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Onto the article...Back fat can be stubborn and challenging to get rid of. If you’re looking for an easy and effective way to shed unwanted pounds all over, or specifically from your back, then perhaps you should consider incorporating a kettlebell workout into your regimen. In this article, you’ll discover how to get rid of stubborn back fat with kettlebell exercises.
Kettlebells for Weight Loss
When engaging in kettlebell training, you can burn many calories in a short amount of time, boost your endurance, and the biggest reason you’re reading this, you can lose fat. You can do all this while simultaneously increasing your strength and building muscle or toning it.
Why the Kettlebell for Back Fat?
The kettlebell is a uniquely designed free weight that comes in various sizes, offering flexibility and versatility in your workouts. Here are a few reasons that the kettlebell is such a useful workout partner.
Muscle Recruitment
Kettlebell workouts require you to use way more muscles than you would with traditional exercise and training. They call kettlebells the full-body workout tool because kettlebell workouts include compound exercises. So you are usually engaging multiple muscle groups when performing a kettlebell workout.
Kettlebell Intensity
When you use a kettlebell for weight training, you’re doing explosive movements with high intensity. This helps you to achieve the double effect of muscle building and weight loss at the same time. This is because the workouts increase your anaerobic and aerobic capacity at the same time.
Stabilizing Muscles
Additionally, you have to use more muscles to stabilize yourself because some kettlebell exercises such as the “swing” or the “clean and press” are not balanced movements. Using more muscles means more calories burned, which means that eventually, the pounds will come off. A kettlebell workout gives you the capacity to burn up to 20 calories a minute.
Fat-Burning
Since you can’t pick and choose where you want to lose fat from, your goal will be to lose fat all over to reduce any back fat you may have. This means full-body workouts will help you reach your goals faster.
Remember, the more muscles you engage, the more calories you’ll burn. The kettlebell can work as many as 600 muscles in one movement; That’s nearly every muscle in your body at once!
The After-Burn Effect
An excellent workout that’s high intensity will produce the “after-burn effect”. This effect refers to how the body continues to burn calories for 24-36 hours after you’ve finished your workout.
Also known as EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption), this effect can also be achieved via dumbbells and barbells. Still, kettlebells are considered the best weight training tool to burn calories long after the fact.
Kettlebell Workout to Reduce Back Fat
These three exercises (the Crossover Kettlebell Swing, the Kettlebell Straight Leg Deadlift, and the traditional Kettlebell Swing) form a workout that’s going to eliminate that back fat in no time! For fat loss, use kettlebells ranging from 8-16lbs, or a little higher depending on your capabilities. You should only be able to complete 15 reps with your selected weight.
This workout, meaning the total circuit (2 sets of each exercise in succession), should be repeated 2-3 times with 90 seconds of rest between each circuit.
Crossover Kettlebell Swing
- Keep your feet shoulder-width apart
- Your chest should be high, and you must squat down, placing the kettlebell near the foot of your right or left leg
- Swing the kettlebell into the air across your body and up to eye-level
- Repeat, starting from the opposite side
- Perform 2 sets of 15 reps, no rest
Crossover Kettlebell Swing Video
This video shows you the crossover kettlebell swing, along with a few variations:
Straight-Leg Kettlebell Deadlift
- Keep your feet shoulder-width apart
- Make sure your back is flat, and your legs are only very slightly bent.
- Lower the kettlebell near the floor and return to the starting position
- Perform 2 sets of 15 reps, no rest
Traditional Kettlebell Swing
- Keep your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart
- Your chest should be high and knees bent while holding the kettlebell and letting your arms hang between your legs
- Swing the kettlebell back through your legs and up into the air, eye-level, and parallel to the ground
- Perform 2 sets of 15 reps, no rest
How Many Kettlebell Workouts to Lose Back Fat?
If you want to see results, you should be sure to do this workout at least twice a week or three times optimally. You’ll need to be patient and remember that rest and recovery is a part of the process.
This workout is suitable for all experience levels, and it helps to burn the fat and reduce love handles and bulges. It also reveals a more sculpted back in the process.
Alternative Kettlebell Exercises for Fat Loss
Perhaps you’re interested in switching up your routine. In that case, you can do kettlebell rows, lateral raises, single-leg deadlifts, or the kettlebell halo exercises in place of one of the exercises above. All of these alternatives are easy to perform and will yield the same results of fat loss. If you ever feel like your routine is getting too easy, it’s time to take the weight up a notch!
The Importance of a Healthy Diet
It’s essential also to incorporate a healthy diet when weight loss is your goal. Poor food choices will stagnate your process and won’t allow for optimal results.
You’ll need to decide how much weight you want to lose per week; gradual loss of 1-2 lbs is recommended, so start from there. There are many online diet plans tailored to different needs; find the one that suits your lifestyle best. The best diet won’t deviate so you can lose weight without going off it.
Stay the Course
Kettlebell workouts for back fat and overall body fat won’t transform you overnight. With discipline and dedication, paired with the kettlebell’s fantastic benefits, you’ll see results over a continuous period. Remember always to use kettlebells that pose a challenge but aren’t so heavy that they compromise your form. Take pictures every few weeks once you start working out. This way, you can compare the progress as you go and use it for motivation.