Kettlebells with Connie!

I’ve been hearing about kettlebells around the Ranch for awhile so while I was here this week I decided to check them out.  I’ve never seen kettlebells before so I really had no idea what was in store for me.  Basically they are hand held weights, but instead of mini dumbbells, to me they look a little like really big pad locks.  Kettlebells have actually been around for a very long time starting in Russia in the 1700s which I was surprised to find out.

The weights are pretty heavy so the class started out with how to safely hold the weights.  Since it was my first time, I grabbed the lightest weights I possibly could.  Safety first!  Turns out, they’re not as scary as they look and I moved on to a heavier weight during the class.  It’s really hard to describe in writing how this class works, but basically it’s a series of exercises that increase strength and endurance through lifting the kettlebells.  But!  You don’t lift them in the traditional ways that you would with dumbbells.  It’s a completely different technique and a lot of it has to do with how you grip the weights while maintaining balance.

Overall I found it to be a very fun workout.  Connie was excellent at clearly explaining how to use the weights and she made the class really fun.  Strength training exercises are probably my least favorite workouts (more of a cardio kind of girl), but this class made it more exciting and interesting!