These are the cornerstone movements you need to train with kettlebells.
SOME OF THE MOST POWERFUL kettlebell exercises rely on a few basic movements. Follow our practice recommendations to familiarize yourself with these seven moves, and they’ll become second nature in no time. Once you’ve mastered these, you’ll be able to tackle the more complex stuff—and supersize your gains. Folding Treadmill
These are the types of movements you'll learn in our new training book, No Gym Required: Kettlebells. You'll learn everything from the fundamentals for beginners to more advanced techniques and workout plans.
Want to get a jumpstart on your kettlebell practice? Men's Health MVP Premium members have exclusive access to a 14-day training program straight from the book, so you can kick off your workouts with expert guidance. Here's how you can get it.
This move teaches you the hip hinge, which is an essential movement pattern that’s instrumental in making you powerful — and just may help you avoid lower back pain too. You should hinge whenever you bend to pick something up from the floor, pushing your butt back while keeping your lower back flat and your torso rigid. This protects your lower back while also setting you up to transfer force efficiently from the floor to your upper body. It’s key in kettlebell training: Whenever you deadlift, clean, snatch, squat, or row correctly, you’re also hinging. Take it slowly as you learn it. Later, you’ll be able to generate maximum power whether you’re holding a kettlebell, swinging a golf club, or punching a heavy bag.
Bend at the waist and not at the knees. Instead of visualizing your chest going down and up, focus on pushing your butt backward, then bring it forward. The closer you can keep the kettlebell to your body, the more effective these moves will be.
Stand holding the kettlebell at your chest, abs and glutes tight. Push your butt back and slowly lower your torso. Stop when you can no longer push your butt back, or when your torso is just about parallel with the floor, whichever happens first. Stand and squeeze your glutes.
Practice It: Do 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps. Focus on feeling your glutes. Rest 60 seconds between each set.
The swing is one of the most popular and effective kettlebell moves, so mastering the finer points of the form is a must for anyone looking to add the implement to their repertoire. The key here is making sure to emphasize the hip hinge—when you lower the weight down, be sure not to squat before thrusting to snap the weight up. The hips are among your body’s most powerful joints. They’re also among the most mobile. Learning to contract your glutes and extend your hip joints forcefully is foundational to just about any athletic movement you can think of, and it all starts with the swing.
Don’t use your shoulders to drive the bell upward. Think of your arms like rope—they just attach your body to the bell. Your legs will create the power to swing upward. Focus on glute drive. The faster and more powerfully you stand and squeeze your glutes, the more easily the bell will swing upward. Keep your abs super-tight. That will protect your spine as the bell swings backward on each rep.
How to Do It: Stand with your feet just wider than your shoulders, a kettlebell about a foot in front of you. Push your butt back, bend your knees slightly, and lower your torso, reaching forward to grasp the bell with both hands. Keeping your arms relaxed, explosively pull the bell back between your legs. Now stand and squeeze your glutes; this will propel the bell forward. As it reaches its apex and swings backward, push your butt back again, beginning the next rep.
Practice It: Aim to do 10 to 15 reps in 45 seconds, then rest for 15 seconds. Repeat for 5 sets.
What happens when you combine a hip hinge and a front rack? It’s a little more complicated than just putting one and two together, but you’ll finish with a kettlebell clean. As we mentioned above, the hinge transfers power from the floor to your upper body with maximal efficiency. Cleaning the kettlebell is the next logical step: After you propel the bell upward with your glutes and hamstrings, your shoulder and forearm take over as you roll your wrist around and catch the bell in the rack position. Back in the days of the old-time strongmen, a lift wasn’t complete unless you moved a heavy object from the floor to overhead. The clean gets you most of the way there.
Thumb to chest. If you feel the kettlebell slamming into you, guide it more. Try a drill: Stand facing a wall and perform cleans. This will remind you not to swing the kettlebell out in front of you. Keep your thumb pointed in. This facilitates the roll around the wrist of the kettlebell into the rack position to finish the clean.
Stand over a kettlebell, feet shoulder-width apart. Bend your knees, push your butt back, and grasp the bell with both hands. Explosively stand (you may drive onto your toes as you do so), pulling the bell upward and keeping it close to your body. “Catch” it at your shoulders. Lower it to your hips, then to the floor. That’s 1 rep.
Practice It: Do 3 sets of 8 reps.
The kettlebell rack position isn’t quite a standalone exercise either—but it’s an essential technique for holding the implement for all types of exercises, from lunges to carries. Mastering the rack position is fundamental to other kettlebell moves because it forces you to control and stabilize the weight in many directions at once. Taming the kettlebell in this way develops the grip, core, and glute strength you’ll need when you start pressing, swinging, and cleaning these unruly implements as the workouts grow in complexity.
The interior portion of the forearm should be pressed against your chest, which solves incorrect elbow position (it should be pointing down). Do not straighten your wrist. It should be in a strong flexed position, which will take pressure off your elbow. Keep your shoulders packed down. Your shoulder blades should be pulled down and back as opposed to lifted up like you’re shrugging (which will overtax the upper trap).
Hold a kettlebell in front of your chest with your elbows tucked, your palms facing in, and the bottom of the bell resting between your biceps and forearm. Aim to keep your forearm perpendicular to the floor, and keep your abs and shoulder blades tight.
Practice It: Start with single-arm front racks, doing each arm individually. Clean the bell into place, and hold for 30 seconds. Do 3 sets per side.
Here, you’re working to push the weight overhead. Pressing a kettlebell is fundamental and you can start by doing it from a standing position. Learning to properly overhead press the bell does a few things. First off, it teaches you to own the overhead press position, which will set you up for overhead carries, windmills, getups, and other moves that will make kettlebell training even more fun. It also builds shoulder stability and increases your core stability.
Start from a good rack position. Keep your wrist forward at the top. Keep your biceps close to your ear, and keep a solid foundation by flexing your lats and shoulder blades.
To do an overhead kettlebell press, first stand holding a kettlebell in your hand in front of your shoulders. Brace your core as you press the weight above your head. That’s 1 rep.
Practice It: Do 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps per side. Rest minimally between each set.
Finally, you’ll use a hip hinge to bring the kettlebell overhead. This is the biggest test of your ability to generate power from the floor, and to coordinate the action of your upper and lower body. Learn to do it well and other strength and athletic movements will feel easy by comparison.
Key Performance Points: Don’t swing the kettlebell too far out in front of you. Guide the kettlebell even closer to your body and higher with your high pull. Once it’s level with your head, you’re done pulling—now you’re punching, getting your hand up to that locked-out position.
Hold a kettlebell in your right hand between your thighs, feet just wider than your shoulders. Swing the bell between your legs and then rise up explosively, pulling the weight up your body. When it reaches head level, punch your palm toward the ceiling so the bell flips over your forearm. That’s 1 rep.
Practice It: Do 10 reps, switch arms, and repeat.
The basic Kettlebell Halo is an incredibly effective movement that builds shoulder stability while working the core. It strengthens your mind-muscle connection, requiring full concentration and a team effort from your shoulders, triceps, back, and core to maneuver the unwieldy weight around your head. As a result, you can increase focus, boost intensity, and get the most out of every single rep. There’s more. In most gym movements, the weight follows a linear path. The halo is what exercise physiologists call a “transverse plane”—or rotational—exercise, which forces you to initiate movement and stabilize all 360 degrees of your core muscles, much as you do in life and sport. Over time, transverse plane moves build a tougher, more resilient core that is able to withstand shocks and absorb impact from all directions.
Keep your abs tight! The halo is harder than you think, and very easily can become a hula dance, with your hips moving and your lower back arching. Offset this by tightening your abs to pull your ribcage in. Don’t rush. Work the bell around your head slowly. How to Do It: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and hold a kettlebell at your chest. Tighten your abs. This is the start. Rotate the weight clockwise (or counterclockwise) in a tight circle around your head. Keep your shoulder blades and abs squeezed as you do this.
Practice It: Try the exercise for 10–20 reps per direction to start before adding extra challenges, like the kneeling position or a squat, for a bigger metabolic impact.
How Much Weight You Should Bench Press
Watch Action Bronson Hit a Bench Press PR
The Coolest Adidas Ultraboosts Are on Sale Right
Four Organizations Using Sports to Create Change
The 6 Best Silicone Rings for Active Men
Here's How to Watch the 2023 Rogue Invitational
Try This 5-Minute Med Ball Burner Workout
Hoka vs. On: Which Running Shoe Brand Is Better?
Can I Work Out Every Single Day?
What Patrick Mahomes Thinks of His Top QB Rivals
Watch Brian Shaw Try the Infamously Hard Hub Curl
A Part of Hearst Digital Media
We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back.
Recumbent Exercise Bike ©2023 Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.