Break up your traditional exercise routine with a kettlebell, a cast-iron weight that resembles a cannonball with a handle. Kettlebell training may lower the heart rate and blood pressure while building strength and endurance.
Bells vary in weight from 18 to 106 pounds, so begin with the smallest weight and increase as you gain more strength and comfort. Certified kettlebell trainer Delanie Ross demonstrates some basic techniques.
Swing
Place bell slightly behind your feet. Keep your weight in your heels and hinge back like you are trying to sit in a chair too far for you to reach.
Pick up bell using your legs and hips (not your back) and hike the bell as far back as you can. Really springload the bell so you can power it up with your hips.
Snap your hips and come to a standing position while letting the bell swing forward to about chin level. You should be standing straight up with your knees locked and squeezing your abs and glutes tight.
Tips: Your arms are like ropes and your hands are like hooks — don’t pull the bell up or slow the bell down with your arms. The entire move is powered from your hips. Breathe in (through your nose) when you are hiking the bell back and blow out (through your mouth) as the bell swings forward. This ensures that you engage your abs and protects your back. Swings can be done with both hands holding onto the bell.
Kettlebell snatch
Start in same position as the swing but instead of holding the bell with two hands, grab it with either hand and hike it back.
Snap your hips the same way you did in the swing, but act like you are zipping up a sweater (don’t keep your arm straight) and punch up to the ceiling.
Pop it down, and repeat. Keep momentum going.
Russian twist
Start in a seated position, and grab the bell by the horns and rest it against your chest.
Lift your feet off the ground and twist from left to right. Your feet may tend to bicycle, but the important movement is the twist at your waist; your feet are secondary. Just make sure to keep them off the ground.
Delanie Ross is owner of Condition Inc., a fitness center offering an alternative to the traditional gym environment.
