Welcome to Tokyo Titan Home Gym Bodybuilding, where I explore the latest additions to my budget-friendly home gym setup! In this video, I diving deep into the world of adjustable kettlebells, breaking down whether they are a worthy addition to your fitness arsenal or something to steer clear of.
This adjustable kettlebell made by Grong is the latest addition to my home gym. Grong specialize in making compact and practical home gym equipment, which is why this product on Amazon Japan caught my attention.
Cost
At the time I purchased this adjustable kettlebell, it cost 8,980 yen. Granted, it’s not as cheap as something like a set of training bands, but it’s still one of my cheaper home gym purchases. In terms of stand-alone equipment, so excluding things like cable attachments, the landmine and other equipment that relies on something else to use, and of course single-purpose items like the ab-wheel roller and the foam roller, this adjustable kettlebell is the second cheapest piece of home gym equipment I own.
For cost, I rate this adjustable kettlebell 4 stars.
Effectiveness
Scoring effectiveness for this adjustable kettlebell is a little tricky. In terms of bodybuilding and developing physique, this kettlebell with a maximum weight of 18kg, when used just by itself, is not going to be as effective as something like my adjustable dumbbells, which have a maximum weight of 40.5 kg. 18kg is not a lot of weight for many back and leg exercises, restricting you to higher rep ranges.
Kettlebells are also not as good for isolation exercises, which target specific muscles to further develop them. However, kettlebells are very good for full-body and functional exercises. They engage many muscles at the same time, including your abs, encourage correct muscle activation and movement, and are also really good for developing forearm strength.
Many lifters often have issues with their shoulders, and my shoulders are particularly bad. But even in this short amount of time that I have been doing kettlebell windmills, I have noticed a significant improvement in my shoulder activation. I’ve actually added this exercise into my warmups, that’s just how effective it is.
In terms of building strength and physique, when incorporated into a training program with dumbbells and barbells, all the benefits of better movement and stronger forearms from kettlebell training have a large carry-over effect to other exercises, while also providing an additional type of stimulus to the muscles. In other words, you can expect to see better development in both strength and physique when adding kettlebell exercises to your workout routine.
And for someone new to weightlifting who just wants to be fit and get in shape, using just this adjustable kettlebell by itself would also be fine. For a beginner, a two- to three-day full-body kettlebell program will easily help them achieve their goals, especially when using a kettlebell that allows you to change the weight. Combined with proper dieting, this person could easily develop a physique that looks good with their shirt off. But if you also want to look good with your shirt on, you do also need a dumbbell, and ideally a barbell as well.
For effectiveness, I rate this adjustable kettlebell 4.5 stars.
Versatility
There are many different exercises you can do with a kettlebell. There are many kettlebell-specific exercises, such as kettlebell swings, Turkish getups, and windmills. There are also many variations of typical freeweight exercises that you can do on kettlebells, such as squats, rows and presses. Something that surprised me, I like goblet squats and Bulgarian split squats more with a kettlebell than with a dumbbell. I can feel better activation in my quads when using a kettlebell.
You will have no shortage of exercise choice with this kettlebell. And of course, because it’s adjustable, you can really fine-tune the weight to suit the type of exercise you are doing, especially for exercises that don’t require heavy weights.
For versatility, I rate this adjustable kettlebell 5 stars.
Practicality
One of the biggest advantages to this adjustable kettlebell is its practicality. It’s compact, and even in a tiny home gym like mine, it barely takes up any space. Being able to change the weights in increments of about 2kg is also very useful, allowing you to select the perfect weight based on your strength and target rep range when performing light- and medium-weight exercises.
Changing the weight is also really easy! Pull the tab and slide it to the unlock mark, take out or insert weights, then pull the tab and slide it back to the lock mark. It is very quick, allowing for supersets and other types of training which require quick adjustments to the weight.
Safety is often a concern when using equipment with adjustable weights. Because the weights are designed to be pulled out, if not secured properly, they could slip out and cause a severe injury. Fortunately, this adjustable kettlebell has some very effective safety functions to prevent this. The design requires the weights to be placed in a very specific position at a very specific angle. Each weight must be placed on its own specific shelf, with a core passing through the center slot. Based on feel alone, it is very clear when the weight has been properly inserted. The lock mechanism then bolts the weights against the core. And of course, the large red background for the lock mark when the weights are unlocked as a nice touch that adds an additional visual safety measure for the user.
I actually feel safer using this adjustable kettlebell than I do using my adjustable dumbbells. In the three years I’ve been using my dumbbells, fortunately I’ve never had an accident, but there have been a few times where I have put the stopper up higher on one side or where the exercise I’m doing has pushed the stopper out of the front slots. I don’t think there is any need for concern, but there is always that little sense of unease when using the dumbbells.
That concern is non-existent when using the adjustable kettlebell. Worst case scenario, even if I did forget to lock the weights, they would start to slip out the moment I picked it up, allowing me to notice before anything actually happened.
However, there is one slight impracticality for this product. When the top weight is removed, the kettlebell has an edge at the top. This edge digs into the back of the forearm when performing exercises that require the kettlebell to be behind the hand, Turkish getups. Kettlebells do require the forearms to be conditioned to a certain extent, but this is not normal for a kettlebell. Because of this, you need to remove the weights from the bottom when doing exercises with the kettlebell behind the hand. Perhaps it’s just me, but this doesn’t feel like the natural way to adjust the weight.
For practicality, I rate this product 4.5 stars.
Final Verdict
These are the results for this adjustable kettlebell, but now it’s time for the big question: should you buy it, should you consider it, or should you avoid it?
This result surprised even me, but this is a product you should buy.
For beginners, this adjustable kettlebell is a great piece of equipment to start freeweight training. For intermediate and advanced lifters, it can further enhance your strength and physique development, while addressing some common weaknesses such as shoulder activation and forearm strength. If your new to weightlifting, it might be worth buying this adjustable kettlebell as your first home gym equipment. If you’re a training veteran and already have dumbbells and barbells, this could be just what you need to take your training and your physique to the next level.
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