Kettle weights/Regular weights set

king_of_inismac

Hey guys,

I've been lifting on and off for the last 15 years as a supplement to other sports.

I love weight training but haven't been lifting in the last year.

Was considering buying a new set but then thought about getting a set of kettle weights.

Would anyone who has used both give me a review? I'd imagine the kettle weights would be better for dynamic strength

Thanks.
M

Roper

Dynamic strength? No too sure what you mean there. Explain your goals maybe.

Kettlebells have some big advantages over regular bars for home users inasmuch as they're small and portable (ish) and you can use them in a living room if you push the chairs back.

You can get strong using both, so I'd choose them based on your goals, your budget, space concerns and so on.

king_of_inismac

Hey,

I've lifted a lot of weights in the past for martial arts.

I'm interested in strength rather than size. I like the convenience of kettle bells. I'm just wondering are they less versatile than a weights set and bench?

Thanks,
M

jeff lebowski

Kettlebells are excellent but I use them to compliment normal training with bar, olympic weights etc. They are very versatile, give you an intense cardio workout as well as hitting the muscles and are pretty portable. I have one from John Brookfield Kettlebells. It's 16kg but has a thing on the bottom you can unscrew and add lead weight to. You can bring it up to 44kg I think. Good bit of kit.

Roper

king_of_inismac wrote: »

Hey,

I've lifted a lot of weights in the past for martial arts.

I'm interested in strength rather than size. I like the convenience of kettle bells. I'm just wondering are they less versatile than a weights set and bench?

Thanks,
M

Probably not less versatile and you'll get strong using them. The problem with people is that when they get them they tend to just bollocks with them. Y'know oh I have a kettlebell lets do 4 million swings! Ow.

For a bloke I'd say get two sets. 16kgs and 32kgs initially. That gives you a max 64kgs of loading for heavier work and a minimum of 16kgs for lighter stuff. After that I'd buy a Dan John DVD but if you're not willing to do that I'd just look up people like Steve Maxwell and see the variations you can do.

A sample 2 day strength template for a home user would be:
day 1
Front/goblet/sack/hack/single leg squat etc
Pull up/row/pull stuff

Day2
Single leg deadlift/RDL etc
Press/floor press/push press

And you've also got all the fun stuff in there too like overhead walks, windmills, swings, juggling that you can do for a bit of craic and some of them are killers. I spent a month with nothing but kettlebells once and it was the first time I'd only had them to work with and I came back from that holiday in better shape than I went. They're not the be all and end all that some people would try to sell you but they are a great tool.

Your absolute 100% best option would be to get a barbell and weights and some kettlebells too.