Title: Ultimate Kettlebell Workouts for Beginners by Acacia
What is it: An introduction to kettlebell workouts led by Paul Katami.
Who’s it for? It’s aimed at kettlebell beginners, but even someone with familiarity could benefit from this DVD.
Format: It’s divided into three sections: a 28-minute introduction, demonstrating the three grips you could use on the kettlebell and how to properly squat and perform a kettlebell swing.
If you’re a beginner, this could serve as a workout on its own. When you’re comfortable there, the 28-minute Drills and Combinations section takes what you learned in the introduction, speeds it up and adds more advanced movements. It’s killer. If for some reason you’re still not tired, the 25-minute core section will guarantee you have trouble sitting up, laughing and sneezing when you wake in the morning.
What’s to like: Kettlebells are nothing new. They’ve been around for hundreds of years. As a workout tool, they’re dynamic and versatile. Their momentum and pendulous swinging tend to distract you from your exertion, which means you might not realize how hard you’re working until you stop and take stock of your sweaty brow and pounding heart. That’s an advantage in my book. It’s also easy to make thisworkout more challenging by increasing the weight of your kettlebell. They come in a range of sizes - from 5 to 75 pounds. And with a total of 79 minutes of workouts, this DVD really seems like a steal at $16.99, especially if you already have kettlebells on hand.
What’s not to like: The hurdle for most beginners might be the unfamiliarity with typical weightlifting terms like the “clean” and the “press” and the “rack position.” And I’m of the schoolof thought that says squats should go past parallel, but I realize that’s not the conventional wisdom. Katami and his workout buddies kept it at 90 degrees.
Despite that, I was already a kettlebell convert before I pushed play, so I was predisposed to love nearly everything about this DVD.
Necessary gear: A kettlebell. Katami doesn’t explain what size to use, but it looks like the women in the DVD had a 10 pounder (which would cost between $15 and $20) and Katami’s weighed maybe 15 pounds ($20 to $30). Proper form is also very important to kettlebell work, so a mirror would help in the beginning.
Who is the presenter? Katami is certified by the American Council on Exercise and has more than 20 years of experience as a fitness professional. (Unrelated to this workout video, he and Jeff Zarillo are one of the two same-sex couples named as plaintiffs in the U.S. Supreme Court decision Hollingsworth v. Perry. They sued the state of California after being denied marriage licenses under Proposition 8; in 2010, U.S. District Court ruled in their favor, invalidating Proposition 8;
and on June 26 the Supreme Court dismissed an appeal of that ruling brought by opponents of same-sex marriage.)
Price: $16.99 Celia Storey contributed information to this review.
ActiveStyle, Pages 23 on 07/22/2013