The Kettle Bell and Kettle Bell Exercises

Are exercise equipment too heavy and bulky for you? Do they take up a big amount of space in your home? And, are you frustrated because your equipment are not portable? Guess what, here is a simple object that can be your portable exercise partner. It is the kettle bell.

The kettle bell is just like a cannon ball with a handle. It comes in different weights, sizes, colors, and styles. Exercises done with this object are mainly ballistic, or those done in projectile motion, such as swinging of the arms, shoulders, along with the bending of the waist. The kettle bell, though small, can improve your cardiovascular system, your strength, grip, and flexibility.

The muscles which are improved are mainly the arms, shoulders and back. But exercise movements can be modified in order to have your full body workout. Good news for those who want to bust off their bellies, the abdomen can be improved using the kettle bell, too.

A type of exercise which can hit your abdomen and your core is the kettle bell windmill. It works mainly on your abdominal muscles , and also on your arms, thighs, back, and shoulders. How do you do it? This is how:

1. Hold the kettlebell by the handle firmly over head with one arm. Your arm must be positioned straight up. (keep your grip always locked to prevent from releasing the kettle bell)
2. Swing your working arm (the arm with the kettle bell) forward up to the back.
3. Simultaneous with the swing, bend forward, keep your feet locked to the ground. Push your butt upward and lower your chest on the floor for as low as you can.
4. Hold the position for a second and then reverse back the motion to the starting position.
5. You can do a series of reps on one arm before transferring the kettle bell to the other arm, or you can alternate each cycle between your two arms.

This is just one of the many exercises that you can do with the kettle bell to have your over-all body workout. Another variation of the windmill exercise can be bending down diagonally, to work more on your oblique muscles (to lose those love handles).

In order to work out the chest, you can lie down on your back on a flat surface, use the kettle bells as weights and push upward the weights with your hands perpendicular to your chest.

The kettle bells are just like normal weights and dumbbells, but the difference is that you can do more styles of movements with it with its handy handle.

Caution is needed, though, for those with back and shoulder problems or injury.

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