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 toolThe 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!!!

I throughly love these workouts, both the beginner and intermediate levels.I am 56 years old, 5'5, 245 pounds. My 28 year old daughter has a solid toned body full of muscle from using the kettlebells and encourgaged me to try it. I have neuropathy, arthritis and fibromylgia so I had my doubts. Surprise! I can do it and I love it!Amy's beginner workout was an excellent way to start out. She goes slow enough and explains everything every step of the way. The 1st time I tried it I could only get thru the warm up, LOL. But the 2nd time I nailed the beginner workout and I felt so proud. I thought for sure I would be in so much pain by the end of that day or the next day but I wasn't, just a little sore. So now I do the workout every other day.After a month I moved up to the intermediate level. At first I just did the kettlebell workout segments and marched in place to the cardio segments. Then one-by-one I began doing the cardio segements as described. After 1 month of using the intermediate workout I feel great and stronger then I have in years! My clothes are getting very lose so I know I'm toning up and losing inches. I have SO much more energy and flexability. I can't praise Amy enough. This DVD was worth 10 times what I paid for it. I recommened it to all my friends!

I am a complete beginner to kettlebells. I’ve only done the “beginner” workout on this dvd (there’s also an “intermediate”) and it’s challenging but do-able. There are squats but no lunges (in the beginner workout) which is good because I have trouble with lunges. If you’re an advanced kettlebell user, this probably isn’t for you but it’s good for those of us just getting started.

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 enjoyed Amy's personality. It truly is a beginners workout. The introduction part is useful. I would have liked to see longer worksouts, like 30 minutes and more of a variety. Others might feel it is perfect for them.