Everybody knows that kettlebells are very versatile training tool. Shifted center of gravity in the bell gives much more fun in everyday training and provides completely different stimuli to our body.
To build the strength you have to know some basic principles of training programming. The most important of which are:
1. low reps – basically less than 5
2. high intensity
Nowadays we can find kettlebells from 4kg up to even 100+ kg, so we definitely can’t complain. A great way to increase the intensity of training (in order to build strength) is to combine kettlebells with exercises characteristic for barbells, such as squats, pull-ups and press-ups. The effect of the combination will significantly improve strength in comparison with training only on barbells or kettlebells.
What about endurance? When we talk about endurance built through kettlebell training, we do not think about classic cardio. It is something much more.
Long sets or flows with ballistic exercises like swings, cleans and snatches are the best way to build your stamina. But you can’t do it without proper level of strength, because you are still working with weights! Imagine sets that lasts around 2-3 minutes or even longer – just like in Girevoy Sport. Best athletes can perform 10 minutes of snatches with 32kg (men) and with 24kg (woman) without putting kettlebell down and with one hand switch. So, do we talk about endurance or strength now? It’s always both!
We can of course use strength exercises and combine them with ballistic ones into the circuits and it also will work well for muscle endurance and stamina. That is why kettlebells are freedom. Now you understand why the question at the beginning was not that easy to answer – with kettlebells it’s always killing two birds with one stone!
