The Kettlebell – The Tool For Correcting Problematic Asymmetries

Have you ever been to the gym to see these guys that have a huge upper-body, but a pair of toothpicks for legs? Maybe you’ve seen guys who spend every workout doing primarily one particular lift like the bench press as seen with your typical gym rats! Well I want to take the time to explain the importance of symmetry, and how the kettlebell is a great tool for achieving this.

The Problem: To start, many people don’t consider necessarily what they are doing when they go to workout. They don’t properly address their individual weaknesses in their workouts. This is a common theme with most because they don’t have a clear understanding of the human body and how it works. By now you know that I have broken down the push and pull as the two primary movements of the human body. I also like to execute both of these movements in either 2 separate lifts or a singular complex lift with the kettlbell that covers both. The problem with not executing both a push and pull dynamic is that if the body develops asymmetries then there will be a mismatch in the overall function of the muscles, and eventually this could result in an injury.

The Solution: To make sure that your strength and conditioning program is effective enough for you to pass the “eyeball contest” is one thing, but making sure that you can also feel strong and healthy is just as important. You must always vary your workouts to include a variety of exercises that serve completely different purposes. Variety can be as much as never repeating the same workout ever! Though this is somewhat very creative and challenging the benefits far outweigh the negative costs. Make sure that you alternate movements of push and pull with every exercise that you do. Also make sure you engage in very dynamic lifts (like the kettlebell one-arm turkish getup) that incorporate many muscles and move the body through every plain of motion.

This will definitely provide you with a much more functional and less injured body!