I hear what you are saying. Kettlebells are cool because the swinging momentum decompresses your back and your joints. Momentum is working in your favor. Oddly enough, with the kettlebell swing done with proper technique and form it's your hips, your ass, and your legs that are doing most of the work. The swings are actually decompressing your spine with the momentum and it's not hard on your back or your shoulder and elbow joints at all. I was taught to use my ass and my hips and my quads to power the swing movement. During my first couple weeks my groin muscles were tender. It works muscles I never touched doing squats and presses with free weights at the gym. Kettlebell swings are all about the hips: https://health.usnews.com/health-ne.../18/what-you-need-to-know-kettlebell-training https://www.mensjournal.com/health-fitness/15-best-kettlebell-exercises-all-time/
I used to enjoy a good kettlebell workout, more for hard cardio than anything else. Gave it up when the heart issues started. Like anything else, done poorly you can hurt yourself. The mistake I see most people make is the same mistake you see in every other weighted exercise. Too heavy, too fast.
Perhaps there is something there. I'm still not sold or inclined to try them, since I'm happy with what I'm doing, but I appreciate the clarification. I wish El OchoCinco didn't take offense. I think he's a good guy, but I like a well-intentioned debate. Personally, I like having my opinions challenged. It either strengthens them or changes them. It was a thread exchange years ago on this site that first opened my eyes to lower volume training, which then encouraged me to dig deeper. And I'm grateful for it.
NP. The purpose of the thread was to discuss a brief, high intensity workout at home without equipment. 15 minutes of rigorous military style calisthenics would certainly qualify. I wanted to mention the kettle bell as a viable option because you could actually accomplish a great deal with just a single piece of extraordinarily compact equipment: a 35 pound kettle bell that takes up the floor space of a small pair of shoes.
On balance, more often than not, injury is rewarded to the beginner or less experienced lifters. It is , in my opinion only, difficult to get hurt after years of experience doing the basic compound exercises. Ever incorporate a new exercise and have to back off, drop it? Chest dumbell flies come to mind to me. I might as well get the wire snipers and sever a couple tendons rather than do flies again. Or, I am just a stubborn old nag, likely.
Thing is, I do have years of experience working with a single dumbell. A total body workout can indeed be brutal. However, every move I make with a single dumbell is a lighter weight variant of squat,deadlift, bent row, clean/ jerk but it flows continuously. The problem I have with this workout alone is the weakest link(core and jerk for me) greatly limit the squat, deadlift components of the move. I leave the workout satisfied in a different way.I get that many, many weightlifters would view this workout as draining recovery resources, non adaptive, counter to their goals of strength and muscle growth. For me, it is an excellent, functional,integrated , intense(considering cardio aspect) and in my opinion it may be the healthiest, functional workout I can do. The handle is nice on a dumbell. No momentum involved really. I have no idea how to hold a kbell and imagine it as wrist and elbow torture(for me). My question is " why for the last 100 years wouldnt you grab a single dumbell" like the great Sandow. Why so fancy?
I have one of these with all accessories and love it. https://www.powertec.com/workbench-multisystem Well designed, sturdy, relatively small footprint for a complete gym in your home. Too often these "home gyms" don't "feel" congruent with the biomechanics, or aren't "smooth". This is the exception!
Not so much contrast as complimentary in my view. Dumbells are great but they aren't great for every joint/muscle grouping (like thighs, for instance), and they will double your workout time (the necessity of working each joint separately). And you still need a bench. Do Both, best of both worlds.