My First Kettlebells Experience

I've been a member of my current gym for almost a year now. Part of the reason I chose this gym over some of the others was because it offered a range of classes in with the monthly membership cost. Up until last week, guess how many I'd attended? Yep, none.

I don't know what it is but the thought of turning up and being the new girl in a class terrified me. I was worried I was going to turn up and not know what I was doing, make a massive mistake or look ridiculous. So I continued with my little cardio routine with the occasional weights thrown in, not really making any progress.

After a fairly unhealthy March, I decided that in April I would give myself 30 days to turn my fitness regime back around. I've been going for a run before work, signed up to a new dance class, bought myself some ankle weights and a foam roller, and I finally took the plunge and signed up to a Kettlebells class.

Credit to: Lucy Fry

A kettlebell is a cast iron/steel weight, shaped a bit like a cannon ball, that comes in a range of weights depending on how strong you are (I'm a weakling so could only manage a 4kg one), and can be used to perform a range of cardio, strength and flexibility exercises.

The class I signed up to was only 30 mins long, which I couldn't understand. All the other classes on the timetable are an hour long, why would this one only be 30 mins? Well, as I learnt on Friday, Kettlebells are an insane workout! There's no way I could have done more than 30 minutes. I'm actually surprised I managed that long.

Our instructor is ex-army and he pushed us through a range of different exercises. Some focused on legs, some backs, some arms and some abs. We did swing movements, push ups, squats, sit ups. 30 second reps of each, with a ten second break in between each rep. Then after 4 reps, we'd change to a different exercise.

I was really skeptical up until I got there. Having never used a kettlebell before, and not being a fan of weight lifting, I thought it was going to be a nightmare 30 minutes for me. But it wasn't I loved it.

I came out extremely sweaty (sorry, tmi!), tired, feeling like I wanted to throw up and aching all over. It was amazing! And even after rolling out my body, and stretching, I'm still feeling good aches two days later.

I think I may have found my new favourite form of exercise.

Sarah x