What Are Kettlebells, and Why Use Them?

Enjoy stunning fat loss, maximal strength gains and huge strides in your conditioning with the amazing power of K2FSI Kettlebells

This is a Kettlebell. It is an iron ball with a handle. Looks innocent enough, no? Remember the adage "looks can be deceiving." It is innocent when it's just lying on the floor, but pick this thing up, and start exercising and two things immediately happen. 1.) You're hooked on it, like a powerful drug, and 2.) You'll begin an unbelievable fitness transformation. This sport, also called girevoy originated in Russia before the later part of the 19th century. A Kettlebell Lifter, or "girevik" was anyone who trained with the kettlebell. Kettlebell "lifters" or gireviks, compete in 2 primary lifts: 1 arm snatches, and 2 arm/2 KB clean and jerks, both for repetitions. A third type competition exists where the lifter performs a "long-cycle" clean and jerk where the KBs are "cleaned" from the hang position and then "jerked" overhead for each repetition. In the traditional competitions of snatches and C/Js, the top lifters perform over 150 snatches, and over 100 C/Js. This is not only incredible feats of strength, but also incredible endurance, and tenacity. Lifts, however, are not confined to the "competition" lifts. There are many, many others such as; military press, bent press, windmills, the Turkish get-up, 1 leg deadlifts and more. The competition lifts and supplementary exercises make kettlebell lifting a superb strength-and-conditioning routine for athletes, martial artists, soldiers, and anyone else who desires out-of-this-world fitness. In fact Olympic lifts, the "Snatch," and "Clean and Jerk" are two of the most productive exercises anyone can do. They involve more muscles of the body than any other exercise, and due to the explosive nature of the lifts, the workloads are incredibly high. However, due to the technical nature of these lifts with a barbell, high repetition sets are not recommended, but with a Kettlebell, the lifts are less technical so one's form does not deteriorate making high reps much much safer and introduce the strength-endurance element. Many people suppose that one could get the same benefits from training with dumb-bells. While the total mechanics of why kettlebells are superior to dumb-bells is difficult to explain, here are a few basics.

* The kettlebell has a very thick handle. Which makes it more difficult to handle and builds incredible grip strength.
* As a dumb-bell is lifted higher (such as in a curl) the center of gravity remains in line with the hand and forearm, and tension/force dissipates. The kettlebell, on the other hand, is constantly pulling against the force applied due to it's "offset" center of gravity, which also works the stabilizing muscles much harder.
* Learning to absorb the shock as a kettlebell flips over, as in a snatch, utilizes an incredible number of stabilizing muscles, and strengthens tendons and ligaments.

Often referred to as an "ethnic sport," kettlebell lifting was not limited to Russia and eastern Europe, in fact many American "old time" strong men relished training with kettlebells. Many people might think, "well that was old time strong men, they are not the same as today's lifters." That statement would be 100% correct, they are not the same. Many of the old time lifters performed feats of strength that today's lifters only dream of. For instance, Arthur Saxon's 370 lb bent press. That is with a barbell, 1 arm, at bodyweight of 210 lbs, and more than fifty years before steroids, nautilus machines, and "this month's top body-building routine." Or Herman Goerner's 727 lb One Arm Deadlift!. Now for the record, their incredible strength wasn't built with only Kettlebells, but kettlebells were some of these lifters favorite tools. However, many of today's fitness programs involving "scientific research" by "theorizers," are way too complicated, and are hugely in-effective and sometimes outright wrong. People have been drawn away from the basic and highly effective methods, simply because they are physically demanding, but that is the only thing that will bring success; hard work! As for transfer-of-training, or carry-over training effect, Voropayev (1983) of the former Soviet Union, conducted research into kettlebell training. He observed two groups of college students over a period of a few years. A standard battery of the armed forces PT tests was used; pullups, a standing broad jump, a 100 meter sprint, and a 1 K run. The control test group followed the typical university physical training program which was military oriented and emphasized the above exercises. The experimental group just lifted kettlebells. In spite of the lack of practice on the tested drills, the KB group showed better scores in every one of them. (Tsatsouline, The Russian Kettlebell Challenge, 2001) For fat-burning properties, how many programs have you seen that can burn off 1% and more of your body fat each week, without changing your diet? As with any exercise program, kettlebell lifting can be hazardous. Clear all physical activity with your physician prior to engaging in any weightlifting, or other physically demanding activity. We also suggest obtaining proper instruction in kettlebell lifting from a certified Kettlebell instructor.:

* Get really, really nasty -- with a commando's wiry strength, the explosive agility of a tiger and the stamina of a world-class ironman
* Own the single best conditioning tool for killer sports like kickboxing, wrestling, and football
* Watch in amazement as high-rep kettlebells let you hack the fat off your meat -- without the dishonor of aerobics and dieting
* Kick your fighting system into warp speed with high-rep snatches and clean-and-jerks
* Develop steel tendons and ligaments -- with a whiplash power to match
* Effortlessly absorb ballistic shocks -- and laugh as you shrug off the hardest hits your opponent can muster
* Go ape on your enemies -- with gorilla shoulders and tree-swinging traps

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Why K2 Fitness Solutions Inc kettlebells?

MADE IN THE USA!

Kettlebells from K2 Fitness Solutions, The Premier, Gold-Standard in Kettlebells!

K2 Fitness Solutions is one of THE oldest producer/supplier of kettlebells in the US. So we know what it takes to make a great kettlebell. Our customers will attest to this as well. Kettlebells from K2 Fitness Solutions are cast iron and coated with a smooth, industrial grade epoxy paint. We have gone to great lengths to make our Kettlebells top quality, accurate weights, and AFFORDABLE! These Kettlebells will last a lifetime-and beyond. Kettlebells are offered in 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 40, and 48 kilogram weights. You can't buy a better kettlebell ANYWHERE, nor find a better bargain for quality and cost.

K2 Fitness Kettlebells are markedly different from those available from other companies. We surveyed hundreds of users, potential users, and especially women to see what their preferences were. For our regular sized kettlebells, this means the best handles you'll find ANYWHERE! Smooth and uniform with no ridges or irregularities. The best size and shape producing a well balanced kettlebell. For the ladies; the results are our 4 kg and 8kg Kettlebell. The 8kg Kettlebell is the same physical size as the cast iron 16kg Kettlebells, but have a smaller diameter handle, and are cast in aluminum. The 4kg kettlebell is the same physical size as the 12kg and has the same handle size as the 8kg and is aluminum as well. Other 4kg and 8kg kettlebells are usually very small, which gives less contact area with the lifter's arm, making body contact much more concentrated, and creates a need to be much more precise with where the kettlebell contacts the arm. They also have very small handle diameters, which doesn't work ones grip as efficiently, and of which many women have complained about.
Additionally, the painted aluminum resists the tendency of other materials to collect dirt, grass, sand, grit, etc. Plus, you need not worry about what chemical materials, or sharp objects might come in contact with the kettlebell.

To our knowledge, our kettlebells are THE ONLY kettlebells currently MADE IN THE USA. Other companies are importing kettllebells made with sub-quality iron and little if any quality controls. When you own a K2 FSI kettlebell, you can rest assured that it is the best quality available ANYWHERE and that you doing your part to keep American jobs IN AMERICA!

Warning: Kettlebells are Fitness Tools for serious conditioning It is not a Ken and Barbie toy! Treat your kettlebell lifting with the utmost care, precision and respect. We recommend that you take advantage of our kettlebell instruction and the books and videos available on our website.

Lift at your own discretion! We are not responsible for you breaking your kettlebell, hitting yourself on the head, dropping it on your feet, damaging your personal property or any other mullet-type behavior!

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