Optimal Life Fitness, for health, fitness and a new lifestyle outdoors.

An increasing numbers women are starting to break out of the stuffy gym studios and hit the great outdoors for their exercise. Great. Being outside not only offers you all the benefits of your gym based workout, it adds the exhilaration and vitality only fresh air and green surroundings can. But once you've jumped off the treadmill where to next? Well, some choose to jump on a bike and some choose to hit the park trails, mp3 player in hand, for a nice relaxing jog. Based on the alternative (of sitting indoors on a recumbent cycle) this sounds great but, in most cases, the women in question are merely repeating the same ineffective training patterns which brought slow results in the gym and made the whole exercise experience monotonous in the first place. What's most evident here is a serious lack of resistance work.
Resistance training offers many benefits, some extremely relevant to the long term health of females in particular. These will be discussed in greater detail below but for now let's just focus on the fact that resistance training can help females to burn more fat, tone up and increase cardio vascular fitness. The benefit of using kettlebells as part of your resistance programme is that they are more efficient at achieving these benefits than any other piece of resistance equipment.
So why do women often raise a skeptical eyebrow when the kettlebells are brought out? Well as a woman myself I have to admit that the first time I encountered a kettlebell I was somewhat daunted - and I'm not a beginner when it becomes to resistance training. They looked totally different to any equipment I had ever encountered before. There's no denying that kettlebells look like a tough piece of training equipment but underneath that rough exterior lays an extremely effective, versatile, challenging and most importantly fun piece of training equipment. Unfortunately our engrained social stereotypes lead us to pigeon hole them as a "male" piece of equipment but this couldn't be further from the truth, they come in a range of weights and sizes that make them easy for anybody to use.
It's not just the steely appearance that traditionally puts women off the idea of using weighted training equipment. The most common concern is that resistance training will lead to muscle gain and a "butch" appearance. Well to a certain degree it is true that resistance training can increase lean muscle mass, however, only to the extent that it can help you look leaner and burn more calories. All good things. And this increased muscle mass generally comes at the expense of fat, recent studies have demonstrated that though they get stronger and achieve a greater leaner mass women who engage in regular resistance training show no muscle enlargement. In reality it's actually incredibly difficult for females to build muscle to the extent that they look 'manly' or 'butch'. If you look at your average male body builder they have an extremely complex regime of tough tough training, strict nutritional programmes involving huge volumes of protein and supplements and extremely disciplined rest/sleep patterns. And that's all before we've added the magic muscle building ingredient of testosterone - studies have shown that on average men produce ten times more testosterone than women - and they still have to work incredibly hard to gain muscle bulk. Quite simply, muscle gain should not be a concern when approaching kettlebell training.
Most women exercise not only for health but also for aesthetic benefits. However, when it comes to losing weight most women do the wrong thing. This is where we come back to hitting the park on that long jog or just sticking to the CV equipment in the gym. It is absolutely true that a good CV workout burns calories and this obviously aids fat loss but there are a number of factors that can prevent or slow the effect of such training if it is not allied with some resistance work. The key phrase is good CV workout. Without a varied and planned progression the results of CV training will be limited, it's simply too easy to sit at a comfortable pace and say "well at least I'm burning calories". Our bodies are lazy, they will adapt to make everything we do as comfortable as possible so if the stimulus isn't varied (by something like a kettlebell training session) the body will learn how to carry out the task efficiently and then stop adapting. So it will work out how to burn as few calories as possible on your long slow jog and then do just that.
Ever heard of the magic "fat burning zone"? The old adage that at 60% of your maximum heart rate (about the speed of a light or comfortable jog) your body burns more fat for energy. Though this is true it is incredibly misleading. As your work rate increases during a workout the proportion of calories taken from carbohydrate increases in relation to the amount taken from fat. So at a light work rate (60% maximum heart rate) a high percentage of the calories burned come from fat and a lower percentage from carbohydrate. If work rate is increased (80% maximum heart rate) the proportions will flip over, however, the increased intensity means that the total amount of fat calories burned is still greater than at the lower intensity. It sounds confusing but consider this. Imagine that fat calories are 1p coins and that carb calories are 2p coins. If I told you that we spent a total of 10 pence and that 60% came from 1p coins then that would equal 6 x 1p coins spent. Now imagine we'd spent £1 of which 40% were 1p coins. As a proportion of money spent 1p coins account for less than when we spent 10p but we've still spent 40 of them instead of a measly 6. Mixing the pace and work rate will burn more calories AND fat everytime, leading to weight loss.
So we've established that kettelbell training will burn more calories than a light jog and burn more fat than the average workout to help you become leaner but there are also added weight loss benefits to the exercise. Pull your attention back to the muscle building issue. Kettlebell training will help females increase their lean muscle mass. This has a huge metabolic effect. Lean muscle mass is more difficult for the body to maintain than adipose (fatty) mass. The more you have the more energy your body will expend at rest to maintain it. Your resting metabolic rate is the daily rate at which your body burns calories before activity, just maintaining itself. An increased lean muscle mass will increase your resting metabolic rate by up to 15% which in turn leads to decreased body fat. In fact for every additional pound of muscle you gain, your body burns around 50 extra calories every day. Not only that but after a higher intensity kettlebell session which combines CV and resistance benefits your body will operate at a higher metabolic rate for up to 48 hours after the session has finished. This is because the adaptations prompted by the exercise require energy to be carried out, this is certainly not a benefit seen by the low intensity "fat burning" jog after which the body will cease burning fat almost immediately.
There's a great deal of information here but if you take just one thing away know this: kettlebell training is a mode of workout that is so effective for females it is actually quite surprising it has not been picked up and pushed into the mainstream before now. It promotes fat loss by:
Increasing lean muscle mass

• Increasing resting metabolic rate
  
• Burning a greater amount of energy
  
• Increasing muscle tone
  
• Combining CV and resistance work to improve overall fitness
  

Quite a formidable resume but it's surprising for many to learn that the list of benefits goes on, both physiological and psychological. Numerous studies have demonstrated that up to 97% of women experience significantly improved self esteem as the result of engaging in resistance training An unfortunate inevitability we all have to look forward to as women is a lighter bone density as we get older. Women are four times more likely than men to suffer from the disease osteoporosis and we are therefore far more likely to need joint replacements and experience serious fractures in old age. Regular resistance training can reduce the chances of osteoporosis in females by increasing bone density. Kettlebell training combines the benefits of increased bone density with complex movements that develop body awareness and motor ability which not only improve posture but help develop the strength and movement patterns that can keep our joints healthy as we get older, reducing our risk of falls and fractures. Include decreased insulin resistance in diabetics, reduced blood pressure, lowered chances of heart disease, greater joint stability, more efficient power generation and reduced injury risk for athletes, lowered risk to a variety of cancers and it's amazing to think that a few moments ago we were even talking about kettlebell training as a male domain.

written by Sarona Taylor
To contact Sarona about personal training or other information you can email her

January has been a good month for Optimal Life Fitness, appearing in a number of magazines. to view these articles please see the link below:

Fit Pro January 07
S%3A%5C_design%20and%20artwork%5CArticles%5C2223KettleBellPulloutfitpro.pdf

Health and Fitness January 07
http://www.healthandfitnessonline.co.uk/page/handf?entry=kettlebells_the_new_way_to

Health 24 January 07
http://www.health24.co.uk/content/health24/fitness/story.aspx?brand=Herts24&category=-fitness_article&tBrand=herts24&tCategory=healthFIT&itemid=WEED02%20Jan%202007%2013%3A39%3A03%3A480

If you're any kind of trainer who keeps up with what's going on in the health, fitness and strength training world you have surely come across Kettle bells in the last couple of years. If you have, or even if you haven't this should give you an introduction and more of an insight into Kettlebells and what they are about.
In some circles they are considered to be all that is needed get you strong, get you big, get you lean, tone you up, burn fat, build you a house and fly you to the moon! In other circles they are just the latest exercise fad or gimmick.
In this piece I will argue neither of the above, just that I believe Kettle bells are a fantastic training tool, as good as a barbell or a dumbbell in terms of health, fitness, strength and conditioning. Just like a barbell or dumbbell however a Kettle bell can be great for certain exercises and training goals but not as good for others.
I'll get onto the benefits of Kettle bells later on firstly I'll give my views on fitness and particularly strength training and the problems with both. I believe the human body is designed to move. A lot of the problems, injuries and health related issues that humans in the world face today can be related to a distinct lack of movement.
By movement I don't mean moving around in a car, on a bus, a train or by 'moving' on a leg press, pec deck, tread mill or cross trainer. By movement I am referring to standing on our own two feet, supporting our own body weight, balancing and controlling our own limbs. By balance I am not referring to bouncing up and down on a ball either, instead I am referring to the neuromuscular and proprioceptive ability to support ourselves and our movement. In terms of exercise I am also referring to movements such as squats, dead lifts, presses, pushes, pulls, rows, jumps, runs and throws.
Now that I have briefly explained my stand on movement I'll get back to Kettlebells and just what they're about.
Kettlebells are an old time strength training tool, think leopard skin leotards, curly moustaches and fig leaves. They originated in Russia (Gyri is the Russian name for kettlebells) hundreds of years ago and moved to the rest of Europe and the USA during the 19th century. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries they along with Indian clubs, climbing ropes, gymnastic apparatus, and the original barbells and dumbbells were the tools of choice in gyms or physical culture centres as they were called at the time.
In the West they disappeared in gyms, fitness centres and health clubs and post WW2 they virtually disappeared altogether. However they remained a tool of choice in the East particular Russia and other countries that now make up the former Soviet Union. As well as barbell and dumbbell training, kettlebells were and still are used extensively by nationally and internationally ranked wrestlers, Olympic weightlifters, power lifters and many other athletes.
In the last ten years they have began to make resurgence in the west. This resurgence has been in no small part to Pavel Tatsouline, a Soviet Master of Sport now residing in the USA.
What exactly is a Kettlebell? A Kettlebell is essentially a ball of metal with a handle on it outside the main mass of the bell. The handle is crucial in a kettlebell's uniqueness as in certain movements it creates an extra axis. For exercises such as swings, snatches and cleans this extra axis really comes into play requiring the body to be able to both create and absorb extra momentum, more so than what is required for the same exercises performed with other bells (barbells and dumbbells). The handle also allows the user to hold onto the bell in different ways to perform different exercises.
The beauty of kettlebell's is their versatility. Everything you do with a dumbbell you can do with a kettlebell, everything you do with a barbell you can do with kettlebell. I'm not saying that kettlebell's should replace barbells and dumbbells, far from it. What I am saying is that athletes and everyday Jo's wanting to improve strength and fitness could do well to add kettlebell training and exercises into their programmes.
For personal trainers and group training instructors their versatility is fantastic. With one kettlebell a client can dead lift, front squat, arm curl, shoulder press, clean, snatch, swing and much more. In comparison with barbells they are space efficient and if you want to lift heavy; two bells can be used. You have more options than with dumbbells due to the versatility of the handles; you can't get two hands around a single dumbbell handle.
Again I am not trying to replace barbells and dumbbells. For maximal strength and power gains using a barbell to; dead lift, squat and bench press heavy is essential. Dumbbells are fantastic for unilateral exercises and great for more isolation type exercises such as lateral raises and chest fly's.
My point is that kettlebells are a fantastic tool that can be used to great effect to complement any strength and fitness programme. Whether used to make up a whole session or used for specific exercises within a session, kettlebells definitely deserve their place in the fitness industry. They won't build you a house or fly you to the moon but they can definitely help you and your clients in achieving health and fitness goals.

Bernard (BJ) Rule BSc Exercise Science
BJ is Strength and Conditioning Specialist and Personal Trainer residing in London.
For more information on kettlebells and Optimal Life Fitness' two day fully REPs accredited Extreme Kettlebell Instructor Course visit this link:
www.olfstore.com

bj@optimallifefitness.com
http://www.optimallifefitness.com/