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Taking a stroll on a gold course can be enjoyable. But not during a thunderstorm. Your odds of being hit by lightning are around 576000 to 1. If you like to wander around in the rain, you radically increase your chance of being hit by lightning; it's no secret. Likewise, if you are a kettelbell enthusiast, I'd have to assume that your chances of getting hurt -- either a serious injury like a slipped disc in your back, or hopefully something less serious like bruises -- were much, much greater. In fact, the experts who hang out on the web's number 1 kettlebell forum claim that, among beginners to kettlebell workouts, 1 out of 6 kettlebell athletes suffers injury that puts him out of commission for a week or more. It's not the kettlebells, it's the design Listen, I don't want to give you the wrong idea. Kettlebells, in and of themselves, are not particularly dangerous. It's just that certain parts of the design could be better. Let me explain. Everyone who starts with kettlebells gets bruised forearms. Avoiding these forearm bruises is difficult (if not impossible), because of the way the 'bell swings into the arm during overhead movements. Since the rounded surface of the kettlebell impacts your arm, it hits with more force than it would if the surface was flatter. Even if your kettlebell isn't moving very fast, it still hits hard. It's like getting hit by a rounded baseball bat, you can't avoid bruising from even a moderate impact. But imagine that -- instead of a rounded kettlebell -- you had a kettlebell with flat sides. Instead of the baseball bat impact, the kettlebell energy would be distributed across a much larger area of the forearm. It would feel like you were hit by the flat side of a board rather than by a rounded bat. You'd never again have to deal with bruises. Adjustable kettlebells are better There's good news. Adjustable kettlebells like the Ironmaster kettlebell handle have flat surfaces instead of spherical. This makes your workouts sustainable and suitable for the long-term because the kettlebell is designed with ergonomics in mind. These days, you can work out without feeling like Babe Ruth just took batting practice on your forearms. . People get injured when it's really avoidable. Here's another way this happens. Lots of kettlebell athletes get blisters and other hand injuries because traditional bells have large, thick handles that are not very comfortable to grip. Let me explain whey older kettlebells have such terrible handles. In days past, the manufacturers made kettlebell handles that were thick and ungainly because they didn't want them to break. They made the handles from cast iron that might fracture if it was cast too thinly. Now you see why thick handle kettlebells exist. Not because the handles are better this way (they're definitely not), but because they might otherwise break if they're dropped from a height. The cheap cast iron has to be thick enough to resist breakage. But these days, things are different. Modern kettlebell handles are made from steel; consequently, they're thinner. Steel can be forged instead of cast in a mold. It's stronger and not as thick, and it fits the grip properly. Today's kettlebells don't wreck the hands and palms like older, thick-handled bells. You can grip them tight during pulls, or let them find their natural orientation during swings and presses. Today's adjustables give you the options you don't have with older stubby kettlebells. So, when you see thunder and lightning, the sensible thing to do is to get off the golf course. By the same token, reduce your chance of gettign a kettlebell injury by using modern equipment that's been designed with your safety and comfort in mind. So work out with more safety and a much lower risk of getting injured by sticking to the modern design of today's adjustable kettlebells.
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