Kettlebell Routines

MadMardigan

MadMardigan

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Im switching from Starting Strength to Kettlebell lifting. For those of you who use this type of routine, can you give me some advice? What size of kettlebells, brands? I bought a 10lb to learn with this week. Have a good pad to work out on. Now I just need my routine and what weights I should use.
 
https://www.dragondoor.com/shop-by-department/kettlebells/p10a/
I would start with a 1 pood bell, I do the RKC program minimum routine. Which is a 4 day routine that starts with a warm up of 10 minutes of wall squats, pump stretches, and haloes followed by either 12 minutes of swing sets (with active rests between sets) for pull days or 5 minutes of get-ups uninterrupted, for push says. Alternate days for push and pull (swings/get ups).
 
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I suggest getting them from a Play It Again Sports, shipping costs can be pricey.

If you start with nothing more than kettlebell snatch and swings, you will be good. Technique is everything with kettlebells.
 
Chuckman said:
I suggest getting them from a Play It Again Sports, shipping costs can be pricey.

If you start with nothing more than kettlebell snatch and swings, you will be good. Technique is everything with kettlebells.
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Awesome idea! I always forget about play it again. https://www.onnit.com/legend-bells/#main-product
Or you could throw around monster heads for a workout!
 
Been toying with this myself. have a book coming tomorrow on it. One of Pavel's. Can't recall the name. Got a 15# already and a 25# on the way. Gonna mess with that for a bit before I get anything big enough to hurt myself...
 
bigfelipe said:
Been toying with this myself. have a book coming tomorrow on it. One of Pavel's. Can't recall the name. Got a 15# already and a 25# on the way. Gonna mess with that for a bit before I get anything big enough to hurt myself...
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IMO the lighter weights are great to have around. I use a 15 to do a warm up circuit and help get the blood flowing. I also use them for some of the shoulder exercises. I tore my left labrum years ago and just rehabbed it. So if I overdo certain shoulder movements it can tire quickly or hurt a little. You can also throw the 15's if you ever run out of bullets. :D
 
Chuckman said:
The great thing about kettlebells--and I am no expert--is they are dynamic, involving full body movement. All of it adds up in a big way.
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Yes. The 35lb bells seem intimidating for some moves, but when you get the form down you are partially aided by momentum for some of the moves. The swings and combination movements are better with the 25 and 35 lb bells for me. I am not 1 arm pressing the 35 with my bad shoulder, but for a lot of the moves they are good.
 
GoWolfpack said:
Why did you quit Starting Strength? Are you totally abandoning compound barbell movements or just adding kettlebells?
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Switching from barbell to straight kettlebell for the next month or so to refine some motor skills / build strength in a different way, then I will come back to a mix of both along with yoga.
 
Dangit Mad, you are going to screw around and get me in shape one day. First keto, now I went and bought a kettlebell. Got a 30# at Academy last night. They are on sale BTW. Not cheap but a few bucks off. Did the Onnit beginner workout today. Dang, that is more work than I thought. After 2 sets I got my wife out to do the last one with me. She ended up doing 2 more with her 10# bell. So we both managed 3 sets. I had to cheat some of the reps on the overhead stuff with my left arm toward the end with that 30# bell. It's gonna take a bit to get up to speed there. But I don't think a lighter one would do me much good. And it's a surprisingly tough work out.
 
Can't do the swings in most home basements :D Not in my finished basement either.
I don't own any kettles but I do keep a pair of 10 and 20 pound dumbbells at my office. :D
 
Anyone doing a clean-type movement with kettlebells? In the book I have the clean is one of the movements recommended. It starts with bell on floor and you have to lift it with your knuckles facing away from your body. Then you swing the arm so the elbow is down and kettlebell is up at chest/shoulder level. I can't figure out how to do the move without the bell banging the heck out of my arm and literally bruising my arm just below the wrist. Seems crazy. Right now my instinct is to just do another movement. Any thoughts? I feel like I have to be doing something blatantly stupid.
 
MadMardigan said:


@CZfool68
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Thanks. But even in his video the weight hit that part of his arm. And then rests on it for a second before the press. With a 15lb weight it isn't an issue, but with a 25lb weight it hits and rubs my arm enough to make it swell and bruise a little. Maybe I just have soft, delicate skin and bones? Damn, I am a pansy after all. :(
 


This video nails it! Now I just have to watch it when I do it next time. The lady even talks about ending up with bruises. I am NOT a pansy after all. I just have shitty technique! Yippee.
 
CZfool68 said:
Thanks. But even in his video the weight hit that part of his arm. And then rests on it for a second before the press. With a 15lb weight it isn't an issue, but with a 25lb weight it hits and rubs my arm enough to make it swell and bruise a little. Maybe I just have soft, delicate skin and bones? Damn, I am a pansy after all. :(
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Yeah, suck it up cupcake. lol

It's part technique and part handle style on the kettle ball. I got some the first day. Hurt pretty good. The key for me is my grip. If I'm doing swings with too soft a grip it will spin and smack my arm. To firm a grip and it tries to pull arm and all back over my head. Medium grip lets the bell slow down it's rotation so it does not smack my arm and it does not pull back over my head. I'm running 25 lbs on my swings and overhead presses until my left shoulder catches up. I can do 30, but it hurts my left shoulder pretty bad.

We still do the 3 set routine above. But tonight I added 2 sets of 10 deadlifts with 55 lbs (I lashed 2 bells together and wrapped the strap on my wrists), 3 sets of 5 cleans on each side, and 3 sets of 5 snatches on each side. The cleans and snatches will bang your arm if your grip is too loose.

Between my wife and I we are up to 5 kettle bells; 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30. We both really like these things.
 
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chiefjason said:
Yeah, suck it up cupcake. lol

It's part technique and part handle style on the kettle ball. I got some the first day. Hurt pretty good. The key for me is my grip. If I'm doing swings with too soft a grip it will spin and smack my arm. To firm a grip and it tries to pull arm and all back over my head. Medium grip lets the bell slow down it's rotation so it does not smack my arm and it does not pull back over my head. I'm running 25 lbs on my swings and overhead presses until my left shoulder catches up. I can do 30, but it hurts my left shoulder pretty bad.

We still do the 3 set routine above. But tonight I added 2 sets of 10 deadlifts with 55 lbs (I lashed 2 bells together and wrapped the strap on my wrists), 3 sets of 5 cleans on each side, and 3 sets of 5 snatches on each side. The cleans and snatches will bang your arm if your grip is too loose.

Between my wife and I we are up to 5 kettle bells; 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30. We both really like these things.
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Very nice. My problem is consistency. I'll get on a roll and then misbehave or get hurt and miss a week. I have been mixing in some fast paced 6 mile walks either on a flat trail here, or a couple mile walk with big elevation in the mountains when I don't kettlebell. But I gotta be more consistent and not miss days.
 
CZfool68 said:
Very nice. My problem is consistency. I'll get on a roll and then misbehave or get hurt and miss a week. I have been mixing in some fast paced 6 mile walks either on a flat trail here, or a couple mile walk with big elevation in the mountains when I don't kettlebell. But I gotta be more consistent and not miss days.
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The routine is the hardest part. If I don't work out as soon as I wake up, I usually end up not working out. So that's my plan, get up, work out, eat breakfast. On my days off I add an evening workout with the kettle bells with my wife. Having someone else pushing you to workout helps too.

The diet change has been just as helpful. The amount of energy we have now is part of the reason we are working out 5-6 days a week now. Nothing crazy mind you, but it's consistent. At this point I'm down 31 lbs and my wife is down about 12 lbs in about 6 weeks. We were talking the other day and if we don't work out we have so much energy it's hard to sleep sometimes. And that's mostly diet related. Crazy.
 
Bumped up the # of my cleans and snatches to 10 each side. Added 2 sets of 10 Wood chops to it as well with a lower weight. Still doing the basic routine too. Doing this twice a week. Added a partial basic routine, 2 sets, between this. I have not interest in pushing too hard AND going to work later in the day.

One thing I have noticed is starting a new movement with a lighter weight helps me get the movement correct. Then you can up the weight. I had the wood chop wrong. When I got the movement right I could feel it. I had to back off to a lower weight to focus on the movement. Got that right and doubled the weight for the workout.
 
MadMardigan said:
Im switching from Starting Strength to Kettlebell lifting. For those of you who use this type of routine, can you give me some advice? What size of kettlebells, brands? I bought a 10lb to learn with this week. Have a good pad to work out on. Now I just need my routine and what weights I should use.
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Little derail here, but how did you like Starting Strength? I recently discovered Mark Rippitoe on YouTube and really like what he has to say. I started using his squat technique and have had surprising gains in a short time. So I ordered his book and it should be here tomorrow. Obviously, I should have asked this question before ordering, but that would make too much sense. So how did you like using the program?
 
AD43576 said:
Little derail here, but how did you like Starting Strength? I recently discovered Mark Rippitoe on YouTube and really like what he has to say. I started using his squat technique and have had surprising gains in a short time. So I ordered his book and it should be here tomorrow. Obviously, I should have asked this question before ordering, but that would make too much sense. So how did you like using the program?
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I know you didn't ask me, but Rip is really good for a few certain things: gaining weight and getting stronger.

I think a couple of his underlings are more helpful than he is once you move beyond the novice phase unless you want to be a competitive powerlifter. Austin Baraki and Jordan Feigenbaum are YouTube fitness superstars.
 
GoWolfpack said:
I know you didn't ask me, but Rip is really good for a few certain things: gaining weight and getting stronger.

I think a couple of his underlings are more helpful than he is once you move beyond the novice phase unless you want to be a competitive powerlifter. Austin Baraki and Jordan Feigenbaum are YouTube fitness superstars.
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Definitely no competitive weight lifting in my future! I'm really just looking to get stronger. Thanks for the input.
 
AD43576 said:
Little derail here, but how did you like Starting Strength? I recently discovered Mark Rippitoe on YouTube and really like what he has to say. I started using his squat technique and have had surprising gains in a short time. So I ordered his book and it should be here tomorrow. Obviously, I should have asked this question before ordering, but that would make too much sense. So how did you like using the program?
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His program is 100% core strength, and there is nothing wrong with it. It's not a get strong over night 30 day program. It's designed and works to build strength with the compound core lifts.

I did a A / B work out, but I think when I go back to lifting I will change up a couple of things.

I haven't done any lifting for a few, and with my wife's surgery I don't have the time to dedicate to it. Hopefully next month I will get back to the Kettlebells.
 
GoWolfpack said:
So long as you don't mind gaining weight, Starting Strength will get you stronger than anything else.
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Yeah, not looking to get ripped. I gave up on that years ago. :p


MadMardigan said:
I did a A / B work out, but I think when I go back to lifting I will change up a couple of things.
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I'd just like to get my squat and dead lift up. But I'm sure I'll put a few accessory lifts in there as well.
 
Lifts: Sqaut, Deadlift, Press, Bench, Row, Pull Up, Dips

3sets of 5 on Squat, Press, Bench, Row, OHP
1set of 5 on Deadlift
2x8 on pull ups and dips

Warm up sets on everything but the accessories. You can add in curls on Friday since you have 2 days of rest. Add 5lb for OHP, Bench, and Row a week, and 10lbs per Sqaut and Deadlift do that till you stall, then cut the weight down by 25% and build back up.
 
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