Kettlebell Snatch Questions: Calories, Bruising

[ActivitiesGuy]

@trickster

The study shows that with kettlebells you can burn 1200 kcal per hour ON AVERAGE (so it’s not just some unreliable extreme). If it was true, this is one of the very best results of all cardio forms.

I’m not surprised at all that the per-minute calorie burn for kettlebell swings and snatches would be huge. Have you ever done a long set of swings or snatches (not 10, but like 50 or 100)? At the end, you’re breathing like you just completed a long sprint.

There’s a couple of giant caveats though:

1. There’s nothing magical about the fact that you’re working out “with kettlebells” - it’s about what you’re doing with the kettlebells. A swing, clean and jerk, or a snatch repeated for many repetitions is a lot of work; I’m not sure why it’s surprising to you that this burns a lot of calories, but it’s about the work itself, not the implement. Just saying that you burn X calories in an hour “with kettlebells” is like saying that you burn X calories “with a treadmill” - well, are you walking, jogging, or sprinting? With the kettlebell, the weight used and exercise performed matters…

2. you have to be able to actually maintain that level of intensity for a period of time. If you’ve ever done a 5-minute or a 10-minute set of snatches, you’ll realize that you’re not doing this for a solid hour. The first time I did 100 consecutive snatches in 5 minutes, I was sweating bullets & panting for like 10 minutes afterwards. As your technique improves, you get more efficient and this might start to decrease, but this is not something you’re going to use to burn 1200 calories in an hour, more like 200 calories in 10 minutes, or whatever.

Also, I’m kind of in the “who gives a shit” camp about how many calories you’re burning while exercising. Kettlebells are probably a good fit for your current situation - lean guy already, likes lifting, hates cardio, just wants to do a finisher that kicks some ass.

@trickster

It seems most people don’t do, what’s the best - every single day 9/10 treadmills and stationary bikes are occupied, while I can barely ever see anyone swinging kettles. Are they wasting their time, not doing the most efficient cardio?

LOL. Most people are completely clueless about fitness. I wouldn’t go by what most people are doing.

Anyways:

@trickster

Question 2: While doing snatches, at the end of a rep, my forearm is constantly hit by a bell. I do a swing, then push kettlebell above my head and here the kettlebell “turns over” in my hand and hits my forearm. First time it hurt just a little bit. Second time it hurt more, because I still felt the previous session and I started hitting myself again. Now I have quite formidable bruises on both of my forearms (and first snatch at every session oh boy do I feel - then I get used to it). How to prevent this? Except of course doing slow reps - this won’t work, because I am treating snatches as my form of cardio. And except putting sleeves on - I don’t believe so commonly done excercise is meant to cause me bruises, unless I wear a protection. Am I doing some mistake in my form that I can eliminate so that the bell won’t hit my forearm?

You just sort of…figure it out?

You are correct that doing “slow reps” is not the answer.

I bought wrist guards and used them for a few weeks until my motion got smoother and I kind got the hang of how to snatch and catch the bell smoothly enough that it wasn’t banging too hard on my wrist. I see no problem with that. Eventually, you’ll probably improve to the point where you don’t need them any more, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing to use them while you’re figuring it out. Others may feel differently.

Also, FWIW, the aforementioned thoughts come from a guy (me) best described as “did some kettlebell work for a couple years and still gets them out for fun once in awhile” rather than a certified coach or competitor. I think @MarkKO actually competed in kettlebell sport prior to taking up powerlifting.