History :: Jason Marshall, RKC II, CK-FMS

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Kettlebell History

The history of the Kettlebell has a deep, rich history in physical culture. Kettlebell training as we know it today stems from Russia, but there is speculation that kettlebells were used by Greek athletes and gladiators thousands of years ago. There is now evidence that legendary fighting monks of the famed Shaolin Temple used granite padlocks as a training tool to enhance their kung fu fighting skills. Padlocks are rectangular looking kettlebells also known as Chinese Kettlebells. The kettlebells we know today (also known as a handlebell or girya in Russian) has been found in Russian dictionaries dating back to the year 1704.

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Kettlebells were the training tool of choice for the early 1900's strongmen. The early bodybuilding and muscle building manuals and weight sets all had kettlebells. In the mid nineteen hundreds, handles to transform dumbbells to kettlebells came with all weight lifting sets. The early 1900's musclemen, bodybuilders and strong men of Europe, Canada and America like Arthur Saxon, Sig Klein, Louis Cyr and Eugene Sandow, to name a few, all trained with kettlebells just like the Russian strongmen and athletes of that time. Yet, while kettlebells disappeared in the West, they began to flourish in the former Soviet Union. Everyone from common people, to the military, to Olympic athletes trained with kettlebells. In 1948, the first kettlebell competition took place in Russia where it later became Russia's National sport.

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Recently, a resurgence of the kettlebell in America has come about via Master of Sports, Pavel Tsatsouline, who was an instructor for the Russian Special Forces. Pavel has been spreading the good word in the Western hemisphere about kettlebells for the last decade, giving a rebirth to functional strength of the days of old.

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Today, top American athletes, police and fire departments, the military, celebrities and martial artists are training with kettlebells to stay in top form for their respective professions. With the growing popularity of kettlebells, dedicated kettlebell gyms are starting to root their feet in the over-saturated, fad-laden, frilly fitness industry, while allowing anyone and everyone to get involved. The kettlebell has proven to not be a fad, but a tried, tested and true means of obtaining higher levels of fitness and health.