10 Awesome Kettlebell Workouts For Beginners To Improve Your Fitness Level

If you’ve read any of my previous articles, you’ll know that I take pride in bringing you the most space- and equipment-efficient workouts possible. These kettlebell workouts for beginners are no different. You will only need one kettlebell and space to swing it.

Whether you are a beginner or an experienced athlete looking to better understand how to use the kettlebell, this article will give you actionable content that you can implement immediately to get the most out of your kettlebell and your body.

First, let’s talk about why to use the kettlebell. Why I believe this workout gear is superior to all other workout gear available to you.

Quite simply: versatility. It offers the ability to assist you in all aspects of fitness, strength, speed and power, to help improve your fitness and muscular endurance.

As our society continues to move away from manual labor, our general work capacity, core stability, and grip strength continue to decline.

The kettlebell’s thicker handle and grip help us work on improving our grip strength while the loading positions give us the opportunity to build a stronger core and improve our body toughness.

These kettlebell workouts for beginners will give you everything you need to start your kettlebell training journey, but will also provide some pretty tasty work out for even the most experienced kettlebell swingers and slingers.

Kettlebell workouts for beginners

You can watch a video of all the moves performed in one of these kettlebell workouts for beginners here.

1. EMOM X AMRAP

• 12 KB Russian swings (24/16 kg)

*Add 2 repetitions every minute

What better place to start our kettlebell journey than with the King of Kettlebell exercise, the Kettlebell Swing!

The kettlebell swing is said to be the most beneficial exercise available to you because it not only helps correct most modern tight hips, weak core, and glute problems, but also helps build a stronger posterior chain, which is the key to almost every sport. efforts.

In this workout, you’ll begin using a minute-by-minute protocol by performing 12 reps in your first minute and resting the rest of the minute. You will then add two reps for each minute that follows until you cannot complete the reps in the minute window.

Try to aim for more than 30 reps per minute.

2. 10 minute AMRAP

• +2 KB Goblet Squats
• 4 burpees

The second and equally important kettlebell exercise is the KB Goblet Squat, invented by man, myth, legend Mr. Dan John and used by trainers around the world as a loaded squat progression.

For this workout you will perform 2 Kettlebell Goblet Squats followed by 4 Burpees. On each round, add 2 more goblet squats, but remember to maintain good form and go deep when squatting.

The goblet squat loading position allows us to eliminate some of the sticking points found in back loaded squat variations while increasing core and postural muscle activation as we fight to maintain a neutral spine.

3. Down in 5

A chance to tick many boxers here. The Thruster gives you a dual compound motion crossing 4 joints and working everything from toes to fingertips. Explosive deadlifts allow you to stimulate the glutes and hamstrings to produce posterior power.

As the rounds roll in and the reps get smaller, your goal is to increase the intensity by finishing on 5 with a burst.

4. Kettlebell Bro Sesh

• 50-40-30-20-10 reps
• KB ballistic rows
• 10-20-30-40-50 reps
• Shoes

We all love a bro session once in a while. You will perform 50 ballistic rows followed by 10 push-ups.

Ballistic rows drop 10 reps per round with pushups increasing 10 reps per round to hit your back and biceps, chest and triceps in one compact piece.

Related: The Ultimate Kettlebell Upper Body Workout

5. Tank Tabata

2 min Work|1 min Rest x 8 laps

• 2 burpees
• 4 KB American swings
• 6 slots

This is a real chance to open the throttle. I call it Tanked up Tabata because, well, it’s Tabata but with extra firepower.

You will do 2 minutes of work followed by 1 minute of rest. In the 2 minutes you will complete as many rounds of the 3 movements as possible – you should be able to accumulate some work here, rest for a minute and repeat 8 rounds. A real lungbreaker!

Kettlebell workouts for beginners

6. Shredder

For the time :

• 10 straight arm kettlebell snippets (24/16 kg)
• 10 burpees
• 10 left arm kettlebell snippets (24/16 kg)
• 30 overhead squats
• 15 Right Arm Kettlebell Press (24/16 kg)
• 15 burpees
• 15 Kettlebell Push Press left arm (24/16 kg)
• 45 overhead squats
• 20 Kettlebell Cleans of the right arm (24/16 kg)
• 20 burpees
• 20 Kettlebell Cleans left arm (24/16 kg)
• 60 overhead squats
• 25 Kettlebell pull-ups with the right arm (24/16 kg)
• 25 burpees
• 25 kettlebell high pull-ups left arm (24/16 kg)
• 75 overhead squats
• 30 straight arm kettlebell swings (24/16 kg)
• 30 burpees
• 30 left arm kettlebell swings (24/16 kg)
• 90 overhead squats

In my list of kettlebell workouts for beginners, this might be the best to improve your kettlebell training in single arm movements. Although slightly more advanced, these are still basic kettlebell moves that you will be rewarded for learning. The ability to explosively snatch, clean, and press the kettlebell will help you build the power to sprint faster, jump higher, and lift heavier in other moves.

Not only ideal for a beginner working on your one arm kettlebell movements when performed at a more steady pace, it also gives the more experienced trainer a chance to test their power output while working under fatigue . Burpees and overhead squats remove enough from the body to make each round increasingly difficult, although the movement of each round becomes slightly easier.

7.MOOM

20 min of EMOM

• 1. 45 Jumping Jacks
• 2. Max KB Hiking Swings
• 3. 45 Jumping Jack
• 4. Max KB Head Cutter
• 5. Rest

This is a go-to method for me when I want minimal kit but a very effective strength and conditioning workout. Jumping jacks keep the lungs pumping, which helps make kettlebell movements more difficult.

The goal here is to complete as many repetitions of the kettlebell movements as possible pushing yourself to match or beat your previous round.

8. Hit

For the time :

• 300 KB Russian swings
• 200 overhead squats
• 100 burpees

It may sound too gross to be a beginner’s workout, but this workout will give you an understanding of workout management – how to break down the moves into the most effective method for you. Whether you go for 10 approach rounds 30-20-10 reps or grind 300-200-100 reps is up to you. The goal is to finish as quickly as possible.

The 20 Most Important Kettlebell Exercises

9. Old Money

10 min AMRAP

• +1 Burpees
• +1 KB Russian swings

A classic combination of Swings and Burpees, but this short AMRAP increases by 1 rep each round, giving you a different challenge as the workout progresses.

Since it’s only 10 minutes, you should be able to really attack this and aim for a high score. If you want to add some spice to this, you can add a multiplier for the weight used.

• 8kg – x0
• 12kg – x1.1
• 16kg-x1.3
• 24kg – x1.6
• 32kg – x1.9

This means you will combine your total KB Swings and Burpee reps and multiply by the weight used, if you are using intermediate weights or a weight above 32kg you can calculate the multiplier yourself.

10.KB-DT

5 rounds

• 12 KB Sumo Deadlift High Pullovers
• 9 KB
• Press 6 KB

Simple Kettlebell, a two-handed variation of the classic CrossFit WOD DT. This variation gives you a chance to get your money’s worth when hitting every muscle group in the body.

Your goal is to complete this as quickly as possible while maintaining form throughout. For an added challenge, try doing this without releasing the kettlebell.

Don’t forget: you can watch a video of all the movements performed in one of these kettlebell workouts for beginners here.

I hope these workouts give you everything you need to get started and find your love for the kettlebell, I hope they also give you some understanding of how to program your own minimal kit workout .

If you need anything more from me I can be found on Instagram @LuceyDPT or www.lukeydpt.com

You can find my e-books through the store on my website which will give you Kettlebell Functional Fitness structure and I also work with clients as a distance coach if you need something more.

Keep fitness alive.

Take care of yourself.

LD

---

About Luke Downing

“NASM certified personal trainer minimal kit specialist, father of Luca and Roma Ray. As a dad and business owner, I’m well aware that not everyone has hours each day to spend in the gym. I believe you can do a lot without a lot, which is why I’m a lover of unique kettlebell training. I like to keep things as functional as possible, which means I don’t waste time with unnecessary movements. Everything I do with my athletes has a purpose and affects sports, activities and everyday life.