Kettlebells are amazing! 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 build superior fitness quickly. So what benefits does kettlebell training have for the average woman or man, and what size do you start with?

I’ll answer these two questions and help you get started with your kettlebell workouts.

The Kettlebell trains the body to function as a complete unit and as a result creates true ‘functional’ strength and endurance. Kettlebell training is a great way to lose weight, tone those soft areas of the body, and stay fit. Kettlebells come in many shapes and sizes, but this was not always the case.

When kettlebells came out of 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 16kg, 1.5 pods 24kg and 2 poods 32kg.

In Russia their way of thinking was if you are a guy use 16kg, a man who demands strength and endurance 24kg.

The 32 kg were used by very large men and circus performers. Now, 17 years later, we have the luxury of choosing between 2kg kettlebells and 90kg bells used in CrossFit and Strongman farmer’s walk competitions.

So let’s get to it, what size do you wear?

Women should start at 8kg and men at 16kg. Why so light 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 hurt yourself and end up hating kettlebells.

The shape of a kettlebell is very different than a perfectly shaped dumbbell, so a lighter weight feels much heavier.

You will very quickly advance to the next weight size, women 12kg and men 24kg.

Realistically, these would be the only weights you’ll need, but we’re not going to 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:

  • Women 12kg, Men 16kg – Learn to clean, balance and press correctly
  • Next, Women 16kg, Men 24kg – practice the exercises above if your technique starts to fail, go back to starting weight
  • Finally, try double cleans, swings, and presses with the lighter kettlebells.

If you are only going to buy a kettlebell, men buy a 24 kg and women 12 kg and go to a qualified instructor to learn the exercises.

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