Can you really use the kettlebell swing to burn a ton of fat?
Let's investigate [inaudible].
So obviously there's going to be a million different ways for you to lose
weight, right?
All of the different types of exercises from weight training to HIIT training,
to cardio, to sprints, but out of all of those,
is the kettlebell swing really going to be one of your best options for burning
fat? So before we dive into the research,
let's take a look at what the kettlebell swing is and why it should be so
effective.
So the kettlebell swing is going to involve taking something called the
kettlebell, which is a weight with a handle.
So the weight distribution is offloaded,
and it's basically going to be swinging it through your legs and up in front of
you in a very fluid motion. Now,
when we look at a lot of the other types of trainings out there,
usually we can see things like weight training,
where our muscles are basically going to bring us to the edge.
And once our muscles are fatigued,
we're not going to be able to do any more reps. And then on the other side,
where you have something like cardio, where we're running,
where our cardiovascular system is going to be challenged, but at the same time,
we're not really going to tend to go to muscular failure.
So what's so exciting about the kettlebell is that actually is the best of both
worlds, right?
It takes the force that you exert through weight training and through muscle
training. And it also takes the cardiovascular aspect of more exercises like
running and like HIIT Training. Because if we look at the kettlebell swing,
what you're doing is you're taking this weight and you're swinging it between
your legs and up in front of you, between your legs up in front of you.
And in the process, you're controlling a very heavy weight,
which is something that you most likely wouldn't be able to use normally.
But you're also doing it in a way where your body is allowed to use a momentum.
So you're activating both your muscular system and your cardiovascular system.
So what happens there is you get the metabolic benefits of using your
cardiovascular system,
but then you also get the hormonal benefits of using your muscular system.
So the hormones that are going to be optimized in your body,
such as testosterone, human growth hormone,
are normally there to boost your metabolism and to help you burn more fat. Now,
what inspired me to look into the kettlebell swing was reading a story in
Tim Ferriss's book, the *Four Hour Body. Now in this book,
Tim speaks about training less than 20 minutes a week using a kettlebell. Yeah.
At the same time, managing to reach his lowest body fat percentage in years.
And the same book,
he shares stories about a woman named Tracy who lost over a hundred pounds using
the kettlebell swing, as well as a woman named Fleur,
who was right at the brink of where she almost had the body she wanted,
but she wanted to lose that last 3% of body fat.
And she was able to do that with the kettlebell swing.
So obviously that intrigued me, but before actually diving into the research,
I wanted to test out Tim's recommendation myself.
He said that he started around 53 pounds and controlling that weight for 75
reps, ideally straight,
but if needed taking a less than 60-second break in between.
So I went to the gym,
I tried this and I was able to control a 50 pound kettlebell for 75 reps.
And at the end of it,
I could just tell my body was responding in a very positive way.
So I've been blessed enough over the past few years to become very in tune with
my body.
And I can tell when my body likes doing things and I can tell when it doesn't
like doing things. And I honestly just from doing the swings,
I could tell that it was responding in a way where my hormones were being
optimized.
I was generating energy and I was also building muscle in the process.
And so obviously that inspired me to dive into the research and the truth is
guys, the research backed me up.
So there are two studies I came across that really caught my eye.
So one was coming from the university of Wisconsin,
which found that when participants did a 20 minute kettlebell workout,
not only were they able to burn 272 calories on average,
but they were also, anaerobically able to burn 6.6 calories per minute,
which is equivalent to the same amount of calories as if you were to run a six
minute mile pace. Now, for someone who is not a runner,
maybe you have bad knees.
Maybe there's some other aspect that prevents you from getting a six mile a
minute pace.
That's a pretty strong selling point because you're able to put in the exertion,
but you're not going to hit that wall where it's physically impossible for you
to reach that six minute mile Mark at this point in your life. And again,
using the kettlebell swing, you don't have to go outside if it's super cold,
or if you have bad knees,
you don't have to consistently bang them up against the pavement.
It's an exercise that you can really control and that you have a lot of fluidity
over, which is going to allow you to actually enjoy it and not get injured.
Of course, if done right.
The other study that caught my eye was where participants did 12 rounds of 30
seconds on with the kettlebell and then 30 seconds off and their hormone
responses were measured. And so after this workout,
they actually found that participants testosterone level raised by about 14% and
that throughout the workout,
their human growth hormone actually peaked at 21 times the resting amount. Now,
even if you're a woman,
we want to be producing testosterone and we want to be producing human growth
hormone to really optimize our body's fat burning benefits.
And so based off of these studies and based off of my own experience,
I can confidently say that kettlebells are going to be an awesome addition to
your training protocol, especially if you're looking to burn fat.
And so how do you do it, right?
How would you create a workout around kettlebells?
So step one is going to be picking a kettlebell weight that is heavy to the
point where it's very difficult to maintain,
but also light enough to the point where you're able to finish your workout.
So the mistakes a lot of people make is they either go way too light with their
kettlebell and they don't get any of those hormonal benefits or they get too
heavy and they're former sacrificed and they end up injuring themselves,
which brings me to point number two,
which is to make sure that you are using proper form.
Now we're going to be putting a video out very soon on the kettlebell form.
So of course, make sure you subscribe to the channel over,
regardless if you are going to attempt using a kettlebell or even doing a full
workout with a kettlebell,
make sure you have that form dialed in because the worst thing you can do is
load up the weight,
have your form wrong and end up injuring yourself and holding yourself back a
couple months. And so once you pick that weight, once you dialed in that form,
the third step is to actually go out and work out. Now,
as far as what your workout shouldn't look like.
Most of the research that I found seemed to point to doing more explosive
bursts of the kettlebell swings followed by shorter breaks.
And so it seemed with that style,
not only were you getting the benefits of more of a type of a HIIT training and
those metabolic and that cardiovascular response,
but it also seems from that standpoint,
you're going to be getting the more hormonal response from your body.
And so what I would recommend is if you're including kettlebell swings in your
workout to do something like 20 to 30 reps after every exercise that you do,
or if you wanted to create your own workout,
you can do something where you do work out for 10 to 15 minutes.
And for that kettlebell swing, you do for 30 seconds,
you take a 30 second break, 30 seconds on 30 second break,
and you repeat that for the entirety of the workout.
So that is the power of the kettlebell swing.
Do me a favor and leave me a comment below answering the question:
Have you done the kettlebell swing before? And if so,
how have you liked it included in your workouts? Now with that being said,
does all this research and does the kettlebell swing It's your magical answer to
your prayers of how to burn fat? Probably not,
but with the right approach,
with training and with the right approach with your diet and with sleep,
this stuff becomes much more simple and much more possible if done, right.
And so if you are a beginner and you've tried to lose weight in the past and you
end up losing motivation,
or you end up losing the weight and then gaining it back,
make sure to go in the description of this video,
to check out our free three part training on how to simplify the process of fat
loss, using something, I call it E M S mastery. So in that free program,
we break down all of the myths that you hear about weight loss and fat loss,
and we help break it down in a way that allows you to build motivation,
build momentum, and build consistency and discipline.
That's going to allow you to find and keep the results that you want with your
weight. But besides that, I appreciate you for being here.
Thank you so much for tuning in,
make sure to check in as always stay updated with the videos we're putting out.
And of course, as always make sure to eat smart, sleep deep,
move more, and be grateful for this moment. I'll see you in the next video.