The Kettlebell Circle
Send your kettlebell into orbit
Also called the Slingshot or Around The World, kettlebell circles are a great warm-up and active rest exercise. They are consistently used throughout our exercises for their ability to keep the body “running warm” as we rest in between the harder exercises. This allows your body to stay warm and the calories to keep burning at an elevated rate throughout the entire workout and after. This is one of the “secret sauces” to a lot of these workouts..
Summary
Kettlebell circles help strengthen the core, improve balance and stability due to the fact that the kettlebell is circling around your body and you have to counterbalance in order to keep the body straight and stable. The passing of the kettlebell in front of you and behind you also improves coordination between the hands and gets your body used to gripping the kettlebell tightly and with confidence.
Key Points
Movement
The Kettlebell Circle is honestly very simple. You “circle” the kettlebell around you while trying to keep your core as stable as possible. When your body sways, it is trying to stabilize by using your bodyweight as the counterweight against the kettlebell, therefore, the more still and stable you are, the harder y our stabilizer muscles (in this case, abdominals, calves, back) are working and the more you get out of this exercise.
Once you have done a certain number of reps on one side, you bring the kettlebell to the palm of another and use your hips to change the direction of the kettlebell. This is called the “Kettlebell Slingshot”.
A word of caution, be very careful when first starting out to pass the kettlebell from one hand to the other. If you are not very used to working with kettlebells, you will drop them a few times. You want to make sure you start off with a light weight and make sure you aren’t concerned about dropping the kettlebell on a house surface etc. And please watch your toes.
Muscles Worked
The Kettlebell Circle doesn’t focus on one particular body part and shouldn’t be the main focus of any workout. However, it is amazing at bridging different exercises. It mainly works the forearms, shoulders, abdominals, back, and calves.
Primary
Secondary
Conclusion & How to incorporate
The Kettlebell Circles are extremely useful as a warm-up, cool-down, or as “active rest” or a bridge between exercises when you aren’t exhausted to the point where you need a complete break, but need to catch your breath. There really isn’t bad place in the workout for Kettlebell Circles and the benefit it gives you from a body awareness and coordination perspective makes it a great exercise for anyone.
Similar Exercises
We encourage you to check out these other kettlebell exercises if you have not done so already.
