Kettlebells - high yield fitness

What is a Kettlebell?
A kettlebell is a traditional Russian training tool that has been used for hundreds of years to develop full body conditioning and fitness. A kettlebell looks like a cannon ball with a handle. The shape of the kettlebell allows for unique positioning of the weight directly above your centre of mass and allows you to keep your hand and wrists in neutral alignment; this enables greater endurance and longevity in the core lifts so that you can produce a much higher volume of exercise and thus greater conditioning and fitness. Unlike a conventional dumbbell or barbell, the Kettlebell’s centre of mass is displaced from the handle. This means the weight constantly pulls against your hand and requires not only strength and co-ordination, but also the recruitment of other muscles through your arms, shoulders and trunk.

How do you train with Kettlebells?
Kettlebell workouts have long been a favourite of martial artists, throwers, jumpers, sprinters and hurdlers. These athletes need to be highly agile and strong and they do exercises that have a dynamic component to them. You can perform squats, pulls, dynamic overhead snatches and rotational training plus much more, and these are the exercises that make up the majority of kettlebell training. Any age, size, fitness level… any relatively healthy person can get started with the proper instruction.
What are the benefits of kettlebells?
A regular kettlebell class will supercharge your fitness and melt your unwanted fat. You’ll bust your belly fat, lose your love handles and feel fantastic, energised and strong. Kettlebell training has tremendous sport and combat applications and they will dramatically improve explosiveness, help prevent injury and improve mental toughness.

See my website for information on classes, workouts and more:-

www.kickassfitnessuk.com

Tabata training - dispel the myth of aerobic exercise for fitness!

We've been fed the "aerobic" lie for over 30 years. Even doctors have been fooled by this pervasive myth.

The truth is slow aerobic training is terribly inefficient when it comes to burning fat.

With aerobic training, once you're done, you no longer burn the calories.
But with high intensity exercise your body continues to burn calories for several days.

Many people have the idea that they need to increase the length or distance in order to become fitter. Instead, as your fitness improves you need to decrease the duration so you cover the same distance in shorter and shorter times.

So what is Tabata training?

The Tabata protocol was developed by Izumi Tabata from the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, Japan. It challenges both the aerobic and anaerobic systems in your body by using maximum effort intervals followed by a short rest. This enables you to burn more fat at rest by raising your metabolic rate.

Here's the protocol:-
You will need a Gymboss timer available from my website store:-

http://kickassfitnessuk.com/store/kaf-products/

Or use an online one as below:-




Sprint as hard as you can for 20 seconds. This needs to be a 100% all out effort.

Active rest for 10 secs

Repeat 7 more times for a total of 8 sets.

So what you have here is a total of 4 minutes workout time. Only 4 minutes you say? Those who have done it never say 'only' again. But you can give yourself a pat on the back; you've just done a highly effective workout in four minutes and saved time, whilst everyone else is plodding along on a treadmill hour after hour.

I suggest the following exercises for variety:-
Cycling
Running
Skipping
Hitting a punch bag
Body squats
Pressups
Kettlebell swings / snatches.

Advanced warning: if you want to try Tabatas they are not for the faint hearted or unconditioned.
Beginners should learn general interval training first and once you are ready for the Tabata protocol, start out slowly and gradually work into a full workout. Aim to do 2 or 3 Tabata workouts per week as part of your normal workout routine.

As with any exercise program get a full physical check before you begin