Kettlebell purchasing questions

[gable]

I am looking to order a few, and wondered if anyone had any preferences / suggestions on a specific brand or place to order em.

Thanks,
Gable

[Boris]

I would look into either Dragon Door or pro-grade kettlebells (available through various sites, I think)
Dragon Door kettlebells: dragondoor.com/
Pro Grade kettlebells: www.fullkontact.com/

If those are too pricey, I would consider the Perform Better kettlebells (available through Perform Better or Art of Strength): www.artofstrength.com/OnlineStore/tabid/65/Default.aspx

I'm sure there are others that would be fine, but these are the brands I have tried and thought were good. power-systems.com has a cheaper bell, but it really isn't very good - the handles on the heavier bells are too thick and not smooth at all. You will tear the crap out of your hands if you try to do snatches for higher reps.

[sean]

Hey Boris,

I want to start using kettlebells, they look more fun than barbell training. Unfortunately I am a poor high school student. Lets just say I have enough money for a single pro-grade kettlebell. How long would I be able to get away with using it until I needed to buy a heavier one? I know that is a broad question, I'm just hoping you might have a general idea. Should I wait and invest in two of the same weight?

Oh, and awesome job with the Squat Rx videos, keep em' coming.

Thanks!

[Boris]

It depends on what you're looking to do with your training, but you can do a lot with one bell. I was in Japan a month last year w. a 62lb kettlebell and I made do with that and bodyweight exercises just fine.

I can't tell you for sure what size bell you should get, but most people would recommend a 36lber or maybe a 44lber. If you're pretty strong and athletic, a 53lber might be fine to start, but you'll probably be more tentative trying new things with a heavier bell (for example snatches, TGUs, etc) than you would with a lighter bell. In any case I think you'll get along fine for quite a while with a single bell as long as you don't mind higher reps.

[sean]

Ok, sounds good.

I checked around and unfortunately kettlebells are not sold locally here (I live in Albuquerque, NM). I'll just have to man up and pay for shipping. I found that the dragon door kettlebells are about half the regular price on ebay, look like that's my best option.

Would you recommend any kettlebell training books/DVDs for a newbie like me? Hey, maybe Kettlebell Rx for the future?

Thanks again.

[Boris]

"Enter the Kettlebell" - both the book and DVD are great.
www.dragondoor.com/cgi-bin/searchdb.pl?sterm=enter+the+kettlebell

I don't plan on doing any kettlebell instructional videos, but there are some great ones already on youtube by Jason Brown of kettlebellathletics.com
www.youtube.com/user/KettlebellAthletics
There are also good ones at artofstrength.com
www.artofstrength.com/Videos/KettlebellTraining/tabid/178/Default.aspx

I do talk a little about kettlebell exercises here and there in the Squat Rx series - can't remember exactly which ones off the top of my head, but Squat Rx #20 (Thoughts on Power Cleans) presents the swing as a good exercise to ingrain hip extension.