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so having taken advantage of lockdown, ive shifted nearly a stone of fat but now am missing access to the gym at work. Im not a weights fan, but can force myself to do a few circuits mostly focussed on upper body
one of the most effective and multi-purpose bits of kit is the kettlebells and i figure that if i purchase one, 16Kg, then it takes up no room at home and i can manage some sort of workout in the yard.
funnily enough, im late to the party and pretty much everything is sold out..... but having found something the asking price is £55
all advice welcome....before i make my own with 3/4 of a bag of post crete and some water!
Pretty versatile, you can do a lot with them.
I have a set, mainly just use them for KB Swings as I have a set of dumbbells as well.
Worth getting a proper one as you want a nice smooth handle.
55quid?
I think I got mine for a tenner each from Aldi
5 & 10kg
I found a bikejames workout try & do couple of times a week
Good for core
16kg that would pull my arm off! Aim away from your windows!
I like the KBs, though don't really 'do them properly' as such..
I@ve a 10, 2 12s, and a 16kg one.
Nice mix of weight for me.
Footflaps, i do shoulder presses and one arm presses, but you got any links to good KB swings??
DrP
Mens health kettlebells workout on pinterest, I'd imagine they're on YouTube too.
I've a couple of 12kg, on the lookout for a 24kg for big swings.
aldi - good steer, a tenner was more like i expected/hoped. you now have me questioning the weight, might have to break into the gym and remind myself which exercises i can do at which weights. cant really afford to get it wrong
im also considering a balance ball for my home office* chair
*that bit of space where the laptop now permanently resides 🙁
With a few different weights & some hex dumbells there is a whole range of exercises you can do to ruin yourself.
You can buy the cheap plastic ones, which are actually fine for the lighter ones (sub 12kg) in my experience. For the heavier, I wouldn't go for the 'garage style', I would (and do) use the competition ones - they have the wider neck, and bare metal handles, which don't savage your hands if you're doing cleans & presses etc.
The decent stuff, like Wolverson isn't cheap, but then it sells for silly money second hand. Watching a few 24's at the moment as I want a second one & might as well just wait for a new one.
That might be because stuff like this is mad with Covid though.
Speaking personally I would only go for the competition style kettle bells. Much easier to rack against your wrist and the consistent size for all weights, assuming you are getting more than one, makes switching a lot easier. I've never gotten on with the "Vee" shaped handles of the cast iron ones.
Not that this is much use right now but learning a few basic techniques really does help even with a relatively simple move like a swing which is actually lower body exercise.
Oh and definitely plenty of space. A colleague of mine did almost put a kettle bell through a plate glass window in a brand new office gym. The only thing that stopped the glass shattering it were the privacy stickers. We'd been in the building about three months.
I'm not a total weakling but 24kg sounds chuffin' massive. How many reps are folk doing with those?
Watching this thread with interest. Been thinking of acquiring a/some kettlebells for a while but unsure of best weight to buy. Like the look of those Onnit Primal Bells but probably cost a bomb. Anyone recommend the Decathlon range?
Warm up (5X5 goblet squats and 5X5 halos each way)
Then one arm swings 10 x 10 on 30secs alternating arms
Straight into Turkish get ups, one the minute for 10 mins alternating sides
Done
Do it again tomorrow
Have fun
(edit ... taken me a quite a while to get up to 24kg, started on 16kg... but consistency is the key)
To be honest I would buy whatever you can a) find in stock and b) isn't super price gougey c) avoid eBay. Home gym equipment is very much still in demand and supply is a night mare as my "olympic weight plate eBay saga" proves.
I got my 20kg 'bell from here: https://www.jllfitness.co.uk/kettlebells-cast-iron-neoprene.html It's fine for WODs but a bit light for me for proper resistance work.
the missis has an 8 and 12kg kettle. I have been using them through lockdown. very versatile and compact weights. the 12kg has become a bit light for me for some exercise but I haven't been able to find a heavier one anywhere. Shes a PT so has given me lots of different exercises to do....also loads of things on Instagram / t'internet showing different exercises. We have a barbell at home too that is good for slightly different stuff...and of course just doing press-ups, planks, burpees requires no equipment!
Footflaps, i do shoulder presses and one arm presses, but you got any links to good KB swings??
The KB swing is probably the main basic KB exercise.
Perfect hip hinge movement, should be no back movement at all (relative to the top of the pelvis).
I generally do sets of 20 at 32kg as part of a circuit (although not for a while as I've irritated a disc so done very little weights work for the last couple of months).
NB Steve Cotter is a KB god...
All my KBs came from Fitness Superstore, slowly built up the full range of Competition KBs from 8 Kg to 32 kg.
@Ro5ey - I’m also a fan of the SFG Simple & Sinister take on program minimum.
A couple of years back before I got into rock climbing I achieved the “Simple” goal of 100 single handed 32kg swings and 10 Turkish get ups in 15 minutes. Not that strong now though or ever getting to the Sinister 48kg! 😉
Do think people should buy the best kettle bells they can, avoid chrome super slippery handles or plastic. Generally if you have done weights before get a 16kg as your first one, you will soon out grow it though. A 16, 20, 24 would get you pretty far.
Bit old now but the previous SFG standards vid gives a good summary on the teaching queues for some of the basics.
I use a 20kg sack of rice for kb swings. My ass has become as tight as my wallet.
It actually works really well as the mass is further away than a kb.
And its soft and floppy. Deadlifting 100kg is easy. Shifting a 100kg unconscious drunk body is impossible.
Now that's real life functional training!
@earl - I do like home made gym equipment👍
@soobalias - Strength Shop have some of the iron hard style ones showing as available, not crippling in terms of cost and I have got one of their 48s which isn’t bad for the money.
A couple of years back before I got into rock climbing I achieved the “Simple” goal of 100 single handed 32kg swings and 10 Turkish get ups in 15 minutes.
Your achievement is very commendable. Excellent work. The level of GPP from this program is amazing.
Only the 'Simply timed' standard is 10 minutes for your swings and TGU@ 32kg. Why did you stop when you got so close?
Not having a go, I got myself to Simple but had to stick to the 6 day schedule as prescribed and push hard to achieve timed after a further 6 week block at 32kg.
At the OP. Purchase the best bell you can afford. In the UK the benchmark is Wolverson new/ DragonDoor/RKC secondhand. Contrary to the above advice, eBay is a very good source if you know what you are after. I've just had a look for you and prices appear to be around £3 a kg which is slightly more than normal, but with limited new stock it seems ok and I myself would be happy to pay. You'll pay more for competition bells opposed to hard style bells. They are different training methods so the bells reflect that methodology. In short, competition bells remain the EXACT same dimensions regardless of weight. Hard Style bells get bigger with weight. There are very specific training requirements as to why this is the case. No one style is better than the other. Just different styles, like MTB and road cycling, both done on a bike but different. If you don't intend to compete in kettlebells then save yourself some money and go for Hard Style bells.
If you want any more advice or questions, PM me as I don't want to bore everyone here with my KB love. Currently working towards gaining my SFG1 KB certified instructor.
I prefer KB's to any other free weights options in the gym.
Typically 12 to 16 kg for single handed stuff, and a 20kg for 2 handed stuff.
I find the more dynamic feel is giving me a stronger whole body work out, espicially lower back and core.
Occasionally I'll use one of the monster size ones, 28kg, to do sumo squats, which always ends up in me being ridiculously stiff in the inner thigh area for days following. Maybe over doing it?
Occasionally I’ll use one of the monster size ones, 28kg, to do sumo squats, which always ends up in me being ridiculously stiff in the inner thigh area for days following. Maybe over doing it?
Without knowing your fitness level difficult to tell. The fact that you are using bells already and on a cycling forum indicates a level of fitness. So probably not over doing it at 28kg. More likely muscles just not familiar with the movement pattern or general mobility issues. Google prying goblet squat and try with a 24kg. I think you should find a benefit here. Good luck.
I’m not a total weakling but 24kg sounds chuffin’ massive. How many reps are folk doing with those?
My wife does sets of 20 and 30s with our 24kg kb. I'm more of a barbell and dumbbell guy.
Kettlebells are great, however, a set of adjustable dumbbells are often the more efficient use of space and cash for the home user. The Chinese made copies of the Bowflex design are great. I've got two sets that sit outside in 45degC heat, sunshine and dust and have worked flawlessly. Also user serviceable if needed and purchased secondhand.
As to exercises, just make sure you're hitting the all the different angles.
Each workout have:
Vertical press
Horizontal press
Vertical row
Horizontal row
Hip hinge
Low pull/squat from the floor
Most reps for the bottom of that list. You can superset the opposite movements to speed up the workout.
@lotto - Good advice on the bells, cool that you are going for the cert! Are you 100% sure on the timings just being 10 mins total as it doesn’t match my book or online?
It takes me 30s do do a heavy weight nice form TGU, if you only had 5 mins then that is pretty much a continuous TGU with 32kg for 5 minutes, you must be a monster if you can do that... 😢
- Men 32kg, women 16kg/24kg
- 100 x 1-HS (1-Handed Swings) 10 reps every 30 seconds for 5 minutes
REST 1 minute
- 10 x GU (Get-Up) 1 rep on the minute
Bad timing, I’ve just sold a pair of kettlebells, 8kg and 16kg on Powerlifting kit for sale UkK for £50 for the pair. I know gym kit is fetching silly money at the moment, but it didn’t feel right to price them above what I’d paid for them. When new, they were £22 and £35 respectively and they’d hardly been used.
Anyway, I’d suggest a look at Facebook groups like that, as there’s bound to be others like me who didn’t get on with kettlebells. I found powerlifting and other barbell lifts much better for me.
From the updated S and S updated version. Sorry if I misinterpreted your achievements. Crossed wires and misunderstanding on my behalf. Give sinister a go. 😀
Bookmarking.
Keep looking in Aldi. Whenever i go in they seem to have them on the centre aisle.
Slight tangent - I've got 2x10kg adjustable dumbbells (I know, not exactly monster weights but I was starting from the point of being a weedy keyboard jockey who could barely string more than three press-ups together). Anyway, I found a dumbbell routine online that I've been doing over the past couple of months, increasing weights and reps as I go and I've really seen some improvement in strength and tone (I can d 4x12 press-up now!). Anyway, to my question, looking at Hugo's list above, what would be good examples of a 'horizontal row' and a 'hip hinge'?
Each workout have:
Vertical press - e.g shoulder press?
Horizontal press - e.g bench/floor press?
Vertical row - e.g. bent-over row?
Horizontal row - e.g. ??
Hip hinge - e.g ??
Low pull/squat from the floor - e.g. squat/lunge?
@lotto - No worries, I wrote it in an odd way. I’m 78kg so the Sinister goal is a bit on the aspirational side, I would be very pleased if I could get one 48kg TGU in!
A bit off topic, but if buying kit is a problem then home made is worth considering. I made some parallettes for me and my mates during lockdown for core and push training. Have a spare 40mm holesaw if anyone can get a dowel and wants to borrow it.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/185305281@N02/shares/86bE2F
check out dialed health
who has a decent instagram page with lots of videos, is sort of focussed on "mtb" and strength for cyclists
A couple of years back before I got into rock climbing I achieved the “Simple” goal of 100 single handed 32kg swings and 10 Turkish get ups in 15 minutes.
Never tried doing that many in sets, last time I tried to do as many as possible in one go, I got to 32 x 32kg swings and was completely blown! I suspect if you keep at it every day you can build up - I just do them once a week normally as part of a circuit.
Speaking personally I would only go for the competition style kettle bells. Much easier to rack against your wrist and the consistent size for all weights, assuming you are getting more than one, makes switching a lot easier. I’ve never gotten on with the “Vee” shaped handles of the cast iron ones.
I started off with the basic ones but sold them all in the end and replaced with Competition style, which are just much nicer to use.
Vertical row would be your chin ups and pull ups. Not a kettlebell exercise but definitely an easy to setup and virtually mandatory home exercise.
Horizontal row is your bent over rows, front raises...
Hip hinge is a big one. Swings, regular/sumo/straight leg deadlift (personal favl, goblet squats, overhead squats...
@footflaps - I couldn’t do 100 in one go, I space them like 10 sets of 10. Park the bell in between, worked out like 20 seconds of work with 10 seconds of recovery.
@footflaps – I couldn’t do 100 in one go, I space them like 10 sets of 10. Park the bell in between, worked out like 20 seconds of work with 10 seconds of recovery.
Phew!
I've seen videos of people doing 50 reps in one go at 48kg, but they are a lot bigger than me so have more work capacity for higher loads.
Since getting back into more cycling this year, I've reduced the weight sessions accordingly as you can't ride 100km and then do a heavy weights session back to back without knackering yourself and I like to try and do *something* everyday, even if it just some light conditioning work....