I’m looking for some opinions from people who have tried kettle bell swings and barbell complexes for fat loss and general conditioning. How well did they work for you and which did you prefer. I’m asking because once I shake this flu I’ve got I’m going to get my ass back in the gym. I’m 6’2" 255 and around 30% bf. I’d like to get under 15%. Oh and one other thing. My gym doesn’t have any kettle bells so I’d have to do dumbbell swings. Any pointers on the difference between kettle bell and dumbbell swings would be appreciated.
[quote]Shudupnlift wrote:
I’m looking for some opinions from people who have tried kettle bell swings and barbell complexes for fat loss and general conditioning. How well did they work for you and which did you prefer.[/quote]
I did Alwyn Cosgrove’s “complexes for fat loss” last summer. It was brutal but pretty effective. In four weeks (including getting poison ivy/not training for about half a week), I dropped about 4 and a half pounds on the scale, two inches from the waist, and just 1/4 to 1/2 inch on arms and legs.
You’ll want to quit or go easy during the workout, but it’s up to you to push through. (To be fair, that does apply to most intense cardio.)
(Vid is from the last week of complexes. The last set starts around 10:00)
A lot of folks seem to be doing Dan John’s 10,000 swing workout. It’s another pretty serious way to get cardio done and drop fat.
http://tnation.T-Nation.com/free_online_forum/workout-article-discussions/the_10000_swing_kettlebell_workout
It’s basically going to depend on what the rest of your training looks like. Complexes might be more “versatile” in the exercises you can use, but I find they’re also generally higher intensity. An “easy” complex is still more challenging than “easy” swings. There’s no real right or wrong answer.
What kind of training history do you have? At your size, I’m not sure you’d have a decent enough cardio base to maximally benefit from intense complexes, so you might want to build up on the swings. You’ll adapt, definitely, but your cardio capacity might slow you down too much in the short-term to get much fat burning out of most complexes.
For swings, there’s basically no huge difference. There was also an article the other week that talked about using plates (with the holes in them) instead of kettlebells for some exercises. Might be worth checking out.
I’m your height and was the same weight and a decent base of strength before my cut.
You can check out my log to see my approach, which didn’t involve complexes or kb swings… but nutrition probably had the largest effect, if fat loss is your goal (which it should be at that bf level).
I used to do ferugia (sp?) complexes once a week while I was doing starting strength. I didn’t lose any weight, but my strength gains though the end of starting strength continued without gaining anything either.
Thanks for the great response Chris and the links. Until I found tnation my training history involved machines and steady state cardio. Usually a 5 day split. It was better than nothing but I’ve learned a lot since then. The last 9 months have been a bit of a mess. I’ve had a concussion, a dislocated shoulder and a second degree burn on my leg and knee. Bit of a set back. So I’m looking at this as a fresh start.
My numbers as they stand right now
Bench 135x5x5
Press 95x5x5
Squat 135x20
Dead 315x1x5
Power clean is just the bar as I’m still learning the move.
Chin ups too damn fat
I recently got a copy of starting strength and am going to start that as soon as I get my weight under control. I think Dan John’s 10,000 kettle bell swings done with plates for the next 5 weeks will be a big step in the right direction.
1 Man Island I will definitely check out your log. I’m interested to see how you progressed with SS and complexes.
I can’t imagine actually doing complexes for weight loss. Weight loss generally requires a caloric deficit, and I’d think doing complexes or other intense cardio while on a caloric deficit will be… painful.
Currently for weight-loss I just lift 6 times a week (fully body, squat/OHP/DB rows, deadlift/bench/chin and lat-pulldowns) while on what should be a very minor caloric deficit. Low carbs (~100g, milk as pre and post-workout drink which gives 60ishg, the rest come from vegetables and fruits, most of them eaten around my exercise schedule as to cause them to be used up).
Been at it since near end of Jan. Regained virtually all of the muscle mass (+ a bit more in the upper body) that I lost during my month hiatus and dropped 5lb on the scale. I’ve gone down one belt buckle size and my jeans are feeling much looser than they did a couple of months ago when I sort of let myself go. Tried a short on that I haven’t worn since winter rolled around, and the thing feels really big now.
Honestly the fat loss is not quite as fast as I would have liked, but that’s probably because i’m a lot more sedentary than I’ve ever been before.