From big mick to fit mick: my first kettlebell class
By Mike Ashworth | October 6, 2009
Yesterday evening I attended my first kettlebell class with my friend Zoe. The class was held up at ZT Fitness, near Hove station.
Now, you may be wondering what kettlebells are. The Kettlebell is a cast iron weight looking somewhat like a cannonball with a handle.
It’s only in the last couple of years that they have become more common in the UK. You can read more about the history of the Kettlebell at this link (wikipedia)
They were introduced into Brighton and Hove by Christian Vila. He runs a number of classes around the City, led by either himself or other qualified instructors.
I’d seen a few videos of kettlebells in action and was wondering how on earth I’d get the weights flying around as I had seen.
I needn’t have worried as the movements were expertly shown to us by the leader of the class, Mark Stroud. In addition we paired up with more experienced kettlebellers to watch their technique as well.
We commenced with a few stretches to limber up for the moves ahead and then we started.
Now rather than attempt to describe exactly the kind of moves that we undertook I have intead embedded a couple of videos below that were produced by Christian Vila of BrightonKettlebells. These videos show a lot of the different moves that can be undertaken.
Perhaps in a future update I’ll do some filming from one of the actual classes.
It was a great workout, keeping the heart rate elevated and me sweating throughout.
Zoe and I got chatting to Mark, the chap who led the class afterwards and discovered a few things about how great Kettlebells are. Previously he’d played a lot of rugby and seen a lot of injuries and had started doing kettlebells, about 15 months ago, I recall him saying. In that time he’s lost about 3 stone in weight!
I know for sure that I’ll be back next Monday for more!
Now you may be thinking that many of the people in the videos already look pretty fit however the class yesterday contained people of all fitness levels. So dont be scared, pop down and try one out.
Check out the BrightonKettlebell website for current info on classes running throughout Brighton and Hove.
If you are wondering why I am doing this please read this post about my wake up call re my health and also my goals
Topics: Health |
2 Responses to “From big mick to fit mick: my first kettlebell class”
Comments
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5:30 pm on November 4th, 2009
Interesting. I’d never heard of them.
I guess they come in different weights?
8:36 pm on November 4th, 2009
they most certainly do. a range of weight from about 4kg up to 32kg and beyond!! I use a 16kg for most of the moves I do