If you are looking for a kettlebell cardio workout to change your training routine forever then you have arrived at the right place. If you are going to engage in a new hard style of cardiovascular training that goes way beyond the so-called traditional forms of aerobic training such as running and cycling then you have got to work with kettlebells. By now you may have heard of this ancient hard style device that has been widely used to build super fit bodies. This is why I am here to tell you about 3 tremendously effective lifts you can use with the kettlebell for some real cardiovascular fitness!
Kettlebell Cardio Workout!
1. Kettlebell Swings: The swing lift is the base and more commonly known strength endurance lift performed with the kettlebell. This lift is great for helping you to get a tremendous cardio strength training workout. This hard hitting exercise blasts all of the large muscle groups including your hips, glutes, back, shoulders, hamstrings, abs, and of course your heart! The lift is performed by you having to engage your hips and knees in a constant state of flexion and extension in order to create momentum to swing the bell back and forth like a pendulum. After only knocking out 10 to 15 of these in a row with a relatively heavy bell you will understand what I mean when I say CARDIO!
2. Kettlebell Snatches: The kettlebell snatch is a tremendous lift for core strength, leg power, hip strength, and shoulder strength. With all of this it is also a tremendously powerful exercise for helping you to develop the cardiovascular conditioning of a race horse! This dynamic lift is executed by you pulling the bell from between your legs up to a held locked position above your head in one smooth powerful movement. The bell is pulled from between your legs like a single arm swing and elevated to a high pull position with your arm by mimicking the motion of pulling back on a bow. Once the bell is at this high pull position then you can finish the drill off by vertically punching your palm towards the sky to lock it out. This lift is incredible for helping you to develop muscular and cardiovascular endurance while training the muscles of the posterior chain (hips, glutes, back, shoulders, hamstrings). I have always said that if you want to develop a dominant cardio workout, the ability to run somewhere fast, and punch someone hard then the kettlebell snatch lift is for you.
3. Kettlebell Jerks: The kettlebell jerk press is a wonderful exercise for helping you to develop shoulder, core, hip, and glute strength. This particular lift can be utilized for an impressive bout of cardiovascular fitness. As a matter of fact, even the best competition kettlebell lifters can go for minutes and minutes on end without ever resting or stopping a series of jerk presses. The lift can be executed a number of different ways, but for the sake of this article I will describe the single arm short cycle press. The short cycle press means that the kettlebell is cleaned and racked once at the chest and then followed by a series of jerks until the desired number or time is met. This is done by utilizing a “knee dip” to roll up onto the balls of your feet while simultaneously starting to vertically press the bell above your head. As the bell is moving vertically you will want to press your heels into the ground in order to push your body away from the rising kettlebell overhead. When you are finished from here simply stand up to finish off the lift.
If you haven’t already started to implement the 3 kettlebell lifts mentioned for your hard style cardio workouts then you are missing out. Take the time to learn more about these hard hitting cardio strength training drills and more by accessing the rest of my articles on the subject for free. Remember that most anyone can train hard, but only the best train smart!
