Kettlebell exercises
The kettlebell movements we use — swings, cleans, carries, presses, get-ups. One page per exercise.
Pass the bell in a circle around your waist. A rotational warm-up that wakes up the obliques and grounds the standing posture.
Clean into front squat into overhead press in one continuous sequence. Maximum full-body training economy.
Walk a distance with a heavy bell in each hand. The simplest, most honest test of grip, posture, and total-body integrity.
Dan John's teaching squat — and the kettlebell squat. The bell becomes a counterbalance that pulls you into proper depth and an upright torso.
Explosive hip-driven pull to the rack. Trains the same load-absorption skill your legs handle on every running foot strike.
Circle the bell around your head. A shoulder and thoracic mobility drill that doubles as a low-load core warm-up.
Single-motion overhead lift — the tsar of kettlebell exercises and the most metabolically demanding KB lift.
The foundational ballistic hip hinge. The same motor pattern as late-stance push-off in running — train it and every stride produces more propulsion for less effort.
Lunge down, press the bell overhead at the bottom. Combines lower-body single-leg work with an overhead stability demand at peak instability.
Unilateral kettlebell swing. Trains the anti-rotation stability that keeps your form intact when fatigue tries to break it down in late miles.
One bell locked overhead, one at the opposite-side hip. The most demanding asymmetric carry — shoulder stability, anti-lateral core, and grip in one drill.
Walk with bells locked overhead. Builds shoulder stability, thoracic extension, and core bracing under the most demanding overhead load there is — motion.
One bell racked, one locked overhead. Mixed-position carry that trains shoulder stability through two distinct demands at once.
One bell in the rack, the other at your side. Asymmetric load — the deepest core demand of the carry family.
Walk with bells in the rack position. Teaches the breath-and-brace pattern under load — the foundation for every standing kettlebell skill.
Reverse or forward lunge with the bell racked at the shoulder. Loaded single-leg strength with an anti-rotation trunk demand from the off-center bell.
Plank position on two bells, rowing one at a time. Anti-rotation core plus unilateral pulling in one demanding package.
Seated rotational core hold with the bell passed side to side. Trains rotary trunk strength under a stable lumbar spine.
Lateral lunge with the bell held at the chest. Frontal-plane strength and adductor mobility — the plane runners neglect.
Single-arm kettlebell row from a hinged stance. Upper-back strength with anti-rotation core demand — keeps your posture upright over marathon distance.
Strict unilateral kettlebell press. Builds shoulder strength with a built-in anti-lateral core training bonus — same trunk demand as every running stride.
Unilateral hinge with the bell. Builds posterior chain strength, balance, and the hip stability that protects against runner's knee and IT band issues.
The first phase of the Turkish Get-Up — supine to seated with the bell locked straight overhead. Builds the bracing pattern that anchors every get-up.
Walk with a single bell at your side. Anti-lateral-flexion training — your obliques fight the load to keep your trunk upright stride after stride.
Front squat into overhead press, in one continuous motion. Maximum power output per rep — squat strength launches the press.
A movement screen and a strength exercise in one. Finds and fixes weak links across the whole body before they become injuries.
Hinge to the floor with one bell locked overhead. Hip mobility, thoracic rotation, and shoulder stability in one demanding movement.
Diagonal chopping pattern from high to low (or low to high) with the bell. Trains the rotational core power that transfers between hip and shoulder.