Kettlebell Training is not normally a subject I’d ever really proactively address, as it’s not a huge part of my general prescription for most clients.
But the fact of the matter is that Kettlebell training is relatively popular and I get asked this question a lot by clients at my gym as well as many of my online coaching clients.
People have seen kettlebells on ESPN (Crossfit Games), YouTube, and maybe by others training with them at their local gym.
And my own clients have seen them laying around in my gym, and they’re curious as to what I use them for (other than a fantastic door stop).
So do I use them with clients? Yes.
Do I need to use them with clients? No.
So are they a waste of time? Not always. But I wouldn’t ever classify them as necessary for any purpose whatsoever.
So why use them?
The short answer is that they’re fun (variety is not the enemy in training) and provide an extremely efficient way to get in very short bouts of metabolic conditioning, which is very useful in my business as a personal trainer, and it may be very useful to YOU, as someone who is strapped for time.
Kettlebells are a simple, safe method for squeezing in 5-10 bouts of metabolic conditioning after the main barbell work is done for the day, and they can marginally aid in increasing the work capacity of the posterior chain (low back, hamstrings, etc) which can allow you to train and recover from more useful bouts of barbell based volume (translation: you can do more deadlift volume).
And although they target the low-back pretty good, kettlebell volume seems to be pretty easy to recover from for most. In fact, my colleague and co-author Dr. Jonathan Sullivan uses them quite a bit with his senior clients at Greysteel Strength & Conditioning. Even the elderly seem to recover well from a bit of light kettlebell work.
Also, one point of clarification…..when I talk about kettlebell “work” I’m talking about kettlebell SWINGS. To me this is really the only exercise worth doing with a kettlebell. Pretty much any other exercise I can think of doing, can be done more effectively with a barbell or a dumbbell. But the swing is unique to the kettlebell (dumbbell swings suck). Yes, you can “clean” or “snatch” with a kettlebell, but really?…..just use a bar.
The way I use kettlebell swings at my gym is with clients who want a short 5-20 minute burst of high intensity metabolic conditioning (i.e. cardio) in conjunction with the strength based barbell work that makes up the vast majority of our training session.
Kettlebells can be used effectively independently or in conjunction with other exercises to form a 2-4 exercise circuit.
Below is a sample list of workouts using the Kettlebell Swing that I use with clients here at the gym:
Max Reps for a Set Time.
Usually we set the time for about 5 minutes. The trainee will simply try and get as many swings in 5 minutes as possible, stopping to rest as needed, but trying to minimize rest time as much as possible. Next time this workout is performed, go for the same amount of time, but try and beat the number of reps in 5 minutes, OR achieve the same number of reps with a heavier load. This protocol can be added to the end of a heavy lower body workout, upper body workout, or full body workout as a great way to get a little conditioning burst in a very short amount of time. If you want to do this workout on an off-day, you can simply extend the time out to 10-15 minutes of total work. I’ve even had clients go as long as 20 minutes, but this can be a bit much on the low-back and quite frankly gets a bit monotonous. With kettebells, it’s all about short duration – high intensity.
Set Number of Reps for Time
Very similar to the previous example workout, except now we’re going for a set number of reps in as short a time as possible. For example: perform 100 swings as quickly as possible. Next time, try and get the same number of reps in less time, add to the rep goal, or get the same reps in the same time, but with a heavier kettlebell.
Kettlebell Swing + Upper Body exercise in a Crossfit style “couplet.”
I usually pair the swings with push ups, dips, pull ups, bodyweight rows, or sometimes even DB presses or DB push presses. This can be a really great way to finish an upper body workout with a short conditioning burst. I’ll often use the inverse movement to whatever the focus strength movement was for the day as way of incorporating a “light day.” Let me explain.
If we’re focusing on the Bench Press today, we might do a high volume of heavy bench pressing and maybe follow that with heavy rows. Then, instead of a bunch of accessory work, we might do something like 5 rounds of 25 KB Swings + 15 DB Push Presses.
If we’re focusing on the Press today, we might do heavy presses, heavy weighted chins, and then finish with 5 rounds of 25 KB Swings + 15 Dips or 20 Push Ups.
If you want even more focus on the metcon you might do heavy presses and then follow with a “Triplet” of 5 pull ups, 10 Dips, and 20 heavy kettlebell swings and work through that as many times as possible for 20 minutes straight.
You can go on and on with the combinations of exercises, sets, reps, and time domains.
Kettlebell Swing + Reverse Lunge.
This is a favorite of mine for women who really want to blast the hamstring-glute tie in area at the end of a lower body workout. So on the tail end of a lower body day, after heavier squats and deadlifts, we might perform a couplet of 25 KB Swings + 10 reverse lunges per leg as fast as possible for 3-5 rounds. This will hit the hamstrings and glutes in all the right places, but you have to be conditioned to this and you have to be okay with a bit or soreness for the next day or two.
Kettlebell Swing + Ab exercise.
I’m not one of those coaches that emphasizes “core work” all that much. We all know if you squat, deadlift, and press heavy and often, you are likely getting plenty of functional core work, but I think a little bit of abdominal training is useful, most of my clients want a little bit of it, and this makes an extremely simple and effective way to sneak in a bit of abdominal work with a bit of conditioning work. I keep these circuits simple and fast and usually just 3 rounds: Example 3 rounds of 30 KB swings with 15 weighted sit ups. Done in just a few minutes.
Kettlebell Swings + 1-2 other conditioning exercises.
This is great for those who really want a challenging conditioning workout. Kettlebells can be creatively combined in a couplet or triplet with intervals on the C2 Rower, Airdyne, jump roping, step-ups, shuttle runs, etc, etc. Basically any exercise that is designed strictly for conditioning can be paired with the KB swing in an almost endless array of combinations of reps, distances, times, etc.
A favorite at the gym is combining the C2 Rower with the KB swing….something like 5 Rounds of 300m C2 Rowing + 20-30 KB Swings for time.
These type of workouts can be tacked onto the end of a shorter strength training session or as it’s own workout on a separate day of the week.
