There are 3 vital things I learnt about inexpensive kettlebells I am going to go through them with you here in the hope that it saves you time, money and discomfort.
Weld Lines on the Kettlebell Handle
The handles on inexpensive kettlebells are not always smooth the full way around, they can have weld lines which haven’t been properly ground back to smooth or powder coated in the correct way. The affect of this is to create a lot of friction with your hands when carrying out kettlebell swings and snatches. This results in ripping and blisters and is guaranteed to effect your workouts and worse still your mental game.
Solution: purchase a seamless handle kettlebell or a pro grade kettlebell.
Uneven Weight Distribution Around the Kettlebell
As you’re well aware the kettlebell is round with a handle, it’s for that reason that the kettlebells are so effective for ballistic exercises such as snatches, swings, cleans and jerks. When you hold the handle of a kettlebell, in order to perform correct technique it is extremely important that the ball section has an even distribution of weight, if it is heavier on the right than it is on the left then your technique will suffer presumably resulting in injury.
Solution: buy a higher quality kettlebell from a reputable manufacturer that carries out quality assurance on their products. (It took me a while to find one)
Hollow Adjustable Kettlebells
These can be filled with sand or lead shot or maybe water if you’re desperate. They’re a very cool idea but unless you want to be weighing, emptying and re-filling your kettlebells depending on what exercise you are doing you are far better off buying a selection of sizes. I will tell you what the professionals advocate in terms of kettlebell sizing later, for now I wouldn’t buy a hollow kettlebell and believe that they are sort of a gimmick. Personally I like training with a goal and progressing toward that goal each session, employing a hollow kettlebell makes this harder than it has to be. For some I understand that these might be a great option if you have very restricted space or spare bags of lead shot around but for easy use and accuracy of weight they are not for me.
My name is Justin Miller I am 36 years old , you might think that by this age I'd know better but I got caught out by buying the least expensive kettlebells I could find instead than the best kettlebells for sale.
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