One of the most effective exercises that we use within our Woman Only Boot Camps in Northampton is the 2 hand kettlebell swing.
Kettlebells date back almost 300 years, although some say they could be thousands of years old. The term ‘girya’ which means “kettlebell” in Russian, first appeared in the Russian dictionary in 1704.
In the 1980s, the Russian Olympic track and field team trained with kettlebells and won all the throwing events at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. In the military, the Russians used kettlebell exercises for their testing procedures instead of useless push-up tests adopted by the British and Americans.
In the late 1990s, a gentleman called Pavel Tsatsouline, a trainer for the Russian Speical Forces, became responsible for popularizing the kettlebell within the USA. Due to such amazing results amongst mainstream fitness goers the UK is now starting to play catch up.
So who uses them?
These days they are used by pretty much everyone – men, women, boys, girls, athletes, martial artisits, army personnel, celebrities, pre and post-natal women.
Why are they so effective?
The foundation exercises (such as the 2 arm swing) contain no jarring movements, so they teach the body to work together as one unit, which helps to prevent injury. The shape allows the body to perform a multitude of ballistic and grind exercises in a natural, fluid motion.
Here are some of the many benefits of using kettlebells:
- Increased endurance
- Muscular strength without added bulk
- Full body workout
- Twice the results in half the time you would normally spend in the gym
- Rapid fat loss
- Increased core stabillty
- Stronger back
- Flexibilty
Here is a short demonstration video on how to perform the 2 hand swing: