Kettlebells are an enormously versatile piece of exercise kit, precisely because they're one of the simplest. They are lumps of metal with a handle on them, but they can work almost every major muscle group in your body, and help you burn fat while you do.
If you've never tried working out with a kettlebell, our list of the best kettlebells is a good place to start your shop. But if you're using your local gym's facilities, or you already own one, this 30-minute circuit form leading personal trainer Angie Bell is sure to make you sweat. Incorporating some of the best exercises for weight loss, this exercise uses principles of HIIT training, performing an exercise for 40 seconds, and then resting for 20 seconds.
"We're trying to get as much out of the next 30 minutes as possible, so make sure for the 40 seconds, you're working really hard," says Angie. "Make sure wherever you are, you have lots of space around you. You can use dumbbells if you don't have any kettlebells with you."
Check out the workout in full below:
Angie's 30-minute HIIT workout:
Why do this workout?
Originally filmed for our Instagram account, this 30-minute workout is designed to rev up our metabolism to burn fat by causing us to work as hard as possible.
HIIT training is excellent for this, as one study found that just two minutes of HIIT training boosted your metabolism across 24 hours, as much as 30 minutes of jogging. Although you're only lifting kettlebells for half an hour, you'll be burning fat all day as a result.
Of course, building muscle also helps. While fat weighs more than muscle, which means you won't be losing "weight" per se, you will be changing your body composition, the ratio of fat-to-muscle-to-bone which indicates whether a body is generally healthy. In addition, more muscle means you'll be fitter, stronger and you'll burn fat faster, as a muscular body burns more calories at rest.
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