Absolute Beginners: Kettlebell 3 in 1 With Amy Bento

I have been looking for a good kettle bell workout after getting into kettle bell'n with Amy Dixon's "Give Me 10" workout video where she introduced kettle bells in her extra section. It was so much fun and so different than my other in-home workouts. Okay, first off, you need to make sure to get a heavy enough kettle bell. For women, the recommended weight is 20 lbs!!! If you use a 5 or 10 lb kettle bell, you won't get the true benefits of the exercise routine. I am a 40+ women and I'm starting this workout with a 15 lb. kettle bell. This is the MINIMUM weight I would recommend. I'm a little wimpy on upper-body strength, although the real workout is lower body. The whole concept of the workout is swinging the heavy kettle bell around. Don't start with anything less than 15 lbs. 20-30 lbs. which will give you the ultimate challenge and you will build tremendous strength. The video is excellent. It is made up of 3 sections. The first section is a tutorial on how to swing and handle the heavy weight. There are six exercises you will learn and are used throughout sections 2 and 3. Amy Bento demonstrates and explains each swing very well and this section gives you the opportunity to practice each of the exercises and prepare you for the 2 other sections. The second section is for beginners, yet is quite challenging. You will feel like you really worked your muscles and it gets your heart rate going too. Even though she leads by herself (there are no other students), she makes it fun, challenging, and interesting. You basically move from each of the 6 exercises in a fast paced manner. The routine is 30 minutes and will work out all your muscles and get cardio work tool The third section uses the same set on exercises, but she combines them into a series of swings for an even more challenging workout. In between each portion of kettle bell exercises, Amy adds cardio moves to keep your heart rate high. This is definitely a challenging workout!!! My only grip on the workout is the stretching section. At the end of each section there is a very brief stretch that is unique for each workout. Then there is a section added to the end that is identical in each workout. This may be a style of Tammie Lee Webb who produced this video and also does this stretch repeat on her video. It would be better if they added a unique and longer stretch routine to complete the workout. Overall, this is an excellent video for the beginner and will turn you into an intermediate kettle beller in no time if you stick to it!!!

Well the name says it all, so if you're disappointed in this video for lack of gusto, you shouldn't be. The tutorial, two workouts, and stretching portion are designed to simply get you started with handling a kettlebell, and working it in a very basic way. You learn several different and fundamental routines that help you get familiar with working a kettlebell in the "Beginners" portion of the DVD, and the "Intermediate" portion combines these moves to give you an idea of where you can go with all this kettlebell business. The tutorial is nice and explains the very basic principles of working out with kettlebells, and everything is easy to understand and follow. The workouts themselves are not very rigorous after doing them for a week or so, and I actually find the beginners routine to be more so. They are decent lite workouts that will get the heart rate up and the blood pumping well, however. The instruction from the trainer is fine, and she is personable and motivational. This is a very basic introduction to kettlebell workouts and fundamental kettlebell moves. It involves easy to do routines for the "Absolute Beginner," as the title says. If that is you like it was me, I would highly recommend it to get familiar with kettlebells. Where you go from there, who knows? And if you already lift weights and cardio regularly and think you're up to the challenge of something more advanced right off the bat, I would suggest Amy Bento's "Kettlebell Dynamics" DVD. However, if you have never worked with kettlebelss before you will still need to hug a learning curve. This video, "Absolute Beginners," gets you very well acquainted with that initial curve.

I'm a 35 year-old- female. I was an athlete in high school and have been pretty athletic up until about a year ago, when I got very busy. I have been trying to get back in to an exercise routine for a while now and this dvd was perfect. Since I've worked as a massage therapist, I'm very concerned abut safety and proper form. Amy Bento gives thorough explanations of each of the moves. Additionally, it's a great motivator, since you feel a sense of accomplishment after a 20-minute workout (25 minutes if you do the additional stretch.) If you are just getting back in to exercise, this is perfect. She also includes an intermediate work-out - also 20 minutes. The only move she could explain a bit more thoroughly is the move called "the clean." The trick is putting your thumb out , so the bell does not slam in to your wrist. She does this, but she does not actually say it. Here is a demo of "the clean" that I found on youtube.[...] Amy Bento's DVD is produced by Tamilee Webb, who always produces quality and safe work-outs. (She did the Buns of Steel Videos in the 80's) It's also visually appealing compared to the dvd by another company that came with the actual Kettlebell purchase. The music is okay on this one. Not great, but not too distracting. It would be nice if there was an 'instructor only' option, so I could play my own music. But, the music is not really a problem.

I try to do the exercise every other day. The session isn't very long. I would say it's around 15 to 20 minutes including the warm up and cool down. It's quite intense and it is only for the beginner. I work up quite a sweat and really feel by the end of it that I had a good workout. I am 64 years old and workout with a 10 pound kettlebell. I would like to advance to a 15 pounder some time. There is also an intermediate session on this DVD. I have watched it and it appears to be quite challenging. I don't know if I will ever be able to keep up with it but for a younger more fit person, I believe it would serve to be a great at home workout.

The instructor is easy to understand. I love that she is straight to the point and moves along the routines. There is a separate chapter to learn all the moves before you go onto the workouts which means you don't have to see the same explanations every single time you want a fast workout.

I spent ages looking for a DVD that covered kettlebell basics around form and technique. Suprisingly this was the only DVD that appeared to cover the basics. The DVD is split into 3 sections: a introduction section explaining the different moves and how to do them correctly. The second section is a beginner workout which is a shortish workout. The final section is an intermediate workout that use the moves you will have learnt but sequences them together. Initially, I thought the workouts were a little basic and quite easy as I am quite fit and active. However, the next day my legs and arms really knew about it!!! I would think this DVD would be ok for the first couple of months while you learn the techniques and your body adjusts to the strength training but that it the longer term it would be worthwhile investing in a more comprehensive intermediate DVD workout.

I struggled to find a DVD for using a kettlebell, I took a gamble on this one and have been so impressed. The instructions are really clear and well worth watching. You get a great work out. This is well worth buying if you are a beginner, I thoroughly recommend it.

A great introduction the kettle bells. Starts with a tutorial to encourage proper posture and technique, followed by a beginner workout, and progresses to an intermediate workout. A good way to start using kettle bells.