The "Super Six" Exercises Of Kettlebell Training
Why Only Six Exercises?
When it comes to kettlebell training, the phrase “less is more” truly epitomises this style of training.
The goal isn’t to necessarily do more exercises or even more sets, for that matter. It’s about extracting more out of each and every repetition.
This is known as getting “more bang for your buck”.
Rather than do a lot of exercises half-heartedly, or poorly, the mission is to practice the movements and master them over time.
On Quick Lifts, You Want High Acceleration.
On Slow Lifts, You Want High Tension.
This is the essence of hardstyle kettlebell training. The quote below is one that represents this philosophy and the hard style;
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”
Whether you are a man or a woman, the goal is the same — train hard, with intent and a purpose.
The level you perform at during your kettlebell sessions will determine your results.
Taking it seriously, working hard on your technique, and putting in the effort by focusing on every rep is an important step to make your training more effective.
If you do this…
You Will Reap More Benefits Than Someone Who Just Goes Through The Motions.
Now that we’ve covered the mindset and mentality to get the most out of your training. Let’s discuss the exercises themselves.
What Are The Exercises?
There are six MAIN exercises in kettlebell training — each with a specific purpose and benefit that it provides the body.
Below are the exercises; (Click to watch a video demonstration of each)
1. The Squat
Great for developing lower body strength, a strong midsection, and a durable upper back from holding a heavy load.
2. The Swing
Great for developing a powerful set of glutes, a tight core, torching body fat, and learning how to use your hips correctly, instead of your lower back.
3. The Clean
Great for building power in the hips, strengthening the midsection (by preventing the bell from beating you up), and it is also essential for the press.
4. The Press
Great for developing upper body strength, as well as symmetry, a robust core, and a muscular pair of shoulders and triceps.
5. The Get-Up
Great for developing whole-body mobility, improving your body awareness, and building upper body muscle mass due to the lengthy time under tension.
6. The Snatch
Great for developing everything: power, strength, mobility, endurance. The snatch is the Tsar of all the kettlebell lifts.
The Power Of Simplicity.
The great thing about kettlebell training is that there’s a tonne of variations stemming from these main movements.
Instead of wondering “what should I do today?”, you can use that mental energy and put it to use on the exercises themselves.
For example: with regards to the squat movement pattern, you have several options.
You can start with the traditional goblet squat. Do kettlebell front squats. Or perform “offset squats” — where you load one side of the body but not the other (asymmetrical).
You can also make things more challenging by performing “double bell” work, using a pair of kettlebells.
Meaning, instead of using one kettlebell, you use two.
Double swings, double cleans, double press, double snatch.
You can see how, immediately, that will make an exercise more challenging.
Now you have two bells to control instead of only one. And you’ve just doubled the load you’re lifting.
The exercises come from the same ‘family’ or movement pattern, but can be made significantly harder with a slight change in position, load, or number of bells.
You’re Only Limited By Your Imagination!
Why Do These Exercises Work So Well?
One of the biggest benefits of hard style kettlebell training, as I instruct in Perth, is that they are very demanding.
More specifically, they are “energy draining”. They aren’t efficient when it comes to energy expenditure (calories out).
This is different from moving well — and efficiently. You 100% want to move as efficiently and smoothly as possible.
But…
When It Comes To Building Muscle, Getting Strong, And Losing Fat, Efficiency Is Not Your Friend.
In fact, it’s something you want to avoid. Here are three examples to make my point;
Building muscle requires placing more stress and tension on your muscles. There is nothing efficient about that.
Developing your strength demands that you lift heavier loads or do more work over time. Again, not an energy-saving endeavour.
Dropping body fat necessitates more calories going out than coming in. You can’t accomplish this when trying to “save” energy.
If your training is tough, or difficult, GOOD.
It means that you’re working to a level around what’s required to facilitate an adaptation or positive change to your body.
Don’t Mistake “Working Out” For Practice.
The goal of training is to elicit a response from your body.
The way you do this consistently is by getting really proficient at the exercises you are performing. Not by running yourself into the ground or working out as hard as you possibly can every training session!
If you aren’t improving your technique, your training will suffer, and your risk of injury will go up.
Train with intensity and most of the time at a level classed as “comfortably difficult”. Meaning you can do it week in, week out.
You shouldn’t always test your strength or go “balls to the wall” to see how tired you can get. Don’t do that!
Your training should demand a good amount of work from your body — and the muscles involved.
However, If There’s A Muscle Group That Should Be Working, But Isn’t, It Needs Fixing!
Get it working. Demand that it does its job. Make it contribute to the exercises in question.
Refine your technique, do some troubleshooting drills, go back a step if needed, and get more reps under your belt to clean up your form.
Not only is this important from a performance standpoint (you’ll get more out of every rep) but also from an injury risk standpoint (more muscles working cohesively to accomplish a task).
Shifting your focus and mindset to “practice” instead of working out will do wonders for you. Each exercise becomes an opportunity to get better, and you can then aim to upgrade your technique every single session.
With that attitude, training will stop being boring, feeling like a chore, and instead, will start becoming something you enjoy and look forward to.
There’s only one thing left for you to do. Chop wood and start practicing the exercises.
If you are local to Perth and would love some hands-on kettlebell instruction, by all means, book in for a kettlebell lesson.
Not local to Perth, no worries. Please keep me posted on your thoughts and feedback on your own training.
Feel free to drop a comment below, or send me a message on my Instagram or Facebook.
Kettlebell power to you!