What Is Kettlebell Training?
Kettlebell training — when done correctly — is very different from strength training using dumbbells, or a barbell.
It requires a lot more skill, a tonne of practice, and complete focus until the kettlebell has safely been ‘parked’ (returned to its starting position on the floor, under control).
This isn’t me criticising or discrediting either of those other modalities, either. Those tools have their place, have lots of merits, and they produce results.
But what they don’t have the capacity to do is fast movements, repeated over and over again without putting the weight down.
I’m referring to the “quick lifts” of kettlebell training: the clean, the swing, and the snatch.
They allow you to do sets of low to high-rep ballistics non-stop — to develop power and endurance simultaneously.
And then on the flip side, you have the “slow lifts”, those being: the squat, the press, and the get-up.
These exercises are great for developing overall strength, increasing athleticism, and building muscle, due to their time under tension.
The focus when doing these is to generate whole-body tension, and reduce “energy leaks” in your body — to lift a weight with impeccable technique and not have your body compensate in the process.
If you perform the kettlebell exercises correctly and with the right intent, you will quickly learn that the hard way is the RIGHT way.
Just So You’re Aware.
For the purposes of this article, when I refer to kettlebell training, I am referring to practicing one of “the super six” exercises they are well-known for.
I’m not talking about kettlebell “flows” here. If you aren’t familiar and don’t know what they are, let me explain, briefly.
This is where you juggle the bells, or mix and match a handful of great exercises (individually) and dilute them all (collectively) — by combining them together — using a relatively light load.
The way I look at kettlebell training is simple.
Pick one, or several exercises and do them one at a time. Alternatively, you can do them one after the other in a sequence (as a complex), still focusing on one lift at a time.
When you combine multiple exercises together in a mishmash fashion, you get the worst of both worlds.
You end up with a “Frankenstein” of an exercise.
And there’s very little to gain from it. A lot less than if you did each exercise at a high level separately!
Eg: Squat to press, to clean, to bicep curl, to juggle, to lateral raise, to snatch, to whatever comes next…
Sure, it looks kinda cool. (Attention and likes for ‘the gram’, anyone?)
But it’s also something that comes out of a circus.
Unless you’re performing circus tricks at the fair, you’ll be better served working one exercise at a time.
Well, that’s my opinion anyway.
I’m more concerned with function (RESULTS) not fashion or what “looks cool” for social media.
The phrase below is what must go through people’s minds when they think about blending several exercises together.
“If one exercise is good, then two must be better. And three, well that’s even better again.” And so on.
That’s not how strength training works!
Just because one exercise is great, it doesn’t mean by combining it with another great exercise, that it will suddenly become greater-er. (Yes, that’s a word)
Do you see where I’m going with this?
Focus on one exercise at a time.
Get really strong at it. Develop amazing technique at it. Become a master at it.
Below are some guidelines for kettlebell training and their respective exercises so you have a framework to work with.
Quick Lifts (Swing, Clean, Snatch): Sets of 5 or 10
The reason we keep reps to five or ten repetitions on these exercises is to develop power. Force equals mass x acceleration.
This means that either the weight and/or speed must be very high.
You can’t move fast when you’re tired.
You can’t lift the heaviest weight possible for twenty, thirty, or fifty reps.
Sets of five will build tremendous amounts of power.
And sets of ten will develop your ability to produce that power for a touch more volume (power endurance).
Here’s a super quick bit of physiology to help you understand what I’m referring to here.
The ATP-PC system (responsible for power) works when performing high-intensity output and efforts from 0-10 seconds primarily — before it starts handing the reigns off to the next energy system.
Five swings, cleans, or snatches will take you anywhere from 8-20 seconds depending on your level of experience, the load lifted, any pauses you include, and the cadence you move at.
Below is a sample progression of how you can build power and endurance with kettlebell swings as the main exercise;
Wk 1 — 6x5
Wk 2 — 8x5
Wk 3 — 10x5
Wk 4 — 12x5
The weight remains constant each week. The variable that changes is the volume, in the form of more sets each week (by two).
You rest as needed in between sets. Don’t rush your rest periods to get in more work or do it quicker.
Remember: the goal here is power development, not conditioning.
And you can’t move explosively when you’re muscles have given out, or have been exhausted.
The goal is to produce as much power as you can for five perfect swings. After rep number five, park the bell, rest until you can speak in short sentences, and repeat.
You can apply this same principle to your cleans and snatches.
Slow lifts (Squat, Press, Get-Up): Sets up to 5 reps.
While the quick lifts are great for developing power and require a great amount of speed, the slow lifts are the other side of the performance coin.
Recruiting numerous muscles at once, which is great for building strength and hypertrophy, due to the volume (total number of reps and/or load) and the muscles being placed under tension for a long time.
The lifts are slow, methodical, and controlled. Exactly what’s required for building muscle.
Heavy loads, lots of mechanical tension, and stress to the muscles — what a combination!
Whether it be squatting, pressing, or performing get-ups, the rules are fairly similar. Low volume (reps), high intensity (load).
This is where you’ll be doing reps from one to five per set.
We’ll take a look at the Military Press (MP) as the example.
Let’s say you’re a man, and you can press a 16kg kettlebell overhead for 5 or 6 reps on each arm. This will be your working weight.
A 4-week block of training might look like this;
Wk 1 — 1,2,3 x2
Wk 2 — 1,2,3 x3
Wk 3 — 1,2,3 x4
Wk 4 — 1,2,3 x5
Below is how you’d perform this session;
1xpress L, rest. 1xpress R, rest. 2xpresses L, rest. 2xpresses R, rest. 3xpresses L, rest. 3xpresse R, rest.
Repeat for the prescribed number of rounds.
Does that make sense?
The goal here is to lift a heavy load, well below the number of reps you are capable of, and work on building a high amount of volume (total reps per session).
Increasing the volume and doing this week in, week out will force new gains in muscle. The body MUST find a way to adapt to the higher workload and total weight lifted.
You will be training sub-maximally — meaning you never “max out” or test your strength. Instead, you are building your strength.
What About “The Burn”?
Both styles of training — quick lifts and slow lifts — avoid this. Which is a good thing!
The goal of training ISN’T to feel like crap, or be sore to the point where you struggle to get off the toilet or walk up a flight of stairs. It’s about forcing an adaptation to your body (making your body change).
This means getting better in some capacity: stronger, leaner, fitter, more skilled.
It’s these things you should be chasing, not “the burn”, which is typically found and experienced when doing moderate-high reps using lifting moderate weights.
We stay either side of this by lifting heavy weights slowly (aerobic) and using low volume OR lifting light-moderate weights quickly (ATP-PC) for higher reps per set.
You get all the benefits without the negative side-effects of slow recovery, lethargy, high levels of muscle soreness, and feeling like crap that often comes from chronic HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training).
Bottom line: don’t chase the burn. It’s not all that it’s cracked up to be.
Putting It All Together
A great kettlebell training program should contain both a quick lift and a slow lift. This way you will get the most bang for your buck.
You develop the power and high-calorie output side of things on one side — along with the hypertrophy and strength benefits on the other side.
Below are a few example pairings of exercises;
Swing and Get-up
Clean and Military Press
Snatch and Squat
In the Kettlebell Training in Perth which I conduct, I use a simple model similar to this to help my students learn the movements, master them and extract the maximum results possible from them.
It’s not about always working at 100% max speed, or working “against the clock” — think HIIT.
You should work hard, yes. But it should be with a purpose in mind and in pursuit of an end goal.
This means using the appropriate speed — and load — for the task or exercise at hand.
There are times when acceleration is encouraged (quick lifts) and there are times where you want to back off the speed (slow lifts).
It’s about using the right exercise to elicit the right response from your body, not just feeling sore, sweaty, or making you tired.
I hope this gives you a deeper understanding of kettlebell training, and how you can use it on your strength journey.
If you have any questions or comments, please drop them below in the “comments” section.