Have you started training with kettlebells yet?  Let me continue to tell you about what you’re missing, if you haven’t started doing Kettlebell Training yet.

Hopefully you’re familiar with Kettlebells by now and know what they are, but if you don’t, they are “cannonballs with handles” that may literally be one of the best pieces of fitness equipment ever developed.  Why?  There are so many benefits of Kettlebell training, I decided to make a concise summary list of the top 7 for you, so you know exactly what the benefits are and why you should incorporate them into your fitness regimen.  There’s actually a long list, but I only picked, what I feel, are the top 7 reasons. So, here they are:

1. Superior Strengthening: Kettlebells have been around for many years and have always been known for their strengthening benefits.  By training with Kettlebells, you can rapidly advance your strength levels by regular training and improve your total body strength in a way that translates to improved function and performance. Because you are training in all planes of motion (as compared to a machine, which isolates into single plane motion), you’ll build strength in all your primary muscle groups, simultaneously.  You’ll build pure total body strength that you can apply in recreational or competitive sports or activities of daily living.  Improve your performance in whatever task or activity you’re doing.  You’ll feel amazingly better and stronger by training with kettlebells.
2. Increased Level of Total Body Conditioning: As with strengthening, your total body conditioning will significantly improve.  Because of the nature of the exercises and working your entire body, your conditioning will quickly improve leading to better productivity and energy for increased activity levels. Strength and conditioning improvements are obvious benefits with this type of training, that you’ll quickly realize.  Are you interested in a peak level of health?  Train with kettlebells.
3. Enhanced Cardiovascular Performance: Here’s one that may be a bit surprising for you, but you’re cardiovascular performance will significantly improve with this type of training.  Now, this may depend on the type of training protocols you’re doing, but in general, your cardiovascular system may be significantly enhanced. Let’s take “the Kettlebell Swing“, as an example.  This exercise alone is so effective in cardiovascular improvement due to the nature of the exercise and the arm motion that increases your cardiovascular output.  You will very quickly get your heart rate up and increase your oxygen consumption considerably when doing this exercise.  Studies have previously shown that effects of training with kettlebells were long term decrease in both heart rate and blood pressure.
4. Muscle Building Effects: This is resistance training.  Resistance training builds muscle.  There are numerous exercises and protocols you can do with your kettlebells and depending on what your goals are for training, the muscle building effects may be quite significant.  Resistance training promotes the anabolic or “building up” effects in your muscles. The benefits are that it’s a total body muscle enhancing effect and not just isolated to one muscle group.  These are compound muscular movements that recruit many muscle groups into each exercise and the muscle building effects can be spectacular, depending on your protocol and exercise goals.
5. Fat Burning Effects: This type of training, especially doing interval training or metabolic resistance exercise will lead to fat burning effects.  This really surprised me when I stared training with kettlebells.  I started to see the belly fat really melt away as I ramped up my training, with shorter exercise programs.  With the kettlebell training, you’re doing these quick workouts, which really elevate your metabolism to create an effect known as “the afterburn” effect.  This means that even when you are done with your exercise, you’re body continues to burn calories and burn fat.  This is a phenomenal effect of training with kettlebells (and other resistance training methods, as well, not just kettlebells).  This training can be very intense and one of the best rewards is increased fat burning efficiency.
6. Fun: Here’s a benefit I haven’t seen discussed too often.  Kettlbell training is actually very fun!  I mean you can do it pretty much anywhere (as long as it’s a safe environment), but I’ve found that I really look forward to each session because I have fun and challenging training sessions.  It’s not boring, it’s highly challenging, and it’s very rewarding.  I have fun during each session because it’s a different way to train and I know the results are coming from each and every workout.  You can really vary your exercises and training methods to make it suit you and your goals, so make it fun and exciting.  This is an excellent advantage with this type of training.
7. Highly Time Efficient: The last major benefit I’ll cover here is Time Efficiency. Now, this is what Smart Fitness Training is all about.  I do my Kettlebells at home, which saves time in travel back and forth to the gym, but the training session itself is extremely time efficient.  I can do a session in as little as 10 minutes and as long as 40 minutes (which I rarely ever go that long). My average training session is 20-30 minutes.  You can get all of the benefits I mention above in the most time efficient workouts.  And I never thought this was possible, to get such benefits in so little time, but it is absolutely true, tested, and proven.

There you have it.  7 great reasons why Kettlebells are a great option for your training regimen.

Just 2 more days left in 2010 and 2 more posts left of the 31 Days of Smart Fitness.

This has really been a great challenge (to post everyday this month) and I’m looking forward to a great 2011, bringing you great information, lessons, and resources to help you achieve peak health and conditioning.

I’ll be here tomorrow for the 30th Day of continuous posts this month.  See you then…