Bristol Kettlebell club member profile – Linda McEntee
When did you get into kettlebell training?
I started kettlebells 2 years ago, when I was looking for something new to try and was getting bored just going to the gym and just not getting the results or the workout I wanted.
What attracted you to kettlebell training?
I had been watching other people doing it in the Gym & it looked like a great workout.
Some say it’s really tough, is it?
Depends on your definition of tough….. I like to feel like I’ve done something, call me odd but the achier I feel the next day the better!!! Its a good pain 🙂
You really have to focus on each excersize and its NEVER boring.
What other types of fitness have/do you enjoy?
I have just started running again and I recently did a 400KM bike ride across Kenya for charity and without any doubt in my mind along with the specific cycling training I had done it was the kettlebell training that gave me the strength & more importantly the endurance and stamina to be able to take part in that event.
There is a lot of hype surrounding kettlebell training, what kind of results have you seen?
The main thing that kettlebell training has given me is strength. I am so much stronger than I have ever been. Even just starting to run again, I was able to run for 5 miles without any problems.
Also my problem areas have always been my hips & thighs and no amount of gym training could ever give me the tone and firmness I now have in those areas….. I don’t wobble any more :))))
What size kettlebells do you work with?
I work with quite heavy bells now, although of course I started off light, I can now easily swing a 28kg and snatch a 14kg for 10 mins. And as I have learned with kettlebell training, its all about the heavy weight low-rep philosopy. It doesn’t bulk you up, it makes you leaner & stronger.
What are your future goals within kettlebell training?
I still need to work on my upper body strength, I want to be able to do pull-ups. But I plan to continue with kettlebells as its truly the ultimate all round work out and I get so much out of it 🙂
Words from Pete – Linda is a personal training client of mine who now mixes one to one with classes. Linda’s strength is her lower body, she can easily squat double 16kg bells, snatch 16kg bells, and swing 24-28kg bells. This is great because working these exercises has the biggest pay off in terms of burning the most amount of calories, and increasing overall strength and conditioning that will carry over to anything physical she wants to do. Combined with a “can do” positive attitude there’s not much I put in her path that she does not conquer. She is at the top of the leader board in our fitness test and would have been a contender in the recent strongman/woman contest had she been available to attend. We are currently working on her upper body strength utilising push ups, pressing ladders, and get ups. Based on Linda’s will power and determination I suspect these goals will be met very soon.
