Kettlebells: what size and weight of kettlebell do you start with?

Kettlebells are awesome! Kettlebell workouts are the answer to maintaining and transforming your body into a fitness 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 builds true ‘functional’ strength and endurance. 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 that wasn’t always the case.

When the kettlebell 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 is measured in ‘poods’ 1 pood was 16 kg, 1.5 poods 24 kg and 2 poods 32 kg.

In Russia, his way of thinking was that if you are a guy wear 16 kg, a man who requires strength and endurance 24 kg.

The 32 kg was 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 competitions for farmer’s walks.

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

Women should start with 8 kg and men with 16 kg. 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 injure yourself and end up hating the kettlebell.

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

You will progress very quickly 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 how to clean, balance and press correctly
• Next, Women 16kg, Men 24kg – Practice the exercises above if your form starts to falter, go back to the 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 a 12 kg and go to a qualified instructor to learn the exercises.