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Kettlebells are awesome! Kettlebell workouts are the answer to maintaining and transforming your body into an exercise machine at home without the need for an expensive club membership.
Kettlebells develop superior fitness quickly. So what benefits does kettlebell training have for the average woman or man, and what size do you start with?
I will answer these two questions and help you get started with your kettlebell workouts.
The kettlebell trains the body to function as a complete unit, creating true “functional” strength and endurance as a result. Kettlebell training is a great way to lose weight, tone those soft areas of the body, and stay in shape. Kettlebells come in many shapes and sizes, but it wasn’t always this way.
When kettlebells reemerged from hiding in 2001, popularized by Pavel Tsatsouline, the only weights available were 16kg, 24kg, and 32kg.
These were the traditional sizes used in Russia and the weight was measured in ‘poods’ 1 pood was 16 kg, 1.5 poods of 24 kg and 2 poods of 32 kg.
In Russia, their way of thinking was that if you are a boy use 16 kg, a man who demands strength and endurance 24 kg.
The 32 kg were used by very large men and circus performers. Now, 17 years later, we have the luxury of choosing from a 2kg kettlebell to 90kg bells used in CrossFit and Strongman competitions for farmer’s walks.
So let’s get to that, what size do you wear?
Women should start at 8 kg and men at 16 kg. Why so lightly did you say in your mind, well that’s so you can learn the correct technique for the basic exercises and so you don’t get hurt and end up hating kettlebells.
The shape of a kettlebell is very different from a perfectly shaped dumbbell, so a lighter weight feels much heavier.
You will go very quickly to the next weight size, women 12 kg and men 24 kg.
Realistically, these would be the only weights you’ll need, but we won’t stop there. When you master a kettlebell, it’s time to go back to the first weights we used and use two kettlebells!
Double kettlebell exercises are much more difficult than single bell exercises and really take your kettlebell skills to the next level.
The plan:
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Women 12 kg, Men 16 kg – Learn how to clean, balance and press them correctly
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Next, women 16 kg, men 24 kg: practice the exercises above if your technique begins to fail, return to the starting weight
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Lastly, try doing double wipes, swings, and presses with the lightest kettlebells.
If you are only going to buy a kettlebell, men buy a 24 kg and women a 12 kg one and consult a qualified instructor to learn the exercises.