Kettlebells have been around for centuries: we can trace the word “girya” in the Russian dictionary back to 1704. This may be due to the fact that Russians used to measure mass with kettlebell method, but that is beside my point. There is a reason why kettlebells are still used by the Russian army to train their soldiers. The equipment doesn’t require a lot of space; it’s cheap and lasts through decades of use and abuse. But I want to hone in on a specific use of kettlebells for strength athletes in today’s world. Kettlebells are a great tool for building strength and mobility in the shoulder joint.
 
Stability and mobility of our joints are the basics of fitness. Every coach knows that no athlete should be too mobile, meaning they lack the adequate amount of stability needed to prevent injury. Neither should any athlete be too stable, meaning they lack the adequate amount of flexibility needed to perform the necessary range of motion. The fitness goal is to be able to perform all necessary movement for the sport and to maintain strength and stability throughout the movement. What the kettlebell specifically provides is a means to work on both flexibility and strengthening at the same time.
 
Weightlifters and CrossFitters alike spend a significant amount of time beating up their shoulders with overhead squats, presses, jerks, snatches, and so forth. Without proper range of motion and stability in the shoulders, the risk for injury increases. Kettlebells provide an efficient way to strengthen and support your shoulders, and they don’t have to add too much time to training.
 
So why do we want to use a kettlebell for shoulder work over, say, a dumbbell or a barbell?
Although we all have a love affair with the barbell, it has its limitations. It has two perfectly weighted sides, making it easy to hide any muscle imbalances. Due to easy compensation against the bar, it is easy to make up for the instability in the glenohumeral joint of the left shoulder, say, by increasing the pull on the right shoulder, without making it look too obvious. If you come to me and say, “Hey coach, I feel pain after I snatch in the right shoulder; can you watch what I am doing wrong?”, you can do 20 overhead squats with a barbell, and I might begin to notice a slight scapula winging on the left shoulder, maybe at your 19^th repetition at 80 percent. I might say, “Hmm that’s interesting, let’s see some more.” Or I can have you do a unilateral overhead squat with a kettlebell, and I will notice scapula winging and instability, lumbar over-extension, thoracic tightness and upper trap over-use all in two light reps. With an easy and quick assessment of overload on the right shoulder, I can now quickly see the compensation on the right shoulder for the left instability, and I can predict an overuse injury in the near future. The kettlebell reveals weaknesses quicker. Now, instead of sending you off to rest and stretch your right shoulder for a week, I can send you home with a plan to tackle the real problem: the left shoulder instability. 
 
Again, unlike the barbell or the dumbbell with two perfectly weighted sides, the kettlebell has the weight off-centered. This creates a challenge for the shoulder stabilizer musculature. The rotator cuff has to learn to fire in all the right places in order to support the weight. With the kettlebell in the overhead position, the shoulder has to engage throughout the full exercise instead of resting on ligaments. The kettlebell demands anterior, posterior, and lateral support from you in order to secure the kettlebell throughout the overhead position. All the movements now require full engagement of the shoulder, in the press, the squat, swing, jerk, clean, hold, etc. Your shoulder is left with two options, adapt or let loose and let the kettlebell pull the ball out of its socket.
 
For those of you who might dare to question me and state that the barbell can be just as hard to train for shoulders, do me a favor. Attempt “Fran” (21-15-9 thrusters, pull-ups at 95/65) and then two days later, go and complete Russian Fran: (21-15-9 kettlebell thrusters [one in each hand to equal the same weight], pulls ups), and then get back to me. The difference is easy to see.
 
The kettlebell also allows coaches to see the full range of motion of the athlete, under load, in all planes. This also means strengthening the shoulder in all the planes of motion, under load. However, weightlifters do not necessarily have time to isolate each of the five muscles of the rotator cuff, plus address the shoulder stabilizers of the upper back, and then loosen up the upper traps. This may take precious time away from platform training. That is why the kettlebell is a great option. It provides all of the necessary shoulder training described above in just two or three sets of easy-to-do exercises. Instead of taking the resistance band to the supraspinatus, then the teres minor, the teres major, infraspinatus, subscapularis, oh and can’t forget the rhomboids, the levator scapulae, the good old deltoid, etc. (Your head is probably spinning already), I suggest you take your shoulder through the three easy kettlebell exercises listed below, and you will be able to accomplish the necessary tri-planar shoulder stability work quickly and efficiently.
 
Simple stabilization exercises:
 

1. The infamous Kettlebell Turkish Get-up. This exercise trains stability of the rotator cuff under load in tri-planar movements and creates adaptation opportunities for the glenohumeral joint (ball in socket) as well as the AC (acromioclavicular joint- clavicle to shoulder blade) by challenging overhead stability in weight-bearing in seven different positions.
2. Kettlebell Waiter’s Carry. Place the kettlebell above your head. Stabilize it, and then walk 200M while maintaining your balance. Don’t overextend your wrist. Make sure to keep your head neutral. Keep walking. Do you feel it yet? Yes, the burn. This is a simple but effective way to fire the stabilizer musculature of the shoulder joint.
3. Two-handed Kettlebell Clean and Jerk. The ballgame is different. You still need to stay within your base of support, you still need to keep your elbows in, and you still need to end the lift in a lockout above the head. However, now you have the added challenge of two off-center bells fighting to throw you off. Your lungs are on fire, your deltoids are screaming, you may feel like dying, but tomorrow you will be resurrected a stronger lifter