You’re telling me! I blew out my knee from walking (if you can believe it) in January of 2010, I’m just now recovering from the surgery I got in mid May, and boy has it been a frustrating, stir-crazy 17 months so far! I cannot wait to hit the Giryas again! Speaking of which…

Before my injury I had been using a line of kettlebells not listed in your critique, the York Hercules® Cast Iron kettlebells (I own a 35, 50, and 70 pounder, they size theirs differently), and they’re of decent quality, no welded-on handles or flashy vinyl coatings and whatnot. They do however, have a few flaws of their own.

- The bottoms aren’t 100% flat,
- The flat face on both sides of the bell are too big (hits the wrist harder), and
- Beyond the 50lb KBs the handles get too wide.

I kind of wish I had spent the extra buck on the Dragon Door KBs instead of cheaping out on the American impression of an RKC Girya, which is why I’m putting very serious thought into just selling those and replacing them with the DD KBs.

Anyways, I loved reading your article and found it to be pretty helpful. All the best!

DD bells are real expensive. Especially when you are starting out with the lower weights, i wouldnt worry too much about the brand. I personally think all the RKC’s that you talk to will push DD bells because its what they used to hit that lofty perch so you know that they spent literally thousands of hours with that brand.

There are plenty of solid replacements out there. Just get swinging!

(Note: I now use Ader and my heart explodes just as well as it does with my DD bells. I just moved up to 72 by taping two 5lb plates to the bottom of my 62 lb bells. Don’t believe the hype, its a hunk of metal with a handle. Hmm, maybe I am not the best to give advice here huh….)

So–as to the kettlebells. If it were me and I had all the money I needed and could do whatever I wanted, I would buy Dragon Door kettlebells. That is my personal preference. I like how they feel, I like how they look, and I like to use them. But I could absolutely make great progress with any other brand. I choose not to because I do know what I like, but I could. I could probably bolt a handle into a big rock and do just fine if I had to.

The certification: the qualifications for becoming an RKC are very easy. You have to be able to snatch a 24 kilo kettlebell (for men) 100 times in 5 minutes. Then you have to be able to get through three days of a heavy workload as you learn, but the snatch test is the only official benchmark you must hit, number-wise.

I went through the RKC for personal reasons. I had fun, but didn’t learn a whole lot now that I look back. It was just a starting point. If I was making the decision again, I wouldn’t go through it. I think many of their philosophies and methods and counterproductive and what I am doing right now is working better for me. That’s just me, so do what makes you happy.

Please ask if you’ve got more questions. This has been a good discussion so far.

Anyway not only am I doing a niche site, but I started training with Kettlebells as well. I figure I might as well so I have better knowledge of them, and I have about 48 pounds to lose.

My question to you, is there are Kettlebells for sale on Amazon and their affordable. But after reading your post about the klettlebells, I am wondering if I should just hold off and buy one of DD RKCs Kettlebells?

I’d hate to buy something and then find out it’s all screwy you know? I’ve injured myself once before lifting, and I wouldn’t want to do it again.

I also have the Enter the Kettlebell DVD, Book and the workbook. all I can say is Holy Crap, the right of passage is insane. so are some of the “normal” workouts. Then again I am seriously out of shape now too.

When you were certified by Pavel, did you have to do the right of passage workout or what was involved?
Thanks for the post,
Larry