Fifteen years ago, Hilary Swank stole our hearts and displayed her fitness levels in the boxing movie, Million Dollar Baby. Now over a decade later, the Oscar-winner continues to prioritize both her health and fitness.
In a recent Instagram post, the star shared a video of herself doing a kettlebell exercise to the sound of U2.
Found in most gyms, kettlebells are iron weights in the shape of a ball, attached to a handle. While their structure and weight (they range from 2 kg to over 45 kg) can be intimidating to some, these bells can be used as part of a cardio session, weightlifting, or even a low-impact vigorous workout. Their versatility and affordability are good enough reasons to include them in your regular workouts. However, if you need more convincing, read on to find out the benefits of kettlebells.
Boosts power
If you live an active lifestyle, your body will need power in order to generate as much force as possible.
Kettlebells, as well as different forms of weight-training, helps to increase your power-endurance. As a result, you’ll be better equipped to sustain that power over a longer period of time during your workout session.
Burns calories
According to a study sponsored by the American Council on Exercise, kettlebells have the ability to burn at least 20 calories per minute. For those not familiar with how much that is; this is the same amount that one can burn if they were to run at a six-minute mile pace.
Functional exercises
Functional exercises are important because they help to prepare your body for everyday actives such as taking the stairs and carrying shopping bags.
Kettlebells need to be picked up, and they target all the muscles in the body thus they can be considered a form of functional fitness. In doing so, they’ll help to prevent injuries that can occur in our everyday tasks such as backaches and sprains.
Improves posture
As a lot of us spend more than half our days in front of the computer, we may be suffering from poor posture.
Poor posture can lead to chronic pain in our lower backs and necks. It can also affect our sleep patterns, our moods and even cause headaches.
When exercising with kettlebells, your core and glutes are working hard to keep you stable. This then strengthens your core and spine muscles, which in turn reduces back pain and improves your posture.
Increases flexibility
Lack of flexibility can hinder our range of motion, thus preventing us from moving around pain-free.
Kettlebell exercises strengthen muscles and they then help to keep the body loose while working to control both movement and range. This can then, over time, improve flexibility and lower the risk of injuries.
Also, the various movements can boost both strength and stability in your joints, particularly the knees and elbows.
Hilary Swank Kettlebell Workout
1. Sit on the bench, holding the kettlebell.
2. Balancing on one leg, slowly stand up.
3. While standing, lift the opposite leg out to the side.
4. Slowly bring the leg back in, sit back down on the bench and repeat.
Want to Know More?
Like kettlebells, resistance bands are also regularly used to help strengthen muscles and provide a full-body workout. Click here to find out how fellow Oscar-winner Halle Berry uses the band to stay in top form.
