10 Cardio Kettlebell Workouts That Will Crush Calories
Kettlebells are similar to dumbbells used in fitness centers and boot camps for physical strength endurance training and other incredible workouts. They use explosive movements that stimulate abdominal contractions. So, while you are building stamina, you are also working out your abs. Here are 10 effective Cardio Kettlebell Workouts That Will Crush Calories
1. Kettlebell Cleans
To do cleans, first stand straight and space your legs out apart at about shoulder width. Rest your set of kettlebells in between your feet. Next, bend down slowly at an angle to pick up the bells using a backhand grip while at the same time ensuring your back is straight. Raise the bells explosively by going to a standing position and pulling them up, and then around your shoulders. Finally, perform the reverse motion to place the balls down.
2. Kettlebell Squats
Place your bells on the floor directly in front of you, and slightly within shoulder width. Using a forehand grip, bend down with your back straight and grip the bells, slowly pulling them up and around your shoulders. Make sure at this point the bells are at chest level. The actual exercise is to squat down and up with the bells at that position and height. The key thing is to ensure your back is straight at all times.
3. Kettlebell Swings
To do kettlebell swings, put just one bell on the floor directly in front of your right hand. Pick the bell up normally with a forehand grip and go into a standing position, holding your bell in between your legs and below your groin. Swing the ball back behind and under your legs with your right-hand firm on the grip and your left hand grabbing it slightly for support.
As the momentum swings the bell back up, use your force to push the bell higher to your chest level, keeping your hands straight while doing so. Follow the momentum and swing the kettlebell back down and under your legs, this time switching hands.
4. Kettlebell Jerk
This involves exercising one arm separately. Stand straight and spread your feet up to the length of your shoulder. With one arm, lift a kettlebell gradually up to the level of your ear. Raise it once more until it reaches your head and then squat. All the way, make sure that the arm and hand in motion correspond to the body. Make the last jerk and repeat the procedure.
5. Kettlebell Overhead Press
Pick up your kettlebell and bring it into the rack position, close to your body ensuring that your wrist stays straight and that the bell is resting in the ‘V’ made by your forearm and bicep. Brace down hard through your core, (think that someone is about to punch you in the stomach), squeeze the kettlebell handle as hard as you can and drive the kettlebell overhead.
During the press, you will rotate your hand so that in the top position your palm will be facing away from your body. At the top make sure that you lock out the elbow and that your shoulder is locked down and back. The kettlebell can be directly over the shoulder, or slightly behind, but not in front of the body. From here you need to keep your core braced, and reverse the movement and hand rotation coming back to the rack position.
6. Kettlebell Renegade Rows
With the regular 1 arm kettlebell row where you have one leg on the bench, renegade rows and their variations require you to use your entire core to keep your lower back straight and stable.
7. Kettlebell rack position
Start in the rack position, the same as mentioned above for the overhead press. You will need to brace your core like never before on this exercise, squeeze the KB handle tight and then start your descent.
8. Kettlebell Hard Style Breathing
This type of breathing is done when you use powerful and explosive movements while using kettlebells. During the exercise, you breathe in while swinging the kettlebell between your knees and breathe out when you use an explosive movement of your hip to swing it back to your chest height. This type of hard breathing is used to improve the power of movement.
9. Kettlebell Soft Style Breathing
Soft style of breathing is done while performing the classic style of kettlebell exercise. You do not use explosive movements while performing this exercise. Hence, it requires you to exhale while you swing the kettlebell down between your legs and inhale while you swing back the kettlebell to your chest height.
As your lungs get compressed during this downward movement, you exhale and when you swing back to your standing position, you inhale. So, this type of breathing matches your movement. It is better to use a lighter kettlebell for improving strength endurance while doing soft style breathing.
10. Boot camps using kettlebells
At a boot camp, you are encouraged to use kettlebells for burning calories, increasing movement and increasing endurance. As the exercises are performed in the open here, you feel more motivated. Also, at boot camps, all the exercises are done in groups. So, you feel inspired by your peers and strive to put in your best effort.
Trainers in a boot camp motivate you to use kettlebells for flexibility. Since multiple muscle groups are used while performing kettlebell exercises, you are encouraged to do these workouts.
Conclusion
Above all, kettlebells give you something that you normally can’t get from most weight based routines – functional strength. Functional strength is defined as a strength that can be used in everyday situations, not just to show off one specific move. Bench pressing 200 lbs is very impressive, don’t get me wrong, but it only provides a limited range of motion for those muscles that you’re working on. Adjust the angle just a little bit and you’re back down to 50 or 75 lbs.
With kettlebells, the specific types of workouts give you a range of functional motion while you increase your strength. More importantly, each exercise brings a variety of muscle groups into the routine rather than isolating specific muscles. The result is that your body works better as a single unit, rather than a conglomeration of individual pieces that don’t fit in with one another. Simply put, kettlebells are the ultimate muscle maximizer exercises because they allow you to maximize every different type of strength without limiting your range of motion. This makes these perfect for athletes who need to focus on strengthening their entire body.
