Kettlebells

There's a new tool that's been seen in gyms these days and they're all the rage. Perhaps you've seen them. They're called kettlebells. These so called new tools have been around for a long time actually. A little history lesson: Kettlebells started in Russia as weights used in the markets and made their way to the training realm sometime after. They've been around.

If you've ever watched someone use a kettlebell, you might be waiting in anticipation of that person blowing out their back with the basic swing. However, done correctly, the KB swing is an effective exercise that targets the core, glutes, and hamstrings among other stabilizing muscles. Which brings me to my point. The swing needs to be done with proper form to be effective. Otherwise you're just doing a squat with a front raise(not that im knocking a great compound exercise). I can't even being to count how often I've seen gym members pick up a kettlebell and start throwing it around thinking they're doing it right based on some youtube video they saw an hour before they got to the gym.
What even gets me more annoyed is I've observed other trainers in various gyms that will employ the same learning tool. Observing other trainers teach improper techniques is just bad and irresponsible. This improper use of KB's is a main reason many gyms keep their KB's locked up and only qualified trainers have access to them, which I think is a great idea.

As a KBC Level 1 Instructor, I've spent time learning proper techniques because I believe it brings more professionalism to a field where just about anyone can become a trainer overnight(I'll save that for a later post).