Rev-
I want to try this, but my back is torqued- L4/L5....any idea what they may or may not do to that area?
A physical therapist would be better qualified to answer. My own suggestion would be to start light. Kettlebells are not strictly a "bodybuilding" device. The sole purpose is basically, keep the weight moving. Kettlebells are not good for building stacks of muscles. Think of it as almost like weighted aerobics.
Mind you, I exercise for a specific purpose and that is not the same as most. For myself, they are very handy at building overall muscle strength than focusing on one area. I want low muscle bulk, high endurance and being significantly stronger than I look. I'm not trying to get cut or bulk up. Not saying you couldn't do either with kettlebells, just that my purposes are different and that is what I have focused on. Any 'advice' I give re my workout is strictly to be taken with that perspective. If you're trying to get cut or bulk up, please do not follow any of my advice whatsoever and find someone that knows what they're doing.
I think the ones I tried were 35kg.
Either you have been using kettlebells or weights for quite some time, or you seriously seriously bought the wrong kettlebell. If anyone directed you to that to start, please kick them squarely and firmly in the crotch for such bad advice. 35 lbs is the standard size. Twice that? To start? That's like starting your bench pressing at 1.5x your body weight.
I always recommend starting at maximum of 20 lbs. Even if the person is in fair to decent physical shape to begin with. There's no shame in starting with a 10 lb (for females) or a 15 lb (for males) kettlebell. There is a couple reasons for this. One, a person should be focusing on form and technique at first. Not struggling to lift the gorram kettlebell. Second, in my opinion and I am not even remotely a fitness expert (so take with a very large grain of salt), a lot of exercise regimes seem to focus on using one muscle group at a time. "Spot" training. A lot of them are "supported". Think moreso machines or stations, as opposed to free weights. A lot of exercise machines force you to more or less use the correct form and technique, and focus on a specific task. I noticed that doing so exclusively can give you unrepresented stabilizer muscles. ie, you can lift big heavy weights, but have problems "balancing" them if you're moving them in multiple directions.
Working with light weight kettlebells greatly help build up your stabilizer muscles, IMHO. That is why I prefer them bench pressing or "station" related weights. I want everything nice and strong. It doesn't give me huge bulging biceps, but it allows me to move heavy objects around with ease.
My recommended path is 15 lbs (optional, for a couple weeks or months), 20 lbs (for circa 3-6 months), 30/35 lbs (year or two) and then slowly moving to 45 lbs. I still use my 30 lb kettlebell for the majority of my tasks, and my 45 lb kettlebell for the stuff that's just too easy with my 30 lb'er to give me a good workout. This is not intended to brag, but I feel a lot stronger with my single 35 lb kettlebell than I ever did as a gym rat using machines and benches. It was pleasing to the ego to bench more than my body weight. But I think I'm significantly stronger now in general, everyday tasks.
If you want the ego trip of lifting huge # of lbs or big muscles, stick to the gym. This is not intended to be insulting in the least. Some folks want that, and there is
nothing wrong with feeling good about benching 200, 300 lbs. If you want to do everyday tasks easier, a kettlebell and a diverse workout regime is a pretty decent option. It's not a "one size fits all" thing, of course. You gotta go with what works for you, obviously.
I've used them, even own a couple. I thought they were great, I found them more fun and interesting than bar weights.
Same here. Bars aren't as fun.
