Intro
: The Choice is Yours:
In
the world of kettlebells you have basically two roads to go down. (Well, there's
the third 'bugger-them-overpriced-cannonballs-dumbells-arethirtyquidinArgos'
option).
1. Fixed
weight. Like the traditional cast
iron KB's or modern versions like BlackIron's
knurled, swivel handled KBs. The problem with them is that to increase the weight,
you need to buy more than one.
2.
Adjustable. The advantage of these is you can progressively increase or decrease
the resistance. These can be subdivided into 2 groups. 1. hollow KBs which you
fill with sand or shot, and 2. Plate loading kettlebells.
Hollow
shot loading KB's seem like an ideal compromise, with perhaps the price being
the only downside.
Plate
Loaders have the advantage of being able to utilise your existing weights. The
downsides is that they can be noisy, can be too cumbersome and still don't come
cheap. Plate Loaders come in all sorts of designs, each with pros and cons.
Plate
Loaders - Size and Safety:
There
are several factors worth bearing in mind before you purchase.
Safety
- you're going to be swinging a heavy weight past your head, so make sure, double
sure, that the weights cannot fly off. Some designs look like a lawsuit
waiting to happen, so be careful.
Size
- You want the KB's compact. If they are too long you won't have the ground clearance
to swing 'em properly. If they are too wide you won't be able to do double KB
work. NB. The further the weight is from your hand, the more torque will be develop
- making them more unwieldly and placing greater stress on your rotators.
Comfort
- remember these are going to be banging onto the outside of your forearm, so
make sure the design you choose isn't going to cripple you. This is important.
If they are going to hurt you every rep then the novelty will wear off quick.
(although, with experience you learn to 'catch' the KB and the banging is much
reduced). One of the big advantages of solid KBs is the comfort. Also, because
they must turn in your hand, make sure the handles aren't knurled unless the handle
is designed to rotate. Don't forget that thick handles are part of what makes
kettlebells effective, so avoid skinny handled ones.
Enter
the Kettlestack
Kettlestack
has entered the adjustable kettlebell market with a ingenious lightweight handle.
Instead of being essentially a 'dumbell bar with a looped handle stuck on', like
so many plate loading kettlebells, the Kettlestack takes a more lateral thinking
design solution.
The
Kettlestack is made from a springy steel band, which is enveloped by a tough plastic
(ABS?) thick handle - they sort of stuff they use for modern military rifles.
It's a cool, clever, lightweight design. It's lack of weight means that it won't
cost you an arm and a leg getting one airmailed over from the USA. A nice bonus.
Cool:
Over
to The Dom for the main review...
Reviewed
by Dom, October 2004:
Novel
strength training tool, expensive handled bowling ball or best thing since sliced
bread, regardless of what you think of kettlebells, they aren't going away. One
of the major gripes I have with kettlebells aside from the price, is you shell
out all that cash and well, that's it. One fixed weight device. If we accept that
the key to results is progression then I' m going to have to sell my other kidney
if I want to up the weight on my bowling ball. Or not, as it happens. Fill 'em
yourself hollow kettlebells and plate loading kettlebells allow you to monkey
around with the weight virtually at will and this is what kettlestack is all about.
Kettlestack
is a nice thick handle with two prongs allowing you to attach plates to a central
'core' bar between the prongs and to two 'wings' either side of the prongs. So
far, so good. It's designed for standard plates, which fit smoothly and it feels
solid. You can load it up to some seriously heavy poundages and the whole thing
becomes very challenging. Which is nice.
It
also states that you can use olympic
plates, which you can BUT they are not ideal. The loading bars are designed
for one inch diameter holes and the two inch diameter holes of my olympic plates
meant that the plates shift around when the kettlestack is swung. Also you cannot
employ the 'wings' without at least a standard plate for each end. However just
using the core I was able to load a 30 plus kilo kettlebell using oly plates,
which felt substantially heavy. The shifting of the oly plates is not really a
problem from a safety point of view but it is loud.
As
far as functionality goes, you can do anything with kettlestack that you can with
a kettlebell. Swings, cleans, presses, and snatches, all no problem. The handle
is nice and thick and rotates nicely in the hand while taxing the grip. You may
experience some forearm discomfort from being bashed with a stack of plates but
if you can't tough this out until you get used to it then perhaps you'd be better
off not taking up combat sports in the first place.
The
whole thing tidies away nicely into a draw and takes no longer to load up than
any adjustable dumbell (although if you are too clumsy to operate an allen key
you may have problems). The only problem with it is that the 'core' has to be
stacked exactly to the length between the two prongs in order to prevent the whole
thing having a loose feel, however you'll soon get used to how many plates you
can get on there to achieve the loads you desire.
There's
even a website and the folks at kettlestack are hard at work devising new uses
for their device. Aficionados of John
Brookfield's work will appreciate 'Blobstack' even if they never speak that
name out loud.
Verdict:
Nice
piece of equipment. It has all the inherent strengths of a kettlebell with one
less weakness. It doesn't look as pretty and is not as solid as a regular kettlebell
but the missus won't be nagging you to leave it in the garage as you can hide
it anywhere when not in use.
I've messed about with this thing for about a month and have not found it wanting
(Floor press? great. Ropey plastic plates
from Argos? Fine.) You'll get stronger and receive less grief from the old
lady. I like.
