Kettlebell vs barbell
The
kettlebell is the better choice for general fitness and occasional exercise. The
barbell is the better choice for maximum strength and focused exercise.
What is your goal
Before we go into the details of what a squat
rack can work let me ask you a couple of questions:
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Why do you want to change
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What happens if you do
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What happens if you don’t
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How is fitness going to help
When I get the questions from beginners about what to do and why to do it it is usually based in a lack of focus and trust in the process. This is perfectly normal when you are new at something. One of the easiest ways to fix this is to sharpen your focus. The four questions above help with this.
Once you have clarified what you want to achieve and why it becomes a lot easier to pick the right routines to support your goals. So if you feel confused at the moment dig deeper and formulate a detailed goal. An example would be:
I wan to squat 200kg for repetitions within a year of time. This means i have to increase my one repetition maximum on the squat by at least 17% over a year. This is important to me because I have been working in the gym for years and want to write a book about the process to get to 200kg. This will make me more independent of my current job and enable to do more of the things I love like training and spending time with my family.
Make it very detailed and explain the reasons why. The acronym which is often used is SMART to formulate goals. This means
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Specific
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Measurable
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Actionable
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Time bound
This makes it a lot more likely for you to achieve the goal. So spent the time to really think about what you specifically want to do.
Maximum strength
When you want to train for maximum strength we are usually talking the
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squat
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deadlift
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Bench press
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Clean and jerk
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Snatch
As the main competitive lifts which are looking for strength. In Strongman competitions, you will also have the
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Log press
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Farmers walk
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Atlas stone
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Keg throw
CrossFit will look for tests like the
In track and Field, the main strength disciplines are
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Hammer throw
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Disc throw
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Javelin throw
So for most of these scenarios, the
barbell wins to develop maximum strength over the
kettlebell as long as you don’t want to specifically throw your equipment around. The
barbell can take more weight and can be scaled up and down easier than a
kettlebell. There are also more sports specific to the
barbell one rep maximum than the kettlebell one repetition maximum.
If you are more into the throwing you probably want to invest in the specific item you want to throw as high or fat as possible.
A well-rounded strength program will likely make use of
barbells, dumbbells,
kettlebells and other equipment. This depends on the individual's strengths and weaknesses of the athlete, injury and recovery and focuses on which strength patterns need to be developed.
Generally, for most maximum strength scenarios when you are forced to choose between the
kettlebell over the
barbell, the
barbell wins.
Conditioning
The realm of conditioning is a different one from the one-repetition maximum. The goals here are:
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Explosiveness
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Endurance
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Recovery
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Shifts
In terms of explosiveness, the
kettlebell swing is an exercise that is very hard to beat in terms of free weight training. Yes, the clean and jerk and snatch are also great for this. These two movements are hardener coaches and have a higher risk of injury than
kettlebell swings. For continued explosiveness in a team sport, individual sports using a ball or martial arts the
kettlebell wins over the
barbell.
Endurance training is important for martial artists, long-distance runners, Crossfitters and track and field athletes. While powerlifters, weightlifters and strongmen need a whole lot less of it. To train sustained stress over a long period of time the
kettlebell is the better free weight tool than the
barbell. This is based on that the
kettlebell can be moved in a continuous flow while the
barbell design mostly allows for start and stop motion patterns.
Recovery is important to all athletes and a part of conditioning. Recovery and endurance Go Hand in Hand. The kettlebell is a good tool for endurance athletes to train strength and improve bone density. This will lower the risk of injury in the main sport. For strength athletes, the
kettlebell can be a good tool to recover from injury or improve grip strength. Also here the
kettlebell beats the
barbell as a tool for recovery for most athletes for different reasons.
Another part of conditioning is the ability to shift force in different directions. This is especially important in team sports like basketball, football, and rugby. While the
kettlebell and
barbell are both not the best tools to achieve this, the
kettlebell still wins as swings in different directions simulate this better. Better tools to address this and build strength are cones and resistance bands for sprint drills.
All in all, if you are about conditioning, investing in
kettlebells gives you more options than a
barbell.
Space requirements
Pavel Tsatsoulin likes to describe the
kettlebell as the smallest gym you can possibly buy. If you only want to train with one weight and your main goal is conditioning he is absolutely correct.
If you also want to train for max strength, things get a bit more complicated. The main disadvantage of a
kettlebell is that it is not modular. This means that you will need a new
kettlebell every time you want to go up in weight. Even though there are loadable
kettlebell the mechanics are usually crap. If you have a lot of people training you will need a whole shelf of
kettlebells to accommodate for them. However, this also means that they will be able to train in parallel. The
barbell needs less space to be modular for one person. For a CrossFit class, it eats up more space.
Cost
Kettlebells are costly when you go heavy. They are usually one big piece of metal which gets bought less and less often the higher you go in weight. Here
barbells win out as it easier to get plates for cheap as they go with more different
barbells and are more commonplace in the market or used when you going heavy. For a starter pack down the road to train at home, the
kettlebell wins.
Maintenance
The
kettlebell needs little to no maintenance as it is a block of iron. You might want to get rid of excess chalk and not leave it in the rain but that is about it.
Barbells need a bit more attention, especially at the sleeves. Get a metal brush to clean out dead skin and chalk from the knurling on a regular basis. Tighten the screws on the end of the
barbell for time to time and put oil on the bearing or bushing.
Summary
For general fitness goals, the
kettlebells will be the better choice. For maximum strength, goals go for the
barbell. For the vest results for any athlete, combine the two based on the goals you have.