Students too busy for separate cardio and muscular workouts should know their time can be saved by the bell--the kettle bell, that is.
The Student Activities Center now offers a kettle bell training class, an alternative exercise for the heart and body.
Classes are offered in Room 205 of the Student Act.
Classes are 30 minutes long and start at 10 a.m. and 10.30 a.m. Monday and Wednesday.
Tuesday and Thursday classes start at 2 p.m., 4 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
"That is almost a new concept," said Christy Coleman, kettle bell instructor for the Monday and Wednesday classes, "because I've taught for over 15 years and we're either focusing on our muscles or we're focusing on our cardio, but we're never combining the whole thing."
What is a kettle bell?
The answer is simple: the bell is a ball, a 10- to 20- pound metal ball with a flattened bottom and a handle on top.
Kettle bell training instructor Benton Abernethy said cannonball would be a more fitting name for it.
"Most people, probably, have never seen one," said Abernethy, who teaches classes Tuesday and Thursday at 4 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. "I think a lot of people get intimidated by the way they look."
The workout session is composed of different exercises performed while holding the kettle bell, beginning with a basic swing.
This involves bending the knees, reaching down to grasp the kettle bell's handle with both hands and pushing the hips forward while straightening back up.
This movement causes the kettle bell to swing up, then down again, like a pendulum, and can be controlled by keeping the body-core tight and keeping the feet firmly planted in a shoulder-width stance.
"Kettle bells is total body," Coleman said. "It gives you your cardio workout as well as your muscular strength and endurance and flexibility."
Abernethy said one of the benefits of kettle bell training was the variety of muscle groups the class hits.
"It's not one of those things where you can over-train," Abernethy said. "You're going to hit the same muscles every day, but you're going to do it in a way that you're going to keep getting gains from it."
The basic swing and other exercises are done in repetitions and vary in intensity depending on the size of the weight.
Those who attend the class will be provided with 10-, 15- and 20-pound kettle bells to use at different points in the workout. Students can even bring their own kettle bells.
"It was a surprising workout because I thought it was going to be arms, like weightlifting, but it was legs and core," said Kat Harding, senior in marketing, who attended the class Monday at 10 a.m. "Everyone can use more legs and core work."
Like all exercises, there is a risk for injury. With proper form and right supervision, injuries can be avoided.
"There's really a safety feature that we build in with our classes by training our instructors and making sure that we watch them as they work out," Coleman said.
For Abernethy, the challenges of the exercise keep things from getting boring.
"I've worked out 12 years, and I started doing them a little over a year ago, and I love doing this more than anything I ever did before that," Abernethy said.
Coleman said she enjoys the time she spends in the class.
"I like it," Coleman said, "because I think it's a quick way to get everything you want to hit."
So in 30 minutes, I'm done."
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
