VTX Cast Iron Kettlebells

VTX, versatile enough for home studios to health clubs, caters to athletes of all levels. As a growing name in the light commercial fitness sector, VTX offers products designed for light commercial use, maintaining the high quality associated with Troy Barbell. Whether it's for a home, apartment, or intense HIIT sessions, VTX meets the diverse needs of any fitness facility.

Versatile Workouts: Kettlebells provide a wide range of exercises that target every major muscle group, offering strength athletes a comprehensive tool for building muscle, enhancing power, and improving functional strength.

Enhanced Core Stability: Regular kettlebell training engages the core with every lift, swing, or squat, significantly improving core strength and stability, which is crucial for strength athletes in both performance and injury prevention.

Improved Grip Strength: The unique design of kettlebells, with their thick handles, challenges and strengthens grip over time—a vital aspect for strength athletes looking to improve their performance in lifts and holds.

Dynamic Movement Training: Kettlebells are ideal for dynamic, explosive training movements like swings, snatches, and cleans. These exercises improve power, speed, and coordination, directly translating to better performance in strength sports.

Compact and Efficient: Kettlebells are a highly efficient, space-saving tool that enables strength athletes to perform a variety of high-intensity workouts in a small space, making them perfect for both gym and home use.

"Kettlebells are a convenient tool for improving power, endurance, strength, and cardiovascular fitness when money, space, and time are limited. Modified single-limb exercises are also suitable for achieving strength with limited weight or without the use of equipment. Bodyweight training is also excellent for building relative strength."
- Andrew Dykstra 
From: Kettlebell Training for Strength

Used correctly, kettlebells can be a vital tool for any lifter. When I originally started my gym, my main clientele was interested in fat loss. I thought that kettlebells were fairly useless. Anything you can do with a kettlebell, you can do with a dumbbell. I was lucky enough to have a friend who was RKC certified to come to show me a few things; needless to say, I was very humbled. I will say that kettlebells are great for fat loss. Exercises can be explosive, full-body, and quickly transitioned to the next movement for complexes.

Now, I am not saying that you should primarily train with kettlebells, but they are a valuable tool. If you are a strength athlete, you should never abandon the basic barbell lifts because nothing will get you stronger. Kettlebells are an excellent accessory for the Strongman athlete after your main lifts. They are also great as “finishers” if you need to improve your conditioning or drop extra pounds to make a lower-weight class. However, one thing about kettlebells that makes most people shy away from them is that the technique is challenging. If you want kettlebells in your training program, I suggest you work with someone who has a lot of experience with them.

First, I will outline a few of my favorites for accessory work. These are exercises best done with higher reps after your main lift. 

One-Arm Strict Press
It would be best to always incorporate single-limb movements in your training occasionally. Imbalances can develop, especially on an overhead press. When performing a strict press with a kettlebell, there is a more excellent range of motion than a dumbbell press. The kettlebell starts in the rack position, resting on your chest, with your elbow pointing straight down. Your forearm should be tight against your chest, and your fist by your chin as if you were a boxer. As with strict press, tighten your glutes, core, and quads to avoid using any leg drive. Begin the press by squeezing the handle tightly, then press the kettlebell slightly away from you, bringing it back in to lock out directly over your shoulder joint. Done correctly, there should be a slight arc to your press. Lower the weight the same way by thinking about pulling it down and keeping your lats tight. Avoid just lowering it straight down, as you would with a dumbbell. The kettlebell should return to the rack position before reversing the movement.

This is a great accessory lift for the circus dumbbell clean and press. Whenever I program for Strongman, I like to have a secondary press day where we begin with a strict press that works on the event. For example, if there is a log press, the secondary day will be a strict one.  In this case, the balance of the one-arm strict press with a kettlebell will significantly improve the stability and lockout of the circus dumbbell.

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