Sunday, January 15, 2012

The Kettlebell Transformation.

My Kettle-bell collection.
Back in June 2011, when I first started getting serious about kettle-bells, I didn't realize just how serious it would get.

Fast forward six months, and the year 2011 is over, and a new year has started. I now do kettle-bell workouts 3 times a week.

And that's it. No gym, No treadmill running, No bench-pressing, no Nike+ running. Just kettle-bells.

Initially, my biggest fear with kettle-bells was the danger of injury. When you are swinging a 16 kilogram round object all around your body, it is very easy to assume that it is a very risky and a very technical workout. I was discussing kettle-bell workouts with my gym trainer, and the first thing he told me was that I would likely get injured, since he had seen many people getting injured while doing kettle-bell workouts.

Well, there is no denying the fact that kettle-bell workouts are highly technical workouts. You can get injured if you don't follow correct form or do not respect the kettle-bell. This means watching YouTube videos and trying to repeat the same at home is a sure-fire way to injury.

I was lucky because I was guided from the very beginning by a RKC certified trainer, and under his guidance, I moved from a kettle-bell newbie to someone who can comfortably do swings with 24 kg kettle-bells and snatches with a 16 kg kettle-bells.

I did not get a single injury with kettle-bells - which is quiet different from the regular injuries I used to suffer, while doing running or resistance workouts.

Last week, our trainer made us do an evaluation to see what we are capable of. When I first started kettle-bells, I could not do a single snatch with the 16 kg kettle-bell. During the evaluation, I did 80 snatches in 5 minutes.