As I walked up to the Lincoln on the Lake building at Chris Saunders Park near Gateway, I weighed up the pros and cons of this, my latest sporting adventure, a kettlebells session at Flux Motion in the Lincoln building. Am I too old for this lark, I thought?
I’d kept relatively fit with a weekly soccer match, occasional indoor footie and jogging, but my stepson had been nagging me to give kettlebells a go. One evening he came home after a session with kettlebells guru Sean Temple and headed straight for the couch, not to rise again until sunrise. Clearly this was not a workout to be taken lightly.
I was further encouraged to give it a crack by regular tweets and posts from trusted sources who swore by the results of regular sessions.
Being a novice at any gym or training facility can be a bit daunting, but the predominantly young-ish crowd at Flux wasn’t too bad, there were some welcoming smiles and I even got some friendly chirps when it was announced that I was the only kettlebells virgin at the session (Thanks Sean Temple).
There’s music to help get your heart rate pumping and an attractive feature for newcomers is that you are repeatedly told to only do what you feel comfortable doing, not to push yourself into the “red zone”. You can stop at any time to take a breather or grab a sip of water, while the class carries on. Also attractive to me was the five minutes or so spent doing a proper stretch and warm-up, which – like the warm-down – seemed to borrow elements from yoga.
Did I find myself in the “red zone”? Hell, yeah! The mind is a strange thing, and once you’re in that environment, obviously you want to perform well and show what you’re capable of. But at some stage (funnily enough for me, the toughest exercise involved no weight at all, and reminded me of star jumps), even when you’re highly motivated, it’s a good thing to know when enough is enough; I certainly sneaked in a few mini-breaks.
Kettlebells is really tough on the legs and the central core, and within 15 minutes my legs had turned to jelly. From that point on, it was a case of taking things at a measured pace.
Rivers of sweat were running down my forehead and I was stiff and sore for a few days after the session. But the energy release and high of a workout like this makes it all worthwhile for me. Was it the toughest exercise I’ve ever experienced? Not quite, but it certainly came close and gave me plenty of food for thought on how to exercise and warm up effectively.
Kettlebells is highly recommended for anyone wanting to get back into fitness, work on their suppleness, body tone or just get into better shape. Also really good for strength training, particularly around the core area.
Strength and endurance
So what exactly is kettlebells? By their nature, typical kettlebell exercises build strength and endurance, particularly in the lower back, legs and shoulders, and increase grip strength. The basic movements, such as the swing, snatch and the clean and jerk, engage the entire body at once, in a way that mimics real-world activities such as shovelling or farm work. (Source, Wikipedia).
Why is it so good for you? Kettlebell training gets back to basic training that requires functional, whole-body fitness. Kettlebells require an athlete to focus on whole-body conditioning because lifting and controlling a kettlebell forces the entire body, specifically the core, to contract as a group, building both strength and stability at the same time.
Kettlebell workouts engage multiple muscle groups at once. In this way, they are a great option for getting a whole body workout in a short time.
** There are sessions available in Umhlanga and Ballito, with a beach-training option. Boot camp is also at Chris Saunders Park. For info
More info about kettlebells at the Kettlebells South Africa website.