Kettlebells broke onto the strength and conditioning scene a few years ago. They have been touted as developing everything from strength, power, mobility, hypertrophy, metabolic conditioning, and even cardiovascular endurance.
Falatic et al performed a study examining kettlebells and their impact on maximal oxygen consumption. The authors studied division I female soccer players and had the athletes perform either a kettlebell snatch session or a circuit weight training session, three times per week, for four weeks. This training was in addition to their normal training of strength training, soccer training, sprints, and aerobic training.
The kettlebell group performed twenty minutes of 15 seconds on, 15 seconds off of kettlebell snatches using the 12kg kettlebells. Athletes performed the snatches at a pre-determined cadence. The circuit weight training group performed a variety of exercise for two minute work intervals with two minute rest intervals, over a 20 minute period.
The kettlebell group improved their maximal oxygen consumption by almost six percent. The circuit weight training group by less than one percent. In other words, since the kettlebell training was the difference it seems to have had an impact on improving maximal oxygen consumption.
In the short term, an aggressive kettlebell snatch program had an impact on the maximal oxygen consumption for division I female soccer players. What is unclear is how effective this program would be over a longer time. The athletes were using a fixed weight and a fixed lifting cadence. If those things don’t change, then the impact that the kettlebells have will be reduced over time.
Another concern with interpreting the results of this study is that the athletes had an average maximal oxygen consumption in the middle 30’s (ml/kg/min). This is a pretty low level of aerobic fitness for soccer players. If this is accurate, then it brings into question whether this would have had similar impact on an athlete that had a greater fitness level.
It’s good to begin seeing studies examining the effectiveness of alternative training modes.
Falatic, J.A., Plato, P.A., Holder, C., Finch, D., Han, K., and Cisar, C.J. (2015). Effects of kettlebell training on aerobic capacity. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 29(7), 1943-1947.
