Kettlebell Exercises

Kettlebells make your gym and home workouts exponentially better. We could also say they make your workouts easier, but thats not really the case. An all-in-one fitness tool that offers, arguably, the most variety of any other equipment, kettlebells are perfect for every athlete, regardless of skill level.

Because of the unique design, traditional pushing and pulling movements can be performed by holding a kettlebell by the handle as you would with a dumbell in presses and deadlifts, says Steve Cotter, director and president of the International Kettlebell and Fitness Federation Opens a New Window. The space between the handle lets you do high-repetition exercises like snatches, which raise your heart rate and burn calories quickly. Its offset center of mass allows you to change the leverage of almost any lift, making moves like the kettlebell clean and press harder, and more grip-intensive.

Whether you're a beginner or an advanced-level lifter, these 15 kettlebell exercises will help further your fitness. Choose any of these exercises and cycle through them for a complete workout. Make sure to change the exercise selections and/or order to constantly keep your muscles guessing. Get swinging, pushing, and pulling.

(Note: A 16kg kettlebell is a good starter weight for men.)

one major advantage that kettlebells have over dumbbells is that you don't need a wide range of weight increments to create a workout with them.

One 16 kilo weight if you're a man, or 8 kilo if you're a woman, will get it done for most people.

The following workout requires just one kettlebell and works the entire body.

Note that, unlike what you see in most kettlebell workouts, we're not having you do the Turkish getup and full swing even though we're well aware that they're two of the most popular kettlebell exercises.

Rather, we've modified these exercises to more user-friendly but still supremely challenging versions that will allow someone of any experience level to train safely and with optimal form.

Kettlebells are a great tool for strength training. Yes, for many exercises they're totally interchangeable for dumbbells or other weights. But for some weighted moves, especially ones that require an explosive movement, kettlebells reign supreme.

Why? The way they're shaped makes them much easier to swing around. You can also hold them by the handle or the bell (the round part of the weight), which allows you to get a different range of motion depending on the kettlebell exercise you're doing.