A kettlebell is a centuries-old Russian training tool that looks like a bowling ball with a handle. The kettlebell appears in a 1704 Russian Dictionary (Cherkikh, 1994).
It appears that, originally, kettlebells were counter-weights used in Russian markets. Country folk started throwing them around and eventually they became very popular in Russia as a training tool. In 1913 the Russian magazine Hercules reported “Not a single sport develops our muscular strength and bodies as well as kettlebell athletics.”
A Russian strong man was referred to as a kettlebell man –girevik. Girya is Russian for Kettlebell. Although kettlebells develop strength, a kettlebell-trained body is not bulky.
Russian athletes and common folk have been using kettlebells for centuries. Tsarist Russia declared the kettlebell as the conditioning tool for the masses. The 1980 Russian track and field team trained with kettlebells and swept gold in all throwing events.
The Russian Military has long used kettlebells for conditioning and in fact do not test push-ups. They use a kettlebell snatch test.
The Christian Science Monitor reports: When Russian and US Special Forces started competing against each other after the Soviet Union broke up, the Americans made a disturbing discovery. “We’d be totally exhausted and the Russians wouldn’t even be catching their breath.” says…a Secret Service agent…”it turned out they were all working with kettlebells.”
The United States Secret Service has now instituted a 10-minute kettlebell snatch test. ((10-minute max. rep snatches with 24 kg KB (53 lb) =250 reps))
Kettlebells can be used in ballistic or swinging movements or used in press and pull exercises similar to those one would use with a weight. The displacement of the weight from the hand requires that the stabilizing muscles engage more with each movement than would be required of a similar movement with a weight such as a dumbell. Kettlebell exercises are whole-body exercises requiring full body integration and core stabilization. There is no such thing as isolated muscle work in Kettlebell training.