Saturday, April 11, 2015

The Secret to Burning 1200 Calories Per Hour



In our most recent blog post WHY TRAINERS ARE GOING BALLISTIC FOR KETTLEBELL SPORT & YOU SHOULD, TOO, we referenced a study sponsored by the American Council on Exercise (ACE) which found a 20 minute workout consisting of kettlebell swing and snatch intervals to burn 20.2 calories per minute, equating to 1212 calories per hour! 

Now, this little factoid gets used ad nauseam in kettlebell articles across the web and we used it, too because it still gets me really excited.  I mean, it's amazing and it's validating.  However, even though it's probably obvious I can't let it go unsaid...

Despite what the internet would like you to believe, you're not going to go to your first kettlebell class or PT session and burn 1212 calories.  The catch here is actually my favorite thing about kettlebells:

It's more than a workout, it's a practice.

Learning kettlebell sport technique is a lot like learning to drive a stick-shift or play an instrument, or switching from a PC to a Mac.  The more you practice, the more efficient you get using it.  The more efficient you get using it, the faster you can go from zero to sixty or play an arpeggio or do pretty much anything on a computer, or... Burn 1212 calories per hour.

You've got to build up to it.  That's what kettlebell sport training is all about.  In the beginning, a two-minute set of swings or snatches will probably be challenging.  When you're there, it might blow your mind a little that there are people who actually do hour-long marathon sets - without ever putting the bell(s) down!  If swing and snatch intervals with rest would produce 1212 calories burned, imagine what a marathon set would do!

If you're interested in "the journey is the destination" kind of exercise, we think you'll love kettlebell sport training and we invite you to "go from kettlebell shmo to kettlebell pro" during a SIX WEEK KETTLEBELL 101 CLASS SERIES.  Out of the area?  Join us for training via Skype.

Take Care!


SKC Kettlebell Sport Class.  Photo by Amos Kallen.

No comments:

Post a Comment