I’ve been asked many times, “Are kettlebell workouts good for weight loss?”.
Kettlebells can help you lose weight because exercises can use up to 600 muscles at a time increasing calorie burn, raising your metabolic rate and challenging your cardio. Training with kettlebells can also produce an after-burn effect leading to further calorie burn for up to 24 hours.
Here are 5 reasons why kettlebell workouts are good for weight loss:
1. Each Kettlebell Exercise Uses up to 600 Muscles
Kettlebell training, if performed correctly, is based around movement patterns rather than muscles.
So, rather than train the biceps or triceps you would use large full body exercises including the kettlebell swing, kettlebell clean and press, goblet squat etc.
When you use more muscles with each exercise you use more energy and in turn you burn more calories.
Quick Summary:
Kettlebell training will burn more calories in a shorter amount of time because you are using more muscles per exercise.
2. Develops More Muscle and so Increases Metabolism
One of the key things to weight loss is increasing your metabolic rate.
The quicker and more demanding your metabolic rate the more calories you burn in daily life, even when sleeping.
As mentioned above, kettlebell exercises work 100’s of muscles at a time.
Kettlebells, being a weight, strengthen and tone muscles to enable them to perform better for the next workout.
Active muscles require constant supplies of energy in order to maintain their size and performance and so increase demands on the metabolic system.
Quick Summary:
Exercising with kettlebells adds tonicity to 100’s of muscles at a time which in turn raises the metabolic system meaning you burn more calories throughout the day and night.
3. Kettlebell Training Increases Cardio as well as Muscle Mass
Yet another reason why kettlebell training is so great for weight loss is that not only does it work on your muscles but it improves your cardio as well.
Many kettlebell exercises are dynamic and require swings, pushes and pulls using explosive movements.
Moving a kettlebell through all the various positions takes a great deal of muscle activation and energy.
Kettlebell exerises tend to be put together in flowing based circuits meaning that you move from one exercise to the next without putting the kettlebell down.
Watch a video of how kettlebell exercises can flow which is great for weight loss:
These flowing kettlebell circuits keep your heart rate up and challenge your cardio.
Quick Summary:
Kettlebell exercises are dynamic and require lots of energy to perform. The kettlebell exercises are put together in flowing circuits which keep the heart rate up burning even more calories per workout.
4. Continue Burning Calories after each Workout too!
One of the important things about exercising and weight loss is that you don’t want to just burn calories while you are performing your workout.
If you only burned calories during your workout then you’d have to workout all the time!
Luckily, kettlebell training, when programmed correctly, creates a large imbalance in homeostasis throughout the body.
Once the workout is over the body needs to work very hard in order to restore balance which in turn means the use of even more energy or calories.
Afterburn or Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) is the more technical term for this and is yet another reason why kettlebell training is so effective for weight loss.
Quick Summary:
Kettlebell training unbalances homeostasis in the body which can cause up to 24 hours of calorie expenditure following each workout.
5. Fun, Convenient and Addictive
No type of exercise would be good for weight loss if it couldn’t be maintained for periods of time.
Kettlebell workouts are fun and also very addictive which is a great when you are trying to lose weight.
Each kettlebell exercise can be performed at home and in only a very small amount of space (6ft x 3ft) because you don’t need to move your feet very far.
Most kettlebell workouts can be performed with just 1 kettlebell so they work out very inexpensive too.
Finally, when performing the kettlebell exercises they flow from one movement to the next which takes practice and skill taking the emphasis away from the workout and more on mastering the movements.
Kettlebell training can be performed at home with very little space and one 1 kettlebell. The kettlebell movements are fun to perform and require skill development which takes the emphasis away from just working out.
Conclusion
Above I’ve listed 5 good reasons why kettlebell workouts are great for weight loss.
Not only do kettlebell workouts work 100’s of muscles at a time but they also improve your cardio, increase your metabolism and continue to burn calories after your workout.
Kettlebell workouts offer you a fun, convenient and addictive way to lose weight.
If you want to start losing weight using kettlebell workouts then see my Kettlebell Beginners Guide here
FAQ
Kettlebell training is an efficient way to burn calories but should also be accompanied by a balanced diet for accelerated fat loss.
For weight loss workouts choose a kettlebell that enables you to perform between 8 and 15 reps.
A 15 minute kettlebell workout can burn up to 300 kcal depending on which exercises are used.
Leave a Reply