Kettlebells provide a quick way to repair joints & strengthen tendons to heal and prevent injuries to the ankles, knees, back and shoulders.

The Kettlebell Swing stands as the foundation for all kettlebell lifts. Many fitness trainers are making it the single most important exercise in their training program.  It mixes cardio with resistance training and can be used to help prevent and recondition injured athletes as well as unathletic folks.

Knees
If you are like me, then you have seen women in their fifties with severe knee arthritis and knee replacements.  If it wasn’t for the Kettlebell swing, I don’t think I would be able to fully train these people, especially with the lack of knee flexion that they possess. 

The swing is easily adaptable. If you’ve got knee problems, you quickly learn to stretch the hamstrings and use the lower back and butt, which takes time to work up to.

Cardiovascular Benefits without the Ground Pounding
It doesn’t take much to get a cardiovascular workout with the Kettlebell swing. It finds all areas of your body, including: hips lower back, shoulders, abs, hamstrings, butt, and ankles.  Developing power and balance is an additional bonus when working with the kettlebell due to the Kettlebell traveling behind the body, thereby requiring the exerciser to develop force from the preloaded position of the hamstrings and butt. 

Momentum is a part of the movement, so you can easily do 10 minutes worth and get a kick butt cardiovascular workout; something that few seniors or even deconditioned folks in their 20’s can do. As I wrote that I almost threw up… deconditioned 20 year olds?

Shoulders
Most people’s rotator cuff muscles are weak. This leads to pain when using the arm for anything.  Thankfully, the kettlebell swing provides much needed arm extension and can eliminate pain and repair weak muscles and tendons when performed under the direction of an enlightened trainer.

With the momentum of the swing, the exerciser is able to endure flexion and extension of the arms, without pain and can work an often under respected asset: the grip. When the grip is weak, the forearm is weak. Then the elbow and also the shoulder, which leads to neck pain. Point being: Don’t have a weak grip.

Ankles
Ankles are often neglected with traditional training methods. Kettlebells rhythmically load the ankles throughout their range of motion with things such as the walking swing, lateral/frontal swing, as well as the rear walking swing. The ankles are challenged to plant the feet and allow the exerciser to stay on balance. This is important to strengthening ankles.