Russian Kettlebells: The Best All-Around Fitness Tool

November 14, 2007 6:10 pm Matty Exercise, Get Fit

What Is a Russian Kettlebell?

Russian Kettlebells

A ‘kettlebell‘ (girya in Russian) is a cast-iron weight of traditional Russian descent, that basically resembles a cannonball with a tea-pot shaped handle. Where all-around fitness is concerned, this is the long and the short of it.

The Russian kettlebell (an average-sized 16kg (35lb) is about $89.95 plus shipping) is old; apparently, the term first appeared in a Russian dictionary in 1704. The weights were popular enough during the time of Tsarist Russia that any weightlifter was referred to as a girevik (’a kettlebell man’). The popularity of the kettlebell becomes quite obvious, shortly after anyone’s very first workout: the tool simply replaces all other pieces of fitness equipment, rendering them decisively obsolete.

Russian Kettlebells and Their Benefactor, Pavel Tsatsouline

Russian kettlebells owe much of their growing popularity to the efforts of strength and flexibility coach Pavel Tsatsouline (born Aug. 23, 1969 in Minsk, USSR), whose kettlebell workouts serve to increase agility, strength, endurance and balance, challenging both the muscular and cardiovascular system with dynamic, total-body movements. Tsatsouline was at one time a physical training instructor for the Soviet special forces.

Much of the wealth of Tsatsouline’s knowledge is available through his publisher, Dragon Door.

Find out why kettlebells dominate all other fitness equipment here.