kettlebells for women

The name of the game in fitness these days is efficiency and intensity.  We want to get the maximum results in the least amount of time.  Unfortunately for busy women, the first thing to get cut out of your schedule is taking care of yourself, including your workout.  However, it is possible to work out as little as 10 – 15 minutes at a time and still experience the benefits of a full workout.

Kettlebell workouts will reshape your body, increase your metabolism, increase functional strength, increase your overall fitness level, and burn fat from your hips and thighs in far less time than you might think.  Since a Kettlebell workout can include strength and cardio components at the same time, it is the most efficient modality at your disposal.  With this kind of a time saving tool, your workout does not have to be the casualty of your busy lifestyle. 

Most women have an underlying fear of strength training because they believe that they will become bulky or masculine.  Actually, a woman cannot develop a body like a man without some “special” supplements.  As a matter of fact it is usually difficult for a woman (or a man for that matter) to develop and maintain large muscles even when they are trying for that look!  For a woman, it is very beneficial to lift heavier weights to develop beautiful curves in all the right places.  The muscle gained through more aggressive training techniques is the engine that burns up stored fat.  Especially with a Kettlebell, where the movements are through a long range of motion and require your body to compensate for changes in your center of balance, muscles developed are sleek, strong and useful for the daily activities of life.

A common myth among women is that muscle will turn to fat if you stop training; however, muscle and fat are two different types of tissue.  If you do stop training, your muscles will simply shrink and may appear flabby.  If you stop training and continue to eat the same amount of calories as you did while training, you will definitely gain some fat.

A woman’s body that has been trained with heavy resistance may actually weigh more than a woman of the same size that has not done this type of training.  This is because muscle is denser than fat and weighs more while taking up less space.  The scale, therefore, is not your friend when you are undertaking a body transformation using heavy resistance.  Body fat measurements and the fit of your clothing are more accurate indicators of how your body transformation is coming along.  For every 10 lbs. of lean muscle mass we carry on our body, 500 calories per day is consumed to maintain that body mass.  So even at rest our bodies are burning calories at a higher rate.

The more we age, the more muscle we lose.  Even if you have weighed the same since you were 20 and you’re now 50, if you have not used resistance training to build some muscle, your body composition will be less muscle and a greater percentage of body fat.  Less muscle results in a slower metabolism and combined with sloppy eating and a few pregnancies, it is no wonder women experience the middle age demise of our formerly svelte physique.  Once you let your shape go, it becomes more and more difficult to get it back.  But there is good news…Kettlebell training is perfectly geared toward reclaiming your body of years gone by!  With shorter, more intense workouts, you can have less burnout, and more energy left for all those things you “have” to do.

Jill and Renee at their RKC Certification course