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In honour of the new year, Kevin and I will be considering a topic around the most common New Year’s resolution. Every year, “exercise more” seems to be at the top of everyone’s list. Let’s start there.
There are a myriad of fascinating stories and lessons to be learned from the fitness world. There is how Jack Lalanne founded the first fitness club in 1936, or how two brothers designed the first indoor rowing machine (which has stayed the same and been the gold standard since 1981). Today, we will dive into the history of a piece of fitness equipment that dates back to Stuart, England, in the 1700s - the Kettlebell.
Design
The Kettlebell is such a simple and elegant design. A single piece of solid iron with a rounded smooth handle, it allows for a whole body workout in ways other weights do not. People have been lifting weights to build strength since the time of Ancient Greece. The dumbbell, which is the ancestor of the Kettlebell, started as a tool for church bell ringers in the 1700s to stay in shape when not ringing. If you are annoyed at the sound of a treadmill, peloton or whatever, imagine the sound of Gary and Sue over at the church working out a new composition (and being confused because those bells are also your clock). To ensure peak performance, bell ringers practiced by suspending weighted logs with ropes on the end that would mimic the pull and resistance of a church bell.
Kettlebells came along 100 years later. Girya were scale counterweights used in Russia to weigh crops. You can see them in the images above. The story goes that farmers figured the weights could be lifted and tossed and Giros became an exhibition sport at farming festivals. I don’t know what life was like pre TV/Internet/Considered Newsletter but I imagine you’d have to be pretty bored to start casually heaving iron to amuse yourself. To be fair, I don’t do it for entertainment per say, but I do it for the same reason everyone else does: stress relief and self-esteem issues.
The Russians can not claim an exclusivity on noticing that lifting heavy things gives you big muscles. Simultaneously in Germany, Friedrich Ludwig Jahn was defining his fitness system, which would become known as Gymnastics. In response to what he saw as a humiliating loss to Napoleon, he went on a mission to improve the physical spirits of his countrymen. His “Turner Clubs” and methods became popular the world over and helped to make Kettlebell-type exercises global. As Germans emigrated to the US, they brought their Turner Clubs with them and built Turner Halls for their practice sessions.
Then, in the late 1940s, Kettlebells largely disappeared from North America. There are some theories but my best guess is like the Thighmaster and many others, it just fell out of fashion.
Innovation
If you talk to any fan of Kettlebells, they would attribute the modern resurgence to the mononymous “Pavel”. Pavel Tsatsouline is a Belarusian sports scientist who claims to have created training programs for the Russian Spetsnaz and others. His incredibly cheesy videos, particularly “Enter the Kettlebell (2006)”, had frequent use of the word Comrade, heavy Post Soviet aesthetic, and invocations that “Kettlebells are the tool for the elimination of weakness in Russian gene pool for 300 years”. Ladies, don’t feel left out. He also has “From Russia with Tough Love: Pavel’s Kettlebell Workout for Femme Fatales.”
Tsatsouline has since outgrown his Yakov Smirinoff imitation (“In Russian, Kettlebell lift you!”) to become a well respected sports scientist on the subject of functional movement. He is a frequent guest of contemporary lifestyle gurus like Tim Ferris and Joe Rogan. Through his creation of the “Strong First Certification,” he has spread his philosophy and training methods far and wide. One of the key qualifications for Strong First is to be able to do 100 Kettlebell snatches (swinging a single bell from between your legs to over your head) in five minutes with a weight determined by your body weight. After a year of practice, the most I can do in 5 minutes with a weight-appropriate bell is 80. #BIGFLEX
Sustainability
None of the Kettlebell manufacturers we researched publish sustainability reports. If you want to watch a Kettlebell get made step by step, Pavel’s got you. The basics are that a pattern for the mold is made of pressed sand. Once you have a mold, then iron (or scrap / recycled iron) is melted in a furnace and poured into the mold, with each weight being a different size dependent on how much the iron weighs. The bells are then sandblasted and sometimes powder coated to provide a smooth finish. The issues that become immediately apparent are the energy costs associated with running a furnace hot enough to melt iron and the carbon footprint of the distribution.
In a long form GQ investigation into why kettlebells became so hard to find in 2020, writer Alex Shultz uncovered that the single foundry in the US manufacturing Kettlebells was only capable of making 40-50 bells per day. The majority of global manufacturing had been sent offshore to China because of lower energy and labour costs. When Chinese factories shut down as part of COVID, there was an immediate supply shock in North America. The GQ article is an interesting read on the interconnectedness of global supply chains. I find it hard to make a judgement on Kettlebell sustainability or to suggest that one brand is better than the other based on information provided.
Cost
Kettlebells are often priced by their weight. The supply crunch that we saw in 2020 seems to have abated and you can regularly find them for $3-$4 per kilogram. You will often encounter three different styles, cast iron, competition and vinyl coated. Cast iron is the most durable. Competition is a specialty product with a different shape handle and I would only suggest getting one if you know that is exactly what you want.
Kevin found a “Connected Kettlebell” at the Apple store. To me this is more likely to inspire weakness than eliminate it.
24kgs of solid cast iron is a fairly durable product. You have to watch out for rust sometimes, but that is about it. In a normal world, there would be a robust resale market (especially in late Feb/March as people give up on their resolutions). I was unable to find better resale prices than I was at primary retail because of the perceived scarcity.
On the value trade off, you can get a great workout with 1 bell (depending on your needs, $40-$150) or an even better one with 3 ($300-$450). Depending on your preference in fitness studio and ability to self motivate, it could easily pay for itself.
There are a number of Kettlebell brands (Rogue, XM and others). If you want to shop local, the folks at Great Lakes Girya know their stuff. Located in Kitchener Ontario, they are one of the largest importers of kettlebells in Canada and sometimes do a buy 2, get 1 free deal.
If fitness is something you are focusing on this year, be safe and know your limits!
Postscript:
I have gotten into Kettlebells as a way to stay fit during the pandemic so I am slightly biased to their awesomeness. I take classes/lessons with Fitsquad but finding a local instructor (if that is available to you) or an online learning platform is a huge help to stay motivated and ensure you’re working out safely. If any of you want to call me out to some kind of feat of strength, I will happily take on the challenge and write about the winner (or winners) in a future edition of Considered.
Great educational read on Kettlebells! My order from GLC arrived yesterday, superior quality, love old school looks..