This week, as we commemorated and thanked our Veterans for their service, I recalled a client who asked what she should say to a man who thought kettlebells are just for women.
There are many misconceptions about training with kettlebells; they are just for women, they are the latest fitness fad and more.
Kettlebells have been used for years in the Russian and the U.S. Special forces because of their effectiveness as well as their portability. They have also been used to train the FBI, SWAT teams and firefighters. In fact, after attending the 2013 Denver RKC, the Aurora and Denver fire academy’s are using kettlebells to train their new recruits.
But given all of that, with the training methods we teach in the RKC and at Iron Clad, kettlebells are for everyone!
Kettelbells for fitness dates back to the 1700’s. How’s that for a 300 year old fitness fad?
“Kettlebells were developed in Russia in the 1700’s, primarily for weighing crops. It is said that these farmers became stronger and found them useful for showing off their strength during festivals. The Soviet army used them as part of their physical training and conditioning programs in the 20th century. They had been used for competition and sports throughout Russia and Europe since the 1940’s. Though kettlebells had been in the United States in some form since the 1960’s or earlier, Dragon Door Publications and Pavel Tsatsouline developed the first instructor certification program in the USA in 2001.” (source: Wikipedia)
Here’s a great article that explains more about the origins of kettlebell training, written by Master RKC Andrew Read.