even more results. No excuses again. I could either maintain my body with the 8kg or improve it with the 12kg. I’ve been using the 12kg ever since.

The 8kg will always hold a special place in my heart, because without it, I would have never started working out. I feel sorry for it, sitting in my workout room collecting (chalk) dust, but i had to do what was best for me. Although I accept the fact that I may never be able to clean the 44kg, instead of telling the guys that I’ll never do something with the Kettlebell, like use a certain size or compete, I don’t rule anything out anymore.

A couple of weeks ago, I picked up the 16kg to do jerks. It was only for a few reps, but I just wanted to see if I could do it–and I could. I also started using it for swings. And guess what? When I try to swing the 12kg, now it’s just too light!  My friends were saying the other day, “I want to get in the best shape of my life this year”, and I didn’t say a word. Why? Because I’m already in the best shape of my life–
Ever!  And i just keep improving. The truth is there are no excuses not to use the Kettlebell. If an 80-year-old, a 10-year-old, and I can do it, anyone can. I used to be the lowest specimen of fitness possible. Not anymore.

In the UK, blacksmith Stan Pike dubbed the kettlebell the most sophisticated body-conditioning tool around.  He began turning out his own line of bells–even formed his own certification program, to train instructors.  And his first student was a young woman named Angie Dowds.

Angie’s curiosity had been piqued by an article she read on kettlebells, written by Pavel Tsatsouline.  She knew instinctively that this was something she wanted to get in on.  She searched relentlessly until finally, she met up with Stan.

She couldn’t believe her eyes.  Despite her years of experience as a personal trainer, she had never sen it done like this before, as she watched this big burly bear of a man, swinging, pulling, pressing, and juggling a 55-pound bell.  Once she got her hands on a bell of her own, still warm from the forge, no doubt, you couldn’t get it away from her.  She became super fit and strong with the kettlebell, in a way that none of her bodybuilding, boxing, or martial art training had done for her.  This total body training, she discovered, even firmed up her mid-section without any direct abdominal work. 

With her UK certification in hand, and soon thereafter, an RKC cert from none other than Pavel himself, Angie resolved to bring kettlebells to the forefront of fitness training in Great Britain.  And she was uniquely qualified to do just that.

Think Gillian Michaels, shorter, blonder,  and with a British accent, and you get “The Biggest Loser UK”, on which Angie is the red team leader.  Another difference:  the kettlebell.  Angie went up against the producers of the show on that one:  It was inappropriate for their deconditioned contestants, they argued; and most likely dangerous.  But Angie got her way (“I always do,” she grinned.).  On a steady diet of kettlebell swings and sessions on the rowing machine, the red team outstripped their opponents on the weekly weigh-ins, and ultimately produced the first female to win the grand prize money on the season finale.

Meanwhile, in San Diego, Sarah Lurie, nationally known as the face that launched the GoFit kettlebell line, was just opening her new gym, Iron Core, in nearby La Jolla.  The local TV station in San Diego chose Iron Core to train sixe obese people exclusively with kettlebells to see how much weight they could lose in just six weeks.

To maximize results, the trainers at iron Core put their subjects through a strength-cardio, circuit training regimen that was calculated to burn fat very quickly–up to 20 calories a minute.  Typically, they warmed up with joint mobility drills, followed by combos like the bear crawl-double-clean-and-press, the burpee-clean-swing-and-snatch, front-squat-and-duck-walk, and walking-lunge-one-legged-deadlift. 

At the end of the six week period, the contestants lost a combined total of 150 pounds of fat and over 45 inches.  The total time spent in the gym amounted to 24 hours.  Altogether, they had lost the equivalent of an entire person in the course of just one day’s time.

Compare that to the poor souls on the NBC’s “Biggest Loser”, who can expect to sweat it out on treadmills, elliptical machines, and body-building type workouts for six hours a day.  Then ask yourself what your time is worth.

One day a customer asked Stan if he made kettlebells.  Stan had never even heard of them, let alone made them.  But he was curious.  After reading up on what turned out to be Soviet Russia’s secret behind how they’d beaten the snot out of free world athletes back in the cold war days of the ’50’s and ’60’s–he knew he just had to make one for himself, and learn what made it so.

“I think they originally gave [kettlebells] to the poor people to keep fit with, who quickly became very fit and very strong.  The Russian government said, ‘We can’t have that,’ so they took them off them and trained their athletes with them.”

His prototype, the Pike pot, weighed 25 kg. (about 55 pounds).

In Stan’s line of work, he was accustomed to taming iron.  But even in his hands, it was humbling for an inanimate object to come to life and tame the blacksmith.

“I’ve taken a 50-kilo dumbbell and swung it around, no problem, it stays put because of its handle design.  But swinging a kettlebell is like having an extra joint; it hits the back of your forearm,, so you’re forced to develop a stronger grip and quicker coordination.”

But once he got the hang of it, he noticed something unexpected.

“Within two months, I’d knocked four inches off my waist, put four inches on my chest, dropped my body fat by six per cent, lowered my blood pressure and increased my bench press by 40 kilos.”

What makes Stan’s success all the more remarkable is that it occurred just as he was on the brink of his 50th birthday–a time in one’s life when it’s not expected for one to make huge gains in strength.  And yet here was Stan Pike, who by his own admission had never sported a six-pack–at least not in his abs–leaner, meaner, and 88 pounds stronger in his bench press.

“You end up using those inner core muscles that everyone forgets about, and which is why so many people end up with beer guts…. bodybuilders, martial artists, bruisers, big lads on steroids, you know the sort… so many people who use conventional weight are strong on the outside, like a big strong tree, but they’ve got nowt [nothing] on the inside.”

As to the “why” of how it all works, it seems to be anyone’s guess.

“The conclusion the Russians came to was they didn’t know why they worked, but they did, so don’t ask!”  Stan laughs.

His own theory is the need for total grip, total body tension, from feet to hands–which is no more scientific than the Russians.  But his conclusion is the same:  they work.

“I believe it’s the most sophisticated body-conditioning tool there is,” he says.  Period.

And in the strength of this belief, Stan has trained everyone from women looking to burn fat and firm up their bums, to his local rugby team, the Newcastle Falcons.  He’s even formed his own certification program, under the United Kingdom Kettlebell Federation.

One client of his in particular is a young woman on her own quest:  to give the kettlebell nationwide attention.  But more about her in my next column.

Last Monday I got the good news:  the retina is back where it belongs; and I can engage in more or less normal activities.  Pull-ups, okay; push-ups, too; walking, but no running just yet–lest I jar the eye too much.  Fortunately, swings are back on the menu again–so, too, apparently, is snow-shoveling and pushing neighbors’ cars out of snow drifts. 

If drifting snow and wind chills have sidelined your running, and you’d rather not play hamster on a treadmill or elliptical; if your body has adapted to the current mileage you’re running, and it’s not burning off those holiday calories like it used to (you could add more  miles, if you only had the time!); try the 20/20 drill, devised by Stan Pike of the United Kingdom Kettlebell Association.

Set your watch for one minute and do 20 two-hand swings. 

Rest for the remainder of the minute. 

When the timer goes off, do another set of 20’s. 

And so on, for a total of 20 minutes, and 400 reps. 

You’ll feel pleasantly smoked, without being exhausted; you’ll get in a good cardio workout, as well as working your hips, inner thighs, glutes, hamstrings, back, shoulders, triceps, not to mention abs (swings are a surprisingly effective alternative to crunches!).

As your body adapts to this drill, you can shorten the rest time, and add another set.  Or change up to one-hand swings–even hand-to-hand swings–all in just twenty minutes a day.

I call it the Goldilocks bell.  Partly because GoFit’s 10-pounder is a banana yellow color.  But also, because it’s just right for my granddaughter.  At six years old, Myah is no stranger to weights.  At the tender age of two, she was standing up with a 15-pound Olympic plate.  And at three, she was lugging my 35-pound kettlebell from the living room into the kitchen. 

I don’t think we had her in mind when we’d bought it–I’m not even sure why we got the thing in the first place, except that it was $10 off at Meijer’s.  A paperweight, maybe?  But Myah’s always eying our kettlebells when she comes to visit.  She’s a lively little thing–always bouncing on the jogging trampoline, or rolling the stability balls around the family room, and rousting Grandma and Papa outside to walk with her to the school playground a mile away.  So when she caught sight of Goldilocks standing out from the austere black iron in our courage corner, that was it!

Of course, we were careful to supervise her.  But in a very few minutes, she was doing two-hand swings, guided cleans, and presses.  Next time, I’ll teach her the goblet squat:  holding the bell by the horns, and pushing the butt way back as if trying to reach a chair that’s too far behind her.

She’s got two strikes against her in this modern age of sedentary, obese kids, in addition to her father’s family history.  But it’s more an issue of nurture than nature:  her cousin, who had been skinny till he reached his teens, now hurts the scales at the age of thirteen with a whopping 200+ pounds!

All it takes is a little grandfatherly modeling:  my Grandpa Riggs, who used to make a living carrying 150-pound blocks of ice into people’s kitchens before there were refrigerators, could still, near the age of 70, hold onto the bottom end of a piano all by himself, as they wrestled it down a flight of steps to the basement, with Dad and Grandpa Spence sprawled on the top of it, fighting to keep a handhold.

It made a lasting impression on this youngster.  I only hope I can pay it forward.

In the past, she’d sloughed off the weight with a combination of reduced calories, long walks, and bodybuilding-style workouts with free weights–which she’d always considered to be time-consuming and b-o-r-i-n-g!

But now, it was time for something completely different.  She was gonna lose that weight, and she was gonna KEEP it off!

Yeah, right.  Right?

Wrong!

In open defiance of the time-honored tradition of discarded New Year’s resolutions, Tracy actually kept her promise:  she got lean and mean and 100 pounds lighter, just two days shy of Thanksgiving of that year.  And she’s kept it off for four years now–even tossing out an additional twenty pounds of junk from her trunk, onto the scrap heap of discarded fat.

How’d she do it?

Well, for one thing, she cut her calories (Sorry!  But refer to Alwyn Cosgrove’s “Hierarchy of Fat Loss”:  Diet is Number One).  This meant no more eating out.  She prepared all the meals that she ate, so she could tell what went into them, how many calories, and its nutritional content.  She limited herself to 1,500 calories a day, and ideally ate nothing more after 6 p..m.  Once a week she allowed herself a cheat meal on Saturdays, but returned to low calories on Sunday–even a modified fruit fast if she’d overdone it the evening before.

As for the exercise portion, you’ve probably already guessed it was kettlebells.  It certainly didn’t hurt that her husband, Mark, had just started up his Girya Kettlebell Training business (would that we all had a close relative in “the business” who could give us access to free instruction).  But Tracy was insistent on having it her way–”You make me work too hard!”  she’d say to him.  She just wanted to get those furschlugginer workouts out of the way as soon as possible–though she couldn’t help but notice how quickly a few swings with a little 26-pounder could get her heart rate going in so little time.  This was different!  she thought.

But okay:  twenty minutes, twice a week, that’s it, no more, she’d say.  And to get ‘em all done in that time period, she would often do them in combination’s:  swings, snatches, cleans and presses–perhaps a squat as well–in one set, mixing it all up together in a very intense, complex, twice-weekly session.  (In fact, she was working harder than she would have had she allowed Mark to train her!).  As a result, after only 12 weeks, once again, none of her clothes fit her anymore–except that this time, it was her clothes that were too big for her!  So it was time to go shopping.

In the fitting room, staring at herself in the mirror, Tracy experienced what is called the “What the Heck Effect”, as in “What the Heck!  Where did this muscle come from?”  She had lots more tone and definition than she thought she’d have from just swinging that little kettlebell around–and this, without doing the classic isolation stuff she’d known in her bodybuilding days.

Hate workouts?  Want to get ‘em out of the way and get on with your life?  Then drop that burger and swing some iron:  this kettlebell is for you! 

[You can see Tracy's before and after pictures on her website:  tracyrif.blogspot.com]