Kettlebells have been all the rage for the past couple of years. You’ll see athletes swinging them 100lb kettlebells and working up a crazy sweat. Honestly, it also usually looks pretty badass too.

What’s makes kettlebells so great though is that they can easily be used for resistance training but also incorporated into circuits. Due to its shape, it’s easier and safer to perform certain moves with a kettlebell than a dumbbell. Like the kettlebell swing. 

We have so many different ways of training though. We can do barbell training, dumbbell training, kettlebell training, etc. So let’s go over why kettlebell training is unique and special in its own way and why you should start incorporating it into your workout routine. 

1. Kettlebells Give you More Exercise Selection

 I think one of the main benefits of kettlebell exercises is that you have a broad selection of exercises to choose from. Even though kettlebells mainly distribute all the weight at the bottom of it, most exercises you even do with dumbbells can be done with kettlebells. Even if you have to slightly modify it a bit more. You can easily do the following exercises with kettlebells that you would normally do with dumbbells:

•  Curls
• Tricep Kickbacks
• Shoulder Press
• Bench Press
• Lateral Raise
• Squat
• Row

and many more. If you plan on using kettlebells instead of dumbbells, I would suggest looking up form for the specific exercise. Like I mentioned above, since the kettlebell’s weight is mainly distributed at the bottom, there may be more effective ways of doing each exercise with the kettlebell than the form you would use for a dumbbell.  

Some of the more highlighted kettlebell exercises to choose from are:

• Kettlebell Swing
• Kettlebell Thrusters
• Turkish GetUp
• Kettlebell Clean and Press
• Farmers Walk
• Floor Press

2. Kettlebells are a Free Form Weight which is Easier to Use and Better for Your Body

Kettlebells are free from weights. So it makes it easier to move around and it’s a non-restrictive exercise. Your body will use more stabilizer muscles to maneuver the weight than something like a machine would. 

As well, since it’s non-restrictive you can move in the way you need to move.  Now, this doesn’t mean you should be swinging with bad form by any means. However, depending on your anthropology, you may need to move weights around a bit differently. Something like machines at the gym doesn’t really let you do that. 

3. Full body workout and ‘Easy’ Cardio and Conditioning 

I say ‘easy’ cardio cause cardio is never easy, but it’s always a huge benefit when you can incorporate cardio and resistance training together. Hence why kettlebells can be very effective. If you look at the kettlebell exercises I pointed out above, you’ll notice plenty of those exercises are full-body exercises. You can easily combine some of those exercises into circuit training and easily get a full-body workout and some cardio in about 30 minutes’ worth of time.  Personally, I find it better to do some type of HIIT resistance training than normal cardio, and kettlebells can easily achieve that. 

4. Kettlebells can Train Muscles you Don’t Normally Train

If you ever wrote a training program for yourself and tried in to get in even the smallest of muscle groups, you’ll notice the list of your exercises grow long and the workout can take hours sometimes. 

What I like about kettlebells, is that due to its expansive exercise selection you can easily choose exercises that help with train muscles you don’t normally train.

An example of this would be the Turkish GetUp as I mentioned above. When I was training a couple of years back, my rotator cuff was fairly weak cause I never properly trained it. I started incorporating exercises of it in my normal workout and it would just be daunting at some point and it would take too long. 

I then incorporated the Turkish GetUp. Since it’s an exercise that helps with rotator cuff stabilization and is a full-body workout, I could easily remove some of the exercises I was doing and just incorporate this. After a couple of weeks of consistently doing it, I started to gain more strength and stabilization in my rotator cuff. However, the best thing was that there were no imbalances either. The Turkish GetUp is easily one of my favorite KettleBell Exercises. 

5. Low Equipment Management and Mobility

At the time of writing this, we’re living in the COVID era. Gyms are actually open but plenty of people aren’t going back due to the high risk. Plenty of people are working out at home. What’s great about kettlebells is they don’t take up a lot of space and you don’t need many of them. You can easily have 2 – 3 kettlebells and be set. Since they don’t take up much space, you can always travel with them too if needed. This gives you an advantage that you can train when needed even when traveling without an issue. (Unless the Kettlebell weighs 200lbs?). 

How to Incorporate into Your Workout

So we know that kettlebells can be extremely beneficial. Not only for its ease of use but it can provide a good full-body workout and you can do some traditional exercises with them too. So how do we incorporate them into your workout? Well, this primarily depends on your goals. However, let’s go over some normal goals and exercises you can incorporate and replace. 

Gaining Muscle

Depending on if you’re already following a hypertrophy program and you’re trying to gain mass, you can easily throw in some kettlebell movements in there as well or use kettlebell movements to replace some exercises. 

Here are some exercises you can replace with kettlebells to help with gaining muscle:

• Dumbbell Shoulder Press -> Kettlebell Shoulder Press 
  • Better muscle recruitment and easier to perform
• Goblet Squat -> Kettlebell Goblet Squat
  • Easier to manage, better weight management
• Standard Lunge -> Kettlebell Overhead Lunge
  • Using more muscles and stability

Cardio

If you’re trying to get more cardio in, then kettlebells can easily be used to do a quick HIIT workout that works up a sweat. 

A quick circuit could be something like the following (All exercises with kettlebells):

• Swings x 20
• Squats x 20
• Lunges x 20
• Shoulder Press x 20
• Burpees for 30 seconds

Do 3 times and rest 30 seconds in between exercises and sets.

Here is an image version of it if you want to save it:

Even something as simple as that would work up a crazy sweat and provide some good strength gains. 

If you’re curious if cardio can be detrimental to your gains, check out this article. 

Power and/or Strength Training

Kettlebells can provide benefits to maximal and explosive strength(1).  There are plenty of exercises that can help with this but the main one is the kettlebell swing. When done correctly, it can truly have a huge benefit in your training. I would recommend incorporating it into your program. Maybe on a lighter day though or a day, you normally do cardio. 

Final Thoughts

I believe Kettlebells can be a real benefit to your workout regimen. Whether it be to gain muscle, add additional cardio, or to assist with your power and/or strength training. What makes kettlebells great though is that they’re fairly easy to get and don’t take up too much space. You will be surprised about the benefits you can see once you start incorporating them. Personally, for me, I like to incorporate kettlebells to help with stability and other exercises I don’t tend to do often. I’ve seen improvements in many areas and I have no doubt that if you incorporate them into your routine, you will too.

If you want a kettlebell workout, feel free to send me an email and we can work one out. 

If you want a good kettlebell exercise resource check out Pavel Tsatsouline.

If you’re looking for kettlebells to buy, check out Rogue or Onnit. 

Note: I’m not affiliated or sponsored by any of these companies. 

If you’re looking for other articles on weight lifting click here.

References:

1. Lake, Jason P.; Lauder, Mike A. Kettlebell Swing Training Improves Maximal and Explosive Strength, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: August 2012 – Volume 26 – Issue 8 – p 2228-2233 doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e31825c2c9b
2. Vancini RL, Andrade MS, Rufo-Tavares W, Zimerer C, Nikolaidis PT, de Lira CAB. Kettlebell Exercise as an Alternative to Improve Aerobic Power and Muscle Strength. J Hum Kinet. 2019;66:5-6. Published 2019 Mar 27. doi:10.2478/hukin-2018-0062

Photos:

• Photo by cottonbro from Pexels
• https://experiencelife.com/article/break-it-down-the-kettlebell-swing/
• https://i.pinimg.com/originals/37/92/f2/3792f2554804db1d688e2f44e8210fc9.png

Training to failure gets talked about a lot when in the gym and I’m sure plenty of people practice or try it to some degree throughout their training career. The problem is, plenty of people do it and assume it works because they have a pump and they’re fatigued. 

However, does it really belong in your training regimen and can it provide any true benefits to you?

What is Training to Failure?

Training to failure, in principle is to perform a set/exercise to absolute failure. Meaning you can’t muster another repetition. In this post, we’ll be talking about training to failure in regards to training a set of an exercise to failure. 

Does Training to Failure have any Benefits?

Like I mentioned earlier, this method of training may seem effective as it’s something that provides usually a fairly good pump and you’re fairly fatigued after the exercise is completed. 

Interestingly enough, training to failure (Especially in compound movements) doesn’t really provide much of a benefit in many regards.  Let’s go on to why this is the case though

Training to Failure Leads to Intense Fatigue

When training to failure, you’re bound to fatigue yourself fairly fast especially during compound movements. The problem with intense fatigue caused by training to failure is that it will start to carry over much further into training sessions. More fatigue that gets carried into other training sessions, the more likely you won’t be able to perform as well, and the chances you won’t be making the progress you desire(1).

Even though fatigue usually seems good in terms of working out, that’s not always necessarily the case. Fatigue that gets carried over from workout to workout and you’re not recovering in time can be detrimental and cause regression of progress in your training.

With this regression, it can either lead to overtraining or possibly even injury. Now just to clarify, fatigue from working out is necessary and normal. The problem is that training to failure will cause intense fatigue and you may not recover in time for another training session.

So, does this mean you shouldn’t workout hard? Definitely not. But you shouldn’t be burning yourself out either every workout. If you do feel like you’re overtraining and not recovering in time, you may need to take a deload week. 

Volume Doesn’t Seem to Increase When Training to Failure

If the volume is something you take into consideration with your training program, then you would be inclined to know that training to failure doesn’t really impact volume(2). In some cases, it can even lead to less volume in the whole workout. This again is due to the high fatigue level you can endure from training to failure sessions.

You would usually be better off trying to lift a bit heavier and back off 2-3 reps shy of failure. You would have more effort to exert in more sets and would equate to possibly more volume. 

Just to note: overtraining, fatigue, and regression in volume through a training program will not give you the results you want. 

Is There a Good Time to Train to Failure?

Okay, I know from the above you would probably want to steer clear of training to failure. However, there could be some places where it’s useful. 

Here are a couple of scenarios where it could be useful:

Low Load / Low Weight Training

A study has shown that a group that trained with lower loads to failure had greater hypertrophy (gains) and in strength endurance than a group of low load training to almost failure. However, according to the study, it wasn’t really that significant(3).

Failure on the Last Set

Failing on the last set is probably going to be your best option if you do try to train to failure.  The positive outcome of this is that not all of your sets are going to fail and you should be able to maintain volume without an issue.

If I had to recommend though, I would stick to doing it though on isometric exercises. I do feel that if you’re training to failure on compound movements, there is always a possibility of increased danger of injuring yourself.  

Final Thoughts

I don’t think training to failure has much room inside your regimen and isn’t worth the time and effort. From what most research has shown, it only seems to cause negative effects in a training program. Leading to excess fatigue that will lead to lower volume overall is never a good thing.

However, there are times you can implement it into your training like failing on the last set and low load training. If you’re doing lower load training, I would recommend just doing BFR Training then.  So if you’ve been doing this method of training, consider tossing it or setting it aside for just your last set. Set more time for recovery or use more weight for sets that you would train to failure. 

References

1. Morán-Navarro R, Pérez CE, Mora-Rodríguez R, de la Cruz-Sánchez E, González-Badillo JJ, Sánchez-Medina L, Pallarés JG. Time course of recovery following resistance training leading or not to failure. European journal of applied physiology. 2017 Dec 1;117(12):2387-99.
2. Santos WD, Vieira CA, Bottaro M, Nunes VA, Ramirez-Campillo R, Steele J, Fisher JP, Gentil P. Resistance Training Performed to Failure or Not to Failure Results in Similar Total Volume, but With Different Fatigue and Discomfort Levels. Journal of strength and conditioning research. 2019 Jan.
3. Terada K; Kikuchi N; Burt D; Voisin S; Nakazato K. Low-Load Resistance Training to Volitional Failure Induces Muscle Hypertrophy Similar to Volume-Matched, Velocity Fatigue. J Strength Cond Res. 2020. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000003690

Photos:

• Photo by Li Sun from Pexels

Most workout regimens last about 12 weeks or 3 months worth of time. In that time frame (depending on how hard you’re training), your body is going through a lot of physical stress. If you continue without any breaks, you may eventually start doing damage to your body. You won’t be able to lift as much weight or get the great results that you usually would. This is why most workout programs include a deload/rest week. Some programs incorporate time off while others lower weight and require continued gym compliance. Let’s go over the proper way to take a deload week and what would work best for you.

WHAT IS A DELOAD WEEK?

A deload week (also known as taper week or unload week) is time off from your normal workout regimen. The goal of a deload week is to allow your body to rest and recover, with the aim to lower the potential risk of injury and overtraining. A deload week is not a rest week. You aren’t taking 100% of your time off from working out. You will still be exercising but at a lower volume (Read “How to go about a deload week” to understand what volume is). Essentially, if you’re doing weight lifting, you want to lower your normal weight down to about 40% for lifts during this period of time.

WHEN TO IMPLEMENT A DELOAD WEEK?

FOLLOWING A PROGRAM

If you’re following a specific training program, then that program may already have a deload/taper scheduled into it. If this is not the case, then a rule of thumb is to take a deload week every 4-6 weeks. Usually when you’re doing a training program, your 4th or 5th week is your “peak” week. Your volume may have increased by a large margin. After this peak week, you would want to do a deload week.

NOT FOLLOWING A PROGRAM

If you’re not following a strict program, I would recommend paying attention to your training outputs and patterns of increases, decreases or a plateau of strength. If you’re seeing increases in strength and continue to do so, by all means continue on with your workout plan. However, once you start to realize that you may be plateauing, losing strength, or even getting injured more often you need to take a deload week. I want to reiterate though, after 4-6 weeks you should take a deload week. You will lower your risk of getting injured and plateauing.

VOLUME AND HOW TO GO ABOUT A DELOAD WEEK.

The whole point of deloading is to lighten the load/volume compared to your ordinary training routine. Studies have shown that decreasing your normal volume by 40 – 60% is key. Volume is the amount of weight you lift multiplied by the amount of reps, then taking that number and multiplying it by how many sets you did. For example. If I deadlifted 225lbs for 6 reps of 3 sets I would do the following equation : 3 * (225 * 6). (Sets * (Weight * reps)). This would be equivalent to 4050 lbs. So if you were deloading and decreasing by 40% of that you would do 4050 * 0.40 (Volume * Deload_Percentage) which would equal 1620lbs. It’s important to note that you have a few way of going about hitting that desired volume.

You can do one of the following:

• The same weight with less reps/sets
• Less weight with the same reps/sets.
• A mixture of both.

Each is outlined below.

SAME WEIGHT WITH LESS REPS/SETS

So if you were trying to reach a total volume of 1620 lbs and trying to lift the same weight with less reps/sets our workout would look something like this:

• 225lbs for 7 reps for 1 set
• 225lbs for 4 reps for 2 sets
• 225lbs for 2 sets for 4 sets

You can choose either one of those and you’re looking at around 1500-1800 lbs volume which is around the percentage we are trying to hit.

SAME REPS WITH LESS WEIGHT

Now if you were trying to do lighter weight for the same reps and sets, your option would be 90 lb – 100 lbs for 6 reps for 3 sets.

MIXTURE OF LESS WEIGHT AND LESS REPS/SETS

If you wanted to do a mixture of the both you can have something like:

• 185 lbs for 4 reps for 1 – 2 sets
• 165 lbs for 5 reps for 2 sets
• 150 lbs for 6 reps for 2 sets

Out of the 3 options, I usually recommend either a mixture of less reps/sets and less weight or same reps with less weight. However this depends on the individual and how you’re feeling. Since I always feel like you’re at a higher risk of getting injured if you’re training heavy, during my deload week I like to keep the reps/sets the same and lighten up the weight.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Deload weeks are a great tool to incorporate into your workout routine. You should try to implement them every 4-6 weeks or after a “peak week”. It’s important to note again, this is not an excuse to just not workout. You will still be working out, but just at a lower volume/frequency. Doing so can lead to greater benefits in your training, minimize a plateau, minimize risk or injury and more. If you haven’t implemented a deload week before, try it and take note on how you feel after your deload week.

References

BOSQUET, L., MONTPETIT, J., & ARVISAIS, D. (2007, August). Effects of Tapering on Performance: A Meta-Analysis : Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. Retrieved April 02, 2018, from https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/fulltext/2007/08000/Effects_of_Tapering_on_Performance__A.19.aspx