What Size Kettlebell to Use (part 2)

A little over a year ago, I did a post on what size kettlebell to use (you can see that post if you missed it by clicking here) … it was a basically a recap of a great video I found on YouTube from Anthony DiLugo from ArtOfStrength.com.

I’ve still been getting at least weekly emails/comments/etc. regarding this topic as of late – so I thought I’d sh0ot a quick video with my personal take on the subject – hope it helps you in choosing what size kettlebell to get started with:

Video Recap

Hey guys – Forest Vance here from KettlebellBasics.net – today I am going to cover with you what size kettlebell to use.

This is a question I get all of the time via email and comments on the blog.  I just wanted to shoot a quick video and go over some basics that I go over with my clients when they try to pick what size kettlebell to start off with.

Now, I should preface this by saying that it depends.  It depends on what exercises you are going to be doing with your kettlebells, what level you imagine yourself getting to.  As a general recommendation (this is Pavel’s recommendation) the average woman is going to start of with 8 kilo (18 pounds) the average man is going to start of with 35 pounds (16 kilo).  If you are a strong woman you can start off with a 12 kilo, if you are a guy who hasn’t been working out consistently and are just getting back into it, you can also start with a 12 kilo.  If you are a strong guy you could start off with a 20 kilo or even all the way up to a 24 kilo – although I will that say I have seen guys who are in great shape and thought they were very strong and fifteen minutes into a workout they are toasted with a 16 kilo 🙂

That being said, I always recommend everyone starts with two exercises before they move onto anymore advanced kettlebell moves, which are the swing and Turkish get up.  And if that’s the case then you are going to need two kettlebells. To get a good swing and Turkish get up workout, you will be using different weights.  These two weights would still be a good recommendation for your swing to start off with, a lot of women that I train will typically start off with a 12 kilo.  So maybe if you are getting two kettlebells, for guys start off with a 16 and an 8 kilo, and women maybe you start off with a 12 kilo and you could actually go with a smaller kettlebell than this, like a ten pound or twelve pound, something like that for your Turkish get ups.

So that gives you a basic start on what size kettlebell to start off with, I hope that was helpful for you, see you at KettlebellBasics.net!

Thanks for reading and talk soon –

Forest Vance, RKC II

PS – Dragon Door KB’s (in the video above) are my ‘bells of choice – to learn more, click here:

=> Dragon Door KB’s