Eleven kettlebell exercises, most of them with a video we filmed ourselves. Plus the two questions we get asked most in consultations: which weight do I start with — and which exercise actually trains what.
The kettlebell has the best ratio of floor space to effect of any tool we sell. One bell, one square metre, and you train strength, power and conditioning in the same movement. That is why it ends up in nearly every home gym we set up.
The catch: most mistakes don't happen in the technique, they happen before it — with the weight. So that is where we start.
Which weight? The question before all others
The most common question — and the one where most goes wrong. Too light is no training, too heavy is no technique. With a kettlebell those two sit closer together than most people expect.
The reason: a swing is a ballistic movement. You don't brake, you accelerate. A bell that feels perfect for the goblet squat is a completely different animal in the Turkish get-up. So you don't need one weight, you need a sense of how the weights relate to each other.
These are our working numbers from years of advising — not a law, a starting point:
| Exercise | Start women | Start men | How you know it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swing | 8–12 kg | 16–20 kg | The bell floats to chest or eye height without you pulling it up |
| Deadlift | 12–16 kg | 20–24 kg | Your back stays flat through ten reps |
| Goblet squat | 8–12 kg | 16–20 kg | You get deep without the torso tipping forward |
| Clean and press | 6–10 kg | 12–16 kg | The bell lands softly on the forearm instead of banging |
| Snatch | 8–12 kg | 12–16 kg | The bell stands still overhead, you don't catch it |
| Turkish get-up | 4–8 kg | 8–12 kg | You watch the bell the whole way and can stop at any point |
| Halo, windmill | 4–8 kg | 8–12 kg | The shoulder stays quiet, nothing pulls in the neck |
The rule behind it: swinging movements take more weight than pressing and stability work. In the swing your hips do the job, in the press your shoulder — and the hips are far stronger. Use one weight for everything and you train one exercise too light and the other too heavy.
If you only buy one bell: 12 kg for women, 20 kg for men. That covers swings, squats and deadlifts. For get-ups and presses you simply run fewer reps at first — or you add a lighter bell later. That is the most common second purchase.
Kettlebell swing — the exercise everything hangs on
If you learn one kettlebell exercise, learn this one. The swing is the core of the whole method, and it is also the movement that looks wrong most often.
How it works: stand hip-width, bell a hand's width in front of you. Flat back, grab it with both hands, tip it towards you and hike it back between your legs — forearms brushing your thighs. From there you snap the hips open. The bell floats forward to chest or eye height, arms stay long and loose.
The one thing that decides everything: the bell is not lifted, it is thrown. Your arms are ropes, not engines. If you're sore in the shoulders the next day instead of the glutes, you lifted it.
The four mistakes we see most:
- Squatting instead of hinging. You bend the knees instead of sending the hips back. Test: stand one foot length from a wall and push your backside back until you touch it. That is the movement.
- Rounded back at the bottom. Almost always happens when the bell drops too low. It belongs between your legs at thigh height, not near the floor.
- Pulling with the arms. Usually comes from a bell that is too light — with a light bell you can pull, with the right one you can't.
- No finish at the top. Squeeze glutes and brace the midsection in the standing position. Without that, the load ends up in your lower back.
Variations: the single arm swing forces the trunk to resist rotation. The American swing takes the bell overhead — that needs mobile shoulders and is not a beginner move. The Russian swing to chest or eye height is the standard version and the better one for most people.
If one of those four sounds familiar: film yourself from the side. The swing is the exercise where feel and reality drift furthest apart — ten seconds of video tell you more than any description.
The swing has enough detail for its own article: Kettlebell Swing — hips, weight, grip, with the five most common mistakes and a weight chart by level.
Kettlebell deadlift — the step before the swing
If the swing feels too fast, start here. The deadlift is the same hip movement, just without the speed. Anyone who owns it learns the swing in a single session.
How it works: the bell stands between your feet, stance hip-width. Flat back, knees slightly bent, grab it with both hands and stand up. Same movement back down until the bell just touches the floor.
What to watch: the back stays flat throughout. This is about control, not speed. And keep your gaze forward — look at the floor and your neck rounds with it.
Variations: single leg deadlift for balance and one-sided posterior chain work. Or two bells beside your feet once one gets light.
Kettlebell squat: goblet, front and overhead
Three positions, the same squat — and the higher the bell travels, the more the strength exercise turns into a mobility test. The video runs through all three in order.
The base movement is always the same: feet slightly wider than hip-width, toes turned out a little. Sit down between your heels — hips back and down, chest tall. As deep as you get without rounding. Heels stay on the floor.
Goblet squat — start here. Hold the bell by the horns at chest height, elbows pointing down. The weight out front forces you upright, which is exactly why this is the version we use to show people what a squat should feel like. The elbows travel inside the knees, they don't rest on them.
Front squat — when the goblet gets easy. The bell sits in the rack position on the forearm in front of the shoulder — or on both forearms with two bells. You're no longer holding it out in front, you're supporting it — and the upper back works considerably harder to keep the elbows from dropping.
Overhead squat — the most honest of the three. One bell locked out overhead, then down into the squat. This isn't strength work, it's a test: stiff shoulders or ankles show up immediately. Go light and treat it as mobility.
What to watch in all three: if the torso tips forward, either the bell is too heavy or your ankles are too stiff — both are fixable, just not by pushing through.
Kettlebell lunge: front rack and overhead
The lunge shows what two-legged work hides — namely which side is doing the job. And depending on where the bell sits, it turns into a completely different exercise.
How it works: from standing, take a controlled step forward or backward until the rear knee almost touches down. Torso stays tall, front knee tracks over the foot. Then push back to standing.
The positions: in the front rack the bell rests on the forearm in front of the shoulder — that loads the trunk on one side and makes the exercise harder than it looks. Overhead adds shoulder stability, so go noticeably lighter. The suitcase lunge with the bell hanging at your side is the most accessible way in.
What to watch: stepping backward is kinder to the knees than stepping forward. And if you wobble, shorten the step instead of slowing it down.
Kettlebell clean & jerk — and the clean and press
Two exercises that belong together: the clean brings the bell from the floor into the rack position on your forearm, the jerk takes it from there to overhead. That is the classic full-body pairing — and the point where most people get their first bruised forearms.
The clean: start like a single arm swing. Instead of letting the bell fly forward, you guide it close to your body and turn your hand around the handle until the bell settles on the forearm — elbow at the ribs, back of the hand facing out.
The jerk: from the rack position you dip briefly at the knees, drive the bell up and push yourself underneath it at the same time. The arm locks out next to your ear, then you stand up. The jerk takes more weight than any other overhead variation because the legs contribute — in exchange it needs timing.
The clean and press is the slower sibling: same rack position, but you press the bell up with the arm alone, no leg drive. Less weight, more shoulder work — and the better way in. In between sits the push press: one impulse from the legs, then arms.
About the forearm: if the bell bangs, you threw it instead of guiding it. The fix isn't more strength, it's the hand: you punch it through the handle rather than spinning the bell around it. That's the one detail that changes everything — and it takes a few sessions with a light bell.
Kettlebell snatch — floor to overhead in one move
The snatch takes the bell from the floor to overhead in a single movement. It is the most athletic kettlebell exercise and the one where poor technique announces itself immediately: the bell slams onto your wrist.
How it works: single arm swing to start. As the bell rises, you pull the elbow high and back, punch the hand through the handle and press up at the same time. At the top the arm is locked, the bell sits quietly on the forearm. All the energy comes from hip extension, not from the arm.
What to watch: if it slaps your wrist, your hand was late. Practise the transition with a light bell and low reps — you don't learn snatches while fatigued.
Variations: double snatch once the single-arm version is solid. On the way down either park the bell and switch hands, or swing straight into the next rep.
Turkish get-up — the exercise that doesn't lie
From lying to standing with the bell overhead, then back down. One rep takes about half a minute and shows you every weak link you have.
How it works: lie on your back, bell locked out over the shoulder. The leg on the bell side is bent, the free arm rests out to the side. From there you work up step by step: onto the elbow, onto the hand, hips up, sweep the free leg back, into the kneeling position, stand. Then exactly the same sequence in reverse.
What to watch: keep your eyes on the bell until you're standing. The arm stays vertical — never drifting forward or back. And you should be able to pause at any point; if you can't, the bell is too heavy.
To start: run the movement without weight first, then with a shoe balanced on your fist. Sounds silly, works well — the shoe drops the moment your arm tips.
Kettlebell halo — the shoulder warm-up
The halo isn't a strength exercise, it's what you do before them. It opens the shoulders and upper back and prepares everything that happens overhead.
How it works: hold the bell by the horns, upside down, at chest height. Then circle it tight around your head: past one side, behind the head, back around the other. First one direction, then the other.
What to watch: the head stays still and the bell travels around it — not the other way round. Keep the midsection braced so the ribs don't flare. And keep the circle tight: the wider it gets, the less the exercise does.
Five to eight circles each way is enough. This is how we start every kettlebell warm-up.
Kettlebell windmill — mobility under load
The windmill looks more spectacular than it is. It trains the lateral trunk and shoulder stability in a position nothing else puts you in.
How it works: bell locked out overhead, arm vertical. Feet turned roughly 45 degrees away from the bell. Now push the hip towards the bell side and walk your free hand down the inside of your leg while your eyes stay on the bell. The top leg stays straight, the bottom one may bend slightly.
What to watch: this is a hip movement, not a side bend. You fold sideways, not forward. And you only go as deep as the top arm stays vertical — once it drifts, you're done.
For now: practise without weight, then with a light bell. The windmill is one of the few exercises where more weight genuinely adds nothing.
Kettlebell floor press — pressing without a bench
No weight bench? The floor press is your pressing exercise. The floor limits how far the elbow travels — that takes load off the shoulder and makes this the most shoulder-friendly press there is.
How it works: lie on your back, legs bent or straight. The bell rests on the forearm, elbow on the floor at roughly 45 degrees from the body. Press up until the arm is locked, then lower under control until the elbow touches down — brief pause, next rep.
What to watch: the wrist stays straight, the bell sits on the forearm rather than hanging back. And the elbow doesn't flare out sideways — 45 degrees is the angle the shoulder likes.
Variations: single arm is the standard, because the trunk has to work. With two bells it becomes pure strength work.
Kettlebell Russian twist — rotation for the trunk
The only exercise on this list that loads the trunk in rotation. Which is exactly why it belongs here — rotation happens constantly in sport and in daily life.
How it works: sit on the floor, torso leaned back slightly. Hold the bell with both hands. Rotate the torso to one side and tap the bell down beside your hip — then to the other side. Your eyes follow the bell.
What to watch: the rotation happens in the torso, feet and legs stay where they are. Slow and controlled — go fast and you're just swinging the bell with your arms, training nothing. The bell touches the floor briefly and quietly.
Variation: lift the feet and hold them off the floor. Make sure the legs don't rotate along.
Which exercise trains what
The second question we get a lot: what do I use for my back, what for my abs? With a kettlebell the answer is rarely clean — almost every exercise is a full-body exercise. Here is the main emphasis of each:
| Exercise | Main emphasis | Also involved | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swing | Glutes, hamstrings | Back, trunk, conditioning | Entry |
| Deadlift | Posterior chain, lower back | Grip | Entry |
| Squat (goblet, front, overhead) | Quads, glutes | Trunk, upper back | Entry |
| Lunge | Legs, one side at a time | Balance, lateral trunk | Entry |
| Floor press | Chest, triceps | Shoulder, trunk | Entry |
| Russian twist | Rotational trunk, obliques | Hip flexors | Entry |
| Halo | Shoulder girdle, mobility | Trunk, isometric | Warm-up |
| Clean & jerk | Shoulder, whole body | Hips, grip | Advanced |
| Snatch | Power, whole body | Conditioning, shoulder | Advanced |
| Turkish get-up | Shoulder stability, trunk | everything else too | Advanced |
| Windmill | Lateral trunk chain | Shoulder, hip mobility | Advanced |
Grip, calluses and chalk
The topic no exercise page writes about — and the one that becomes the most common question after three weeks of training. With a kettlebell your grip is the limiting factor, not your strength.
In the video, kettlebell athlete Svetlana Daniliuk shows how she chalks her bell.
Where the handle sits: diagonally across the hand — from the base of the thumb to the outer edge, not straight across the fingers. Gripped straight across, you create the fold that later becomes a blister.
Keep calluses flat. Don't remove them, just keep them low. A thick callus eventually tears off, a flat one doesn't. A pumice stone after showering is enough.
Go easy on the chalk. Magnesium dries the skin, it doesn't glue. Too much of it actually makes the handle slicker. A thin layer on the palm is all you need.
Gloves: we advise against them. They add a layer between hand and handle that slides — and the blisters show up there anyway. If you want to protect your hands, run shorter sets instead of thicker gloves.
How often and how long?
Two to three sessions a week is plenty to start with. Kettlebell training hits the posterior chain hard, and that needs recovery.
To get going, give yourself twenty minutes: five minutes of halos and deadlifts to warm up, then ten minutes alternating swings and goblet squats, and a few unhurried get-ups to finish.
Sets and reps: for swings you're better off in short blocks — ten to fifteen reps, then rest. Long sets almost always cost technique, and a swing with a rounded back is worse than no swing at all.
And the 100-swings-a-day question: it works — not as a number, but as a habit. Ten sets of ten spread across the day beat a hundred in one go. What matters is that the last rep looks like the first.
Which kettlebell suits which exercise
For getting started the design barely matters — for anything overhead or in the rack position, it does.
Competition kettlebells keep the same dimensions across every weight: 21 cm bell diameter, 3.5 cm handle. Going from 8 to 24 kg changes nothing but the load — your technique stays put. For snatch, clean and anything single-arm, that is the difference between practising and relearning. From CHF 49.
Powder coated cast iron kettlebells grow with the weight — the heavier, the bigger the bell. The slightly rough surface takes chalk well. Perfectly good for swings, squats and deadlifts. From CHF 25.
The adjustable competition kettlebell solves the space problem: 12 to 32 kg in one bell instead of six bells on a rack. Sensible when the room is tight — less so when you want to switch weights quickly mid-workout.
Monster kettlebells from 36 to 92 kg, for everyone who has outgrown 32.
Kettlebell sets take the choice off your hands: a light bell for technique and shoulder work, a medium one for squats and cleans, a heavy one for swings — matched to each other instead of collected one by one. Available as competition bells and as cast iron.
You'll find the full range in the kettlebell collection.
Frequently asked questions
What are the most effective kettlebell exercises?
Swing, goblet squat and Turkish get-up cover almost everything between them: hip extension, squatting and shoulder stability. If you only do three exercises, do these. The swing is the most important one — it trains the posterior chain explosively, and that movement is missing from nearly every training plan.
Which weight should I start with?
For swings, women usually start at 8 to 12 kg and men at 16 to 20 kg. For overhead work — get-up, press, windmill — go markedly lighter, often half. The test is simple: if you have to pull the bell up with your arms in the swing, it's too light. If your back rounds, it's too heavy.
How often should I train with a kettlebell?
Two to three sessions a week of twenty to thirty minutes is enough to start. Kettlebell training loads glutes and hamstrings heavily, and that musculature needs a day or two to recover. If you want to swing daily, do it in short blocks spread across the day rather than one long session.
What do 100 kettlebell swings a day do?
Plenty, if the technique holds — and little to nothing if it doesn't. A hundred swings a day is mostly a good habit: it keeps hip extension in your training and costs almost no time. Split it into ten sets of ten rather than a hundred in one go. The last rep has to look like the first.
Which muscles does the kettlebell swing work?
Primarily glutes and hamstrings — the muscles that extend the hip. On top of that the lower back and trunk hold the torso stable, and the forearms and grip work throughout. The shoulders only work isometrically: if you're sore in the shoulders after swinging, you lifted the bell instead of throwing it.
Is one kettlebell enough to start?
Yes. One bell lets you swing, squat, deadlift and row — that covers the first few months. The second bell most people buy is a lighter one for get-ups, presses and windmills, not a heavier one. If space is the constraint, an adjustable kettlebell with several settings does the same job.
Why does the kettlebell bang onto my forearm?
Because the bell is being spun around the handle instead of the hand being punched through it. In the clean and the snatch you actively drive the hand up through the handle while the bell stays close to the body — then it rolls softly onto the forearm instead of landing. Practise with a light bell until the movement is there. More strength won't fix it.
Can I train with a kettlebell in a flat?
Yes — kettlebell training is quiet as long as you don't drop the bell. You need roughly two square metres of floor and enough ceiling height for overhead work. A rubber mat under the bell protects the floor when you set it down and dampens the rest. If you plan on snatches, check your ceiling height with your arm locked out first.