Lately kettlebells have been getting a lot attention by the media. They have recently been featured in Prevention, Shape, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, there was even an article in United States Weekly about how Jennifer Love Hewitt used them to lose weight and tone up. You may be thinking yeah ok they’re just the new well-liked trend in fitness and will be replaced in a few months by the next hot piece of exercise equipment.

However, unlike many exercise gizmos and trendy programs kettlebells are here to stay. They were first used many years ago in the Eastern European Block countries to train athletes, military personnel, and power lifters. Because of the way kettlebells were first used they did not catch on in mainstream fitness; they were viewed as too hardcore and only for highly skilled and trained individuals. However, in reality they are actually the opposite of hardcore training.

They were designed to teach the body proper movement patterns focusing on fluid, rhythmic, and controlled movements, much like yoga. Why not just do yoga then you ask? Well, with kettlebells you are providing the body with an external resistance that will increase muscle tissue and increase you bodies’ ability to burn calories all the while providing a cardiovascular workout. You could pretty much say that kettlebells are a one-stop fitness shop.

However, we have been using them as another tool to include in our clients programs. We have been using them over the past six months with clients and have noticed that their bodies are moving much better and are less injury prone. They also work great in our group fitness classes where we only have a half hour to get our class members through a good workout. By incorporating the kettlebells we can get their heart rates up and build functional strength all to help them lose weight.

If you have been trying to lose weight or are just looking for a new exciting way to workout you need to incorporate kettlebells into your workout. After using them for only a few weeks You will wish you’d started using them sooner.