The kettlebell is a traditional training tool designed centuries ago in Russia, that is now popular with elite athletes and casual fitness enthusiasts alike. Kettlebell workouts are ideal for women looking to lose weight fast, as they provide a great challenge for your cardiovascular system, increase your muscular strength and burn loads of calories, which will help you on your way to a leaner, fitter body.
Step 1
Base your workout around compound exercises. Compound exercises are ones which require the movement of more than one muscle or joint. In kettlebell training, these include swings, snatches, cleans, presses, high pulls and many others. Compound exercises require much more effort, so burn more calories and stimulate the release of more hormones, which can lead to greater weight loss.
Step 2
Pick three or four exercises and perform them using the tabata protocol in one weekly session. Tabata involves performing as many repetitions as possible on a single exercise for 20 seconds, you then rest for 10 seconds and repeat again seven times. According to strength coach Nick Tumminello, tabatas are great for speeding up fat loss and improving your aerobic conditioning. Rest for three minutes between each exercise.
Step 3
Set up a circuit consisting of goblet squats, suitcase deadlifts, single arm presses and renegade rows in your other two kettlebell workouts each week. Do between five and eight repetitions on each exercise, using fairly heavy kettlebells, and repeat the circuit four times. You may also wish to perform some light aerobic work such as skipping in between rounds to keep your heart rate up.
Step 4
Keep your rest periods as low as you can, without compromising performance. Trainer John Romaniello writes in his article "The Five Principles of Radical Fat Loss" that to lose fat, you should aim to do more work in less time, which means keeping rest periods low. Rest just enough that you can complete your next set with good technique, but not so much that you are completely recovered.
Tips and Warnings
- You may wish to purchase a selection of kettlebells to begin with. Kettlebells come in 4 kg increments, and a good starter set for a woman would be a 4-kg, 8-kg and 12-kg bell. Alternatively you could purchase adjustable kettlebells, but these can take longer to set up. Vary your workouts every few weeks, by changing around the exercises, and look to gradually increase the amount of weight you lift and the amount of work you do in each session. Ensure that you are comfortable with all the techniques before you start, and if not, ask an experienced trainer for guidance.
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