DUMBBELL VS KETTLEBELL

IT’S THE GYM equivalent of hot sauce versus tomato sauce and a question that trainers have argued about since the dawn of strength-training time. Which hunk of muscle-building, fat-blasting iron is better: the dumbbell or the kettlebell?

Both weights share DNA from the same ancient training tool, Greek halteres, a pair of crescent-shaped stones with handles. Ripped Olympians first lifted them more than 2500 years ago, swinging them to enhance performance in the long jump.

To MH writer Ebenezer Samuel, (at right), halteres are proof that the dumbbell is your perfect training tool. “There’s a reason dumbbells are in every single big-box gym,” he says. “If you want targeted muscle – and that’s what all guys want – then you want dumbbells.”

Not so fast. Kettlebells are having a moment. They first garnered an underground following in the late ‘90s as the training weapons of choice for the Russian special forces. They went mainstream more