A popular fitness trend in the United States, the kettlebell has become increasingly popular because of its versatility and efficiency in helping people lose weight and get in shape. Its shape, similar to a bowling ball with a looped handle, incorporates ballistic exercises such as swings and cleans, which require you to use stability muscles. Although the kettlebell has only recently gained popularity in the U.S., it has been used for more than 300 years in Russia and other Eastern European countries.
History
Kettlebell, or "girya" in Russian, first appeared in the Russian dictionary in 1709. It was originally designed as a counterweight for farm equipment and as a standard weight measurement for agricultural settings and in marketplaces. Over time, the kettlebell became the preferred method of fitness by field workers, and many Russians started throwing and lifting kettlebells for fun and competition in local fairs and markets, eventually becoming a sport.
Former Soviet Union
The former Soviet Union recognized the kettlebell as such an important piece of fitness equipment that it created a committee in 1980 to promote its use. The Kettlebell Committee promoted the kettlebell for five main reasons, to lower health care costs: the effectiveness of its training; its easy learning curve in individual and group settings; the low risk of injury; the desire to keep the population fit; and to increase the population's work capacity.
Function
Unlike dumbbells, which have a tight center of gravity and incorporate mostly push and pull exercises, and machines which lock your muscles into a predetermined range of motion, kettlebells allow for entire sets of ballistic strength exercises to be achieved in a combination of fluid movements without stopping. Unlike most strength training exercises that isolate single muscle groups, kettlebell training allows you to achieve a solid cardio workout while simultaneously building full body strength.
In Popular Culture
Pavel Tsatsouline of the former Soviet Union is often credited with introducing kettlebells to the West around 2000. Tsatsouline originally served as a physical training instructor for Soviet Special Forces and wrote an article about kettlebell lifting titled "Vodka, Pickle Juice, Kettlebell Lifting, and Other Russian Pastimes" in the strongman publication MILO in 1998. His article gained popularity among the strongman and powerlifting community, and he later published his first book, "The Russian Kettlebell Challenge" in 2001.
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