THE KETTLEBELL WIKI

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Contents:
  1. Getting Started with Kettlebells
    1. Frequently Asked Questions
      1. Adjustable Kettlebells
    2. Form & Technique
      1. “Styles” of Kettlebell Training: Hardstyle and Girevoy Sport  (GS)
      2. Which exercises to learn first with kettlebells?
      3. Training terms (Reps, Sets, Complex, Chain, Flow, Ladder, etc)
    3. Learning Resources
      1. YouTube
    4. Books
      1. Kettlebell
      2. General Strength & Conditioning
    5. Coaching / Personal Training 
      1. Hardstyle Coaching (Dragondoor, StrongFirst)
      2. GS/Kettlebell Sport Coaching

Getting Started with Kettlebells

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What brand of Kettlebell should I buy?

A: Before we can talk about brands, there are two types of Kettlebells we recommend: (1) Competition and (2) Cast iron. 

Competition kettlebells keep the same shape/size across the weights and typically have a fixed handle size (33mm or 35 mm). They are primarily used for Girevoy Sport (GS) but can be used for other styles of kettlebell lifting. The downside to competition kettlebells is that they are typically more expensive than other types of Kettlebells.

Cast iron kettlebells were popularized by “hardstyle” kettlebell training initially by Pavel Tsatsouline. They are typically very cost effective compared to competition kettlebells. The upside is to cast iron kettlebells over competition bells is that they’re typically smaller for weights under 28 kg. The downside is the handles and the bell itself increases in size as the weight goes up.

We do not recommend vinyl, plastic, or other kettlebells that are not cast iron and competition due to their durability and their ergonomics to do the common kettlebell ballistic exercises (swing, clean, snatch, etc).

For Competition bells, we recommend:

For Cast iron kettlebells, we recommend:

Due to community feedback from lack of stock and shipping issues, we currently do not recommend Kettlebell Kings.

Adjustable Kettlebells

In recent years, there has been a surgence of adjustable kettlebells in the market. In particular, a competition-style kettlebell that is able to be adjusted from 12 to 32 kg. The biggest benefit of these style kettlebells is that you have access to multiple kettlebell weights with the footprint of one. Most brands allow you to jump from 0.5 to 2 kg weight increments. We recommend the following brands if you want one:

  • Bells of Steel
    • US: https://bellsofsteel.us/products/adjustable-kettlebell
    • CA: https://bellsofsteel.us/products/adjustable-kettlebell
  • Socal Bellz (US) - https://socalkettlebellz.com/collections/adjustable-kettlebells/products/competition-adjustable-kettlebell
  • Titan Fitness (US) - https://titan.fitness/collections/adjustable-kettlebells/products/12-kg-32-kg-adjustable-competition-style-kettlebell
  • Omnibell (UK) - https://www.omnibell.co.uk/products/adjustable-steel-competition-kettlebell-12-kg-32-kg
  • Wolverson (UK) - https://wolverson-fitness.co.uk/products/wolverson-adjustable-kettlebell
  • Eryx Fitness (EU) - https://www.eryxfitness.com/en/kettlebell/
    • They have both competition-style and cast iron-style molds!

Q: What weight of kettlebell should I buy to start out with?

A: For most men, a kettlebell between 16-24 kg is the most common recommendation. For most women, 8-16 kg. The recommendation depends on your prior fitness history. If you’re still unsure, make a post and be sure to include details about your training history!

Q: What is a good free beginner routine for someone new to kettlebells?

A:  There are many beginner routines, but we recommend the following:

Q: What are some good paid programs?

There are many paid programs, but we’ll list the popular ones here:

  • The Armor Building Formula by Dan John 
  • The Giant by Geoff Neupert
  • Simple & Sinister by Pavel

Full list of recommended programs here.

Form & Technique

“Styles” of Kettlebell Training: Hardstyle and Girevoy Sport  (GS)

Before going into the two “styles” of kettlebell training, I want to make a point that kettlebell training styles do not need to have strict adherence to either styles. They are useful definitions to describe kettlebell training intent and don’t feel like you have to adhere to one of them completely when learning kettlebell exercises.

Hardstyle was popularized by Pavel Tsatsouline in the Late 90’s/Early 2000’s, forming Dragon Door (RKC) and later StrongFirst (SFG).  Hardstyle technique emphasizes a focus on maximal tension, explosive power, and force production. A byproduct of this is usually training at lower rep ranges for strength and hypertrophy goals.

Girevoy Sport (GS), also known as kettlebell sport, is older than Hardstyle, and has been a competitive sport in Eastern Europe and Russia since the late 1960’s. In the sport, the competitive lifts are the Snatch, Jerk, Long Cycle (Clean and Jerk). The competition format is a 10 minute set of one of these exercises for as many reps as possible within the time limit. Because of this, there is an emphasis on efficiency on the lifts, including changes on how a swing is performed, the rack position, and more, compared to hardstyle training.

Youu may see the term Hybrid style to describe technique. This simply just means adopting technique principles from both Hardstyle and GS.

Which exercises to learn first with kettlebells?

The “big 6” movements of kettlebell training you will see online are:

  1. Swing
  2. Squat
  3. Clean
  4. Press
  5. Snatch
  6. Turkish Get-up

The hardstyle kettlebell schools of RKC and StrongFirst recommend learning these movements first. However, there is no requirement to learn all of these exercises to see benefits of kettlebell training. Please take a look at our programs to see how these exercises are utilized.

Training terms (Reps, Sets, Complex, Chain, Flow, Ladder, etc)

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Learning Resources

YouTube

We recommend the following resources to learn the big 6 (backgrounds on these instructors are mixed between hardstyle, GS and hybrid).

Books

Help us fill this out by commenting recommendations!

There are many great books recommended by kettlebell instructions and coaches. There are also non-kettlebell training books that are listed because principles from them can be applied to kettlebells. We list a few here:

Kettlebell

Dan John

  • The Armor Building Formula: Bodybuilding for Real People eBook
  • Hardstyle Kettlebell Challenge
  • Pavel
    • Enter The Kettlebell
    • Simple & Sinister
  • Kettlebell Essentials by Max Shank

General Strength & Conditioning

  • K. Black 
    • Tactical Barbell
    • Tactical Barbell 2: Conditioning
  • Dan John
    • Easy Strength: How to Get a Lot Stronger Than Your Competition-And Dominate in Your Sport
    • Easy Strength Omnibook
    • Easy Strength for Fat Loss
  • Pavel
    • Power to the People
  • Supertraining by Yuri Verkhoshansky
  • Scientific Principles of Hypertrophy Training by Mike Israetel
  • Westside Barbell books by Louie Simmons
  • Ultimate MMA Conditioning by Joel Jamieson

Coaching / Personal Training 

Although we cannot make specific recommendations on people, we recommend anyone interested in kettlebell training to spend some time with a trainer and/or kettlebell coach. This can be done in-person or virtually.

Hardstyle Coaching (Dragondoor, StrongFirst)

StrongFirst and RKC are the two oldest and well known hardstyle certifications. If you want to learn how to move kettlebells in the way they teach, they both provide search engines to find coaches in your area:

GS/Kettlebell Sport Coaching

Need help here!