Kettlebells Annoy Me

I'm going to keep this short. And I'm going to return to my series on Core Programming tomorrow.

Kettlebells have legitimate uses. I actually went to Sports Authority yesterday specifically to buy one or two. They were going to fill a small niche in my strength training 'tool bag'.

My main problem with kettlebells is that they are over-hyped. And some will say that's not a reason itself to object to them. But . . .

I found an 8 kg (17.6 lb) bell at the Sports Authority. It didn't have a price tag. I took it up to the register where it rang up for $59.99!

That's almost four dollars a pound. For a single piece, cast hunk of metal. And that's what being over-hyped does that is objectively bad.

A kettlebell can be made from cheap, crap, pig iron, it can be made from impure, mixed, recycled or whatever as long as it's mostly iron. It just does not matter. And the store brand bell, at a discount store, was nearly 4 dollars a pound.

Compare that to the Olympic plates. The Oly plate is made from multiple materials and has to withstand more extreme use, so higher grade materials are a must. It must be precision milled to fit other equipment and still move freely. These are less than 2 dollars a pound at the same Sports Authority.

I walked out of there empty handed. It was a waste of my time.

And that's why over hyped stuff bugs me.