One of the biggest flaws- revisited

One of the two major flaws of the Kettlebells pointed out when discussing them with people is the fixed weight of the bells.
Most of the time I hear it when talking to people who primarily train with dumbbells, barbells or bodyweight- exercises.

You know what... They are right.

You can take a dumbbell, barbell and scale it to your exact needs. You can control and scale you progress better.
With a kettlebell you will have to work up to a higher amount of repetitions before you can progress up to a bigger bell.

Well, I still consider Kettlebells one of the best tools around, simply because you can work with them girevoy-style, meaning the sport-competition-style with maximum efficiency or you use them in a more powerlifting-like-style.

It is simply a weight. ;-)

Another major concern of people is, what happens with their money once they have "outgrown" a certain Kettlebell- weight.

For example:
If you have worked up to 200x Snatches and an insane amount of Clean & Presses with the 16kg Kettlebell or if you extended your Timed Sets of Snatches and Clean & Jerk all up to 10min with only one hand- switch most people are ready for the 24kg bell.
Nice...

But what about the 16kg?
People are always afraid the bells become useless and something standing in their house or apartment gathering dust.

Well...Let me tell you a story.
I got two 12kg Kettlebells. I do not work with them...I bought them for teaching purposes only. They are simply too light to deliver any effect when training with them.

That´s my comment before "Never Let Go" by Dan John.

One chapter is the Tabata Protocoll.
8 Rounds with each 20sec. Work(as many reps as possible) and 10sec rest.
I did this before, only with Bodyweight Exercises...Those already where like some medieval torture!!
Just try it whith Bodyweight- Squats or Burpees... ;-)

Now I added weight to the Tabata Prot..

2x 12kg Kettlebells used for Front Squats in the Tabata Mode...



Well...after the last set I could make it to the fridge, get some milk and back to my desk...That is where I stayed for about 15 to 20min... My quads were completly tense from all the blood and I could almost not bend my knees...The muscle simply wouldn´t let me stretch it...

What did I and what can you learn from my experience?

If you think a weight is too light, you havn´t cranked up the intensity high enough!!

As always, make sure you have a good atheltic base befor trying such insane intense workouts!!

Train hard and enjoy life!
All the best,
Harry