The Adustable Kettlebell - Should You Buy One?

The popularity explosion of the kettlebell in recent years has led to many people wanting to include them into their home gyms. A great idea in principle as so much variety can be added to your training sessions using these.

Whatever the aim of your training routine the Kettlebell can provide. Whether you want to apply the overload principle to a mass building routine, create a Kettlebell circuit to perfom HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) to burn fat or use a high repetition full body movement such as the Kettlebell Swing for your more traditional cardio - The Kettlebell can be used for all these purposes.

The main disadvantage to the Kettlebell as oppose to the Barbell is that additional weight cannot be added. This was originally a problem for home gyms using dumbbells until the adjustable dumbbell was created. The next logical step was the adjustable kettlebell.

The adjustable kettlebell appeals exactly like the adjustable dumbbell does, the two main reasons being cost and less storage required.

Think of the cost that would be involved in purchasing a set of dumbbells ranging from 2k to 50k. Now think of the significantly lower cost of purchasing to dumbbells and weight plates going up to 100k (meaning you can have a pair of 50k dumbbells).

Think of the cost that would be involved in purchasing a set of Kettlebells ranging from 2k to 50k. Now think of the significantly lower cost of purchasing a pair of adjustable Kettlebells with weights that can be added to continue overloading your body over time.

Both options provide a far more cost effective option and require far less storage - it is very likely a full weight rack would be needed to support a set of Kettlebells or Dumbells ranging from 2k - 50k, not to mention that the rack would need to support a grand total of 1300k! In comparison an adjustable Kettlebell with the capability to construct 2 x 50k Kettlebells is only 100k of weight and can simply be stored in a wardrobe or any other basic household feature.

So far you may be wondering why everyone has not went out and bought an adjustable kettlebell. As with everything in life there exists a downside. With the adjustable kettlebell the major downside it changing weight, the same issue you have with barbells down the gym will exist at home with adjustable kettlebell.

For example, one of the key training principles for building muscle is to keep the intensity of your workout high, the famous adage 'you can train hard or you can train long, you can't do both' springs to mind. If you are forever adjusting the weights the intensity of your training is severely hampered and so will your progress. This is the reason why any gym you walk into has fixed dumbbells and fixed kettlebells so people can get on and train with maximum intensity. People don't always do so and we have all witnessed people having 5 minute interludes between sets, but that discussion is for another day.

Ultimately the choice of buying a full kettlebell set or a couple of adjustable Kettlebells (technically speaking, as most kettlebell exercises can be done with one hand, only one adjustable kettlebell is required for a kettlebell workout) is up to you.