WTF Is a Kettlebell? And How I Lost 22 Kilos With One!

Written by Daniel Carmichael on Sep 12, 2010 5:49 am

Sorry if anyone is offended by the title, but I often get asked that exact question by people I know that don't usually swear.

It often goes something like this...

"You've lost a heap of weight, what have you been doing"?

"Kettlebells" I reply.

"What the f*ck is a Kettlebell"?!

A Kettlebell looks like a cannonball with a handle and have been used by Russians since as far back as 1704, although it hasn't been until the last 10 years that they've really taken off across the globe. In the late 1800's and early 1900's, the Kettlebell was used by many of top strongmen of the era like Eugene Sandow and Arthur Saxon. But as strength equipment began to evolve, the Kettlebell found itself only really being used back in its native Russia.

And now, thanks largely to an ex Soviet Special Forces physical training instructor by the name of Pavel Tsatsouline, the Kettlebell has made a welcome return to the west.

Every time I see one of those infomercials for the next best piece of fitness equipment, I can't help but laugh because I can tell you that every one of them has absolutely nothing on the Kettlebell for strength, stamina, agility, flexibilty and co-ordination. They're basic, brutal and they work! And in regards to possible weight loss, I lost 22 kilograms (48.4 pounds) in about 5 months with 1 Kettlebell.

In saying that, I had cut down on my drinking and changed my diet. As a qualified chef, I have always known what to eat when it comes to maintaining a healthy body, but sometimes knowing and doing are two totally different things!!! I had gone from working in a hot kitchen for 10-12 hours a day to sitting on my bum in and air-conditioned office for the same period of time and it didn't take too long for the kilos to stack on.

I was looking for something different when I kept seeing the word Kettlebell pop up and my curiosity finally got the better of me. I had to do some research as my back was crook from a football injury and I also had multiple dislocations in both shoulders. Fortunately, the only Kettlebell instructor in my area was a qualified Physiotherapist and ensured me that a Kettlebell would be the best form of training to take up.

There are so many different exercises you can do with Kettlebells. A lot of them you see performed in the gym with Dumbbells and Barbells, but there are some you won't. Although I can perform most of the exercises, for 5 months I decided to concentrate on just 3 for 15-20 minutes, 6 days a week.

Every morning I would wake up and have a warm glass of water with a dash of lemon juice before I would do stretching, breathing and meditation exercises for about 15 minutes.

Then, with a 12 or 16 kilo Kettlebell I would do 15 Turkish Get Up on each side, 15 Bent Press on each side and 5 minutes of Clean and Jerk, alternating when each arm got tired.

Every morning I would change how I got to the 15 reps. Sometimes it would be 5x3 or 3x5. Sometimes it would be 5,4,3,2,1 or 1,2,3,4,5 or 3,2,3,2,3,2. I could do this every morning without feeling sore the next day, but each day my metabolism was spiked for hours and the weight started to fall.

After about 5 months, I had gone from 88 kilos (I looked as though I'd swallowed a sheep!) back down to 66 but I had gained about 9 kilos of muscle mass. So I'd lost 31 kilos of body fat, which for someone who only stands 170cm tall is quite a bit. All that without going for one run or getting on a Treadmill or Exercise bike. I didn't go swimming or hit my boxing bag. The whole time I just used the Kettlebell for 15-20 minutes each morning bar Sundays.

Along with being a great tool to help lose weight, Kettlebells are perfect to incorporate into any traditional weights program and have been used by the first man to bench 900 pounds, powerlifter Donnie Thompson.

He started using 24, 28 and 32 kilo Kettlebells in 2003 and a lot of his training partners were teasing him for using them. When he went to a meet a year later in 2004 and benched almost 800 pounds, they all wanted to know about Kettlebells, and by 2007 Donnie had benched 900 pounds!

If you want to lose weight or bulk up, get more agile and flexible, rehabiltate or become less prone to injury, or you just want to improve in just about any sport on the planet, I truly believe Kettlebells can help!

Stay Gold!

Daniel Carmichael