Burn More Fat with this Kettle Bell Workout

One of the most efficient ways to burn more calories during an exercise session is combine compound movements (movements that work multiple muscle groups) with shortened rest periods in an interval style training. Kettlebells are a great way to do compound movements with intervals for a time efficient, fat burning workout.

The basis of most kettle bell work outs is a move called the kettle bell swing.  In the swing, all of the power and motion comes from the hips and glutes.  Your arms should just act as a strap that the kettle bell is attached to.  The momentum of the swing comes from thrusting (or popping) your hips forward while contracting your glutes.  Below is an example:

A video posted by Philip Looney (@philiplooneyfit) on Nov 29, 2014 at 2:29pm PST

Notice at the top of the swing that my hips thrust forward, and my glutes are contracting.  There is little to no lift of the kettle bell coming from my arms.

To get a great fat burning workout, you can combined the kettle bell swing with other movements.  In this work out below, we’re going to add the clean and the press.   To perform the clean, use the upward momentum created in the swing to bring the kettle bell into what’s called the rack position between your forearm and chest.  Think about bringing your fist in to touch the top of your chest as you come up on the swing.  The kettle bell should turn out and rest on your forearm.  To perform the press, simply press the kettle bell up toward the sky after you have brought it into the clean position.  

In this exercise, we’re going to break these moves into three parts.  After a proper warm up, perform each movement in succession for one round, and then rest for 2 minutes.  Repeat for a total of 3 rounds with a 2 minute rest between rounds.  If you are a beginner, start with just one kettle bell of between 10-15 lbs.  More advanced athletes can use 15-20 lbs.  

• 8 Kettle Bell Swings
• 8 Kettle Bell Swings and Clean
• 8 Kettle Bell Swings, Clean, and Press.

As you get use to the movement, increase the reps from 8 to 10.  Your next progression will be to perform the movement with two kettle bells.  Below is a video example of an advanced double kettle bell swing, clean, and press using two kettle bells.  

This circuit above should take you 30 minutes or less, including warm up and stretching.

 

Double kettle bell swing, clean, and press. If you want to combine a cardio workout with strength training try this out for 3-5 rounds of 10 reps each with 30 seconds or less of rest time. Beginners should opt for 10 to 15 lbs kettle bells, 20 lbs for more advanced.

 

A video posted by Philip Looney (@philiplooneyfit) on Aug 16, 2015 at 2:10pm PDT