I am officially on the kettlebell bandwagon

[LauraMax]

I'd planned on waiting til Xmas but, darnit, a new Target just opened less than a mile from my house, and the temptation of buying the kettlebells without paying shipping was just too much for me to resist.

I tried one workout on Saturday--I think it was Extreme Kettlebell--the guy was on the beach & entirely coated in sand by the end of the workout. I really enjoyed it, but not quite enough cardio for me.

So, will you guys be kind enough to share the toughest DVD with me, or are you gonna make me weed through the hundreds of KB posts?

Also, has anyone ever tried this on a bosu? I'm thinking once I get the hang of it, the bosu would make it a super tough core workout.

 

[LeanneM]

Hey Laura,

Ah, welcome to kettlebells! Aren't they fun?!

Mr. Sand Dune (as our Melters group affectionately calls him) is definitely one of the hardest and most fun of the KB workouts. Also, this one usually kicks my rear in terms of cardio; if you're not feeling the cardio factor enough, then you probably need to go up to a larger KB or buy two so you can trade off, depending on the exercise.

If you're looking for another workout that's just as hard, I'd say to get Anthony's Art of Strength Newport. Perform Better has it on sale right now:

http://www.performbetter.com/detail.aspx_Q_ID_E_4886_A_rnd_E_37

If you still need to learn proper form (which is a good idea to do before getting into the tougher workouts), then these two are also really good, but not as intense:

http://www.beacon-fitness.com/beta2/Online_Store.html

http://www.ontheedgefitness.com/videos.html

Hope this helps!

 

[LauraMax]

Awesome! Thanks Leanne! I did order Newport (but not at that sale price! ) based on other reviews.

to proper form. I can learn that as I go along.

 

[Tiffany(tneah)]

You are gonna love these!

 

[lioness]

I agree with Leanne that Mr. Sand Dune has one of the hardest workouts along with Newport. Lately I make up a lot of my kettlebell workouts or get ideas from the Crossfit website.

I have never thought of doing kettlebell workouts on a bosu. I have a bosu but truthfully I'm not that stable on it. I use it as a cardio tool during the rest periods when using the Providence dvd but otherwise I'm too scared to get on that thing with a 25 or 30 pound kettlebell.

If you aren't feeling the cardio aspect, you might need to go up in weight. I have bells that range in size from 10 pounds to 44 pounds.

 

[LauraMax]

The bosu occurred to me b/c I know a couple of women who do light weights on it & they are totally ripped! I'm not creative enough to make up my own bosu routine, but I thought the KB workout would be perfect--I figured I'd do it w/lighter weights, maybe a 10 lb KB, otherwise I'd end up on my keester.

I used a 15 lb for Mr. Sand Dune. I think I didn't burn many cals (about 265) b/c of the length of the routine. I had the sense that the first 10-15 minutes was more of a warmup, so it was really only about 30 minutes of real cardio. I've actually found that almost any workout that lasts about 60 minutes burns a lot of cals, regardless of the exercises and/or intensity level.

That said, considering all the other aspects of the workout, I think I got a good enough cal burn.