My views on kettlebells

I just watched a few well made kettlebell videos…because I promised myself that i should at least be aware of what i tend to criticize…While the athlete demonstrating was a very fit physical specimen, nearly everything he espoused was anathema to our hi intensity training philosophy.

One of the first points he made was that unless you learned how to relax in certain positions or had the flexibility or range of motion to allow your skeleton and joints to support the weight, you would tire quickly and fail to last long enough…180* opposite to our goal of inroading the musculature as quickly and efficiently as possible while performing the least amount of work necessary!

He then went on to describe in great detail the various positions and skills necessary tobe a successful kettlebeller…is this a sport…is there a transferable benefit to resting the kettlebell against your hip while slouching backwards and relaxing the trapezius and spinae erectors…the answer is that the only benefit to the skill acquisition necessary tothrow kettlebells around is to become a better kettlebeller…specific metabolic adaptations to throwing kettlebells…Arthur Jones wrote extensively that the weightroom was for general strength acquisition and the athletic field was for skill acquisition…Lets call kettlebelling what it is…a sport requiring some measures of strength, flexibility, cardio endurance and much skill…but it is not an exercise for the masses…unless you want to open up many more orthopedic surgery facilities to deal with the injuries of the masses…

So kettlebelling is a sport…requiring much skill and practice…probably hours per week…with an extremely hi risk and probability of injury…and with an unacceptably low benefit to risk ratio…while our high intensity slow exercise has the highest benefit to risk ratio possible, takes less than one hour per week, and requires almost no skill practice…so for the busy person who wants great fitness, health, andto look great…wants to never get hurt or injured from their exercise program…is there any other choice but Belmar Fitness’s HIT exercise?…and what does this say about kettlebell trainers who tout kettlebelling as a great, safe, fast way to get fit…and who will pay the doctor bills?