Best Kettlebell Workouts: Pro Techniques (Revealed)

The kettlebell goblet squat is the same as the crush grip goblet squat, an anterior-loaded squat variant.

I've found that instructing my clients to hold the weight forward helps them stand straight, tighten their upper back, and maintain proper breathing.

This technique uses the weight as a counterbalance, encouraging them to evenly distribute their weight between both legs instead of leaning over their knees.

The goblet squat is primarily a lower-body exercise, but there are a few upper-body activities because the weight is held anteriorly in your hands.

How to perform:

1. Stand with your knees slightly wider than shoulder width apart, a kettlebell in each hand clasped in front of your chest, palms facing each other.
2. Bend both knees and descend into a squat, holding the weights in the same posture and tensing the glutes throughout to avoid rounding your back.
3. Drive back up to the starting position.
4. Repeat for reps.

Single-Arm Kettlebell Overhead Press

I often recommend the kettlebell single-arm overhead press to my clients for strengthening their upper body, chest, and core muscles.

I emphasize the importance of good shoulder mobility to safely push heavy weights overhead, and find this exercise excellent for testing and improving their range of motion.

A kettlebell is a unique tool since the weight is not equally distributed at the grip like barbells and dumbbells.

Unilateral movements, like the single-arm kettlebell overhead press, exercise one side of the body at a time, assisting in developing balanced strength and an appealing physique.

How to perform:

1. Assume a standing stance with a neutral hold on a kettlebell.
2. Clean or curl the weight into a racked front position.
3. Press the bell aloft until your shoulder is fully flexed and your elbow is locked out.
4. Return the kettlebell to its starting position slowly.
5. Repeat for the specified number of times.

The kettlebell deadlift is a fundamental movement that must be mastered first. If you're unfamiliar with the technique, learn how to deadlift with this guide.

The kettlebell deadlift works your posterior chain, including lower body muscles such as glutes, quadriceps, and hamstrings.

It also works your upper body muscles such as your back, deltoids, erector spinae, and trapezius.

How to perform:

1. Place a kettlebell between your feet, the handle lined up with the arches of your legs, and stand with both feet hip-width apart.
2. Engage your core while relaxing your knees and hinging at the hips (picture tapping your buttocks on a wall).
3. Roll your shoulders downward and back, packing your lat muscles in and away from the ears, and hold the kettlebell on both sides of the handle.
4. Externally spin your arms as though you're attempting to split the handle in two on either side.
5. Return to the beginning position by pushing your feet away from the floor.
6. Repeat for the desired number of reps.

Kettlebell Pistol Squat

I've seen how the pistol squat, a fantastic unilateral exercise, engages various muscle groups, particularly the legs, core, and hips, in my clients' workouts.

This exercise also provides a cardiovascular challenge due to its full-body demands.

When guiding clients through the unsupported pistol squat, they perform it on one leg with the other extended in front, focusing on using their full range of motion to squat down, pause, and then powerfully return to the start position.

How to perform:

1. Straighten one leg before you and curl the toes back.
2. Keep your shoulders down while holding the kettlebell in your hands.
3. Maintain your weight on the heel and midfoot.
4. Sit the hips back as if doing a conventional squat.
5. Slowly descend till you hit rock bottom.
6. Pause for 2 to 3 seconds.
7. Return to the starting position by driving from the heel.
8. Repeat for the desired number of reps.

The kettlebell snatch emphasizes the fundamentals of strong leg and hip extension, which is subsequently applied to the upper extremities.

Many other strength exercises, like the barbell deadlift, snatch, and clean, share the posture of the hips and spine and the notion of midline stabilization under load.

How to perform:

1. Put a kettlebell between the feet. Grab the handles with one hand, bend your legs, and push your buttocks back.
2. Look forward and swing the weight back between your legs, then instantly reverse the direction to get to the starting position.
3. Bring the kettlebell upward (this should be a rapid action) by driving through your hips.
4. As the weight accelerates and rises, swivel your hand and shoulder (palms facing ahead) and press straight up.
5. Lock the load over your head.
6. Return the kettlebell to its original position between the legs.
7. Repeat for the desired number of reps.

Single-Arm Kettlebell Clean

The one-arm kettlebell clean, less technical than Olympic powerlifting, boosts full-body power and explosiveness through knee and hip extension, common in power sports.

This move can enhance vertical jumps. Focusing on one side, it also hones torso stability, beefing up core strength. Plus, like all kettlebell exercises, it ramps up grip strength.

How to perform:

1. Place both feet shoulder-width apart with the knees slightly bent.
2. Take a loose grip on a kettlebell with your thumb pointing behind and through the legs.
3. Inhale, drive through your hips and lift the kettlebell, rotating the handle around the fingers into the locked position.
4. Take care not to twist the weight or flip it so that it lands on your forearm (this workout should not result in bruising).
5. The kettlebell should be lifted to shoulder height in a straight line, not an arc.
6. At the peak of the exercise, force your shoulder down (squeeze your armpit), compress your triceps into your ribs, and rest the kettlebell between the forearm and biceps (almost in the crook of your elbow).
7. After exhaling, swivel or spin the kettlebell back to the initial position.
8. Throughout the workout, keep your core muscles and glutes engaged.
9. Repeat for reps.

In my experience as a trainer, I've found the kettlebell halo to be an excellent warm-up exercise for the shoulder girdle.

I often recommend it to my clients as a basic warm-up before starting their kettlebell routines or as an active recovery movement between sessions.

Additionally, it's a fantastic shoulder-strengthening workout, particularly beneficial for my senior clients.

How to perform:

1. Begin by standing tall and with good posture. The shoulders should be at ease and over the hips. Knees should be kept straight yet relaxed (rather than locked or tense).
2. Grip the horns of the kettlebell in front of your body. The handle should be facing down, and the bottom of the kettlebell should be facing up.
3. Begin by making a circle to the right.
4. Raise the kettlebell around the right side of the head and lower it behind your neck.
5. Finish the circle by moving it back around the left side of the head to the starting point.
6. Repeat for reps.

Kettlebell Push Press

This workout is one of the effective kettlebell arm exercises that will work your upper body, notably your deltoids, upper pecs, and triceps while challenging you to engage your core.

How to perform:

1. Stand with both feet below the hips, the kettlebells racked on each shoulder, elbows directly in front of your torso. This is where you'll begin.
2. Dip while remaining upright by bending your knees and flatting your heels on the floor.
3. Drive straight up; once your hips have extended, push the kettlebells above, maintaining your body taut and your arms near your ears.
4. The rep is finished when your hands are locked out overhead, and your hips and knees are completely stretched.
5. Return to a steady standing position by lowering the kettlebells to the shoulders with control before initiating the next repetition.

The kettlebell push-up is a variation of the standard push-up in which you grip a kettlebell instead of your hands on the floor.

This type of push-up needs more abdominal, chest, and shoulder strength.

How to perform:

1. Set the kettlebell on the floor. Put your hands on the kettlebell and get into a plank position.
2. In a push-up, bend your arms and drop yourself to the ground.
3. Return to the plank position.
4. Repeat for reps.

Many kettlebell workouts are unilateral, so you only utilize one arm or leg.

This, according to NIH, allows you to work on both sides equitably rather than depending on your superior side to complete a movement. It can help you overcome weaknesses and build strength [3].

Exercising one limb at a time helps with your balance. To moderate the activity, you must stabilize yourself.

For instance, pressing above with a single hand forces you to stabilize your trunk.

Build Posterior Chain Strength

According to a study from the National Library of Medicine (NLM), workouts like kettlebell swing may improve your heart rate and burn more calories from muscle, but when it gets to developing strength all through the posterior chain – the muscle groups on the back of your torso – they are the greatest [4].

Furthermore, their form and size will engage your muscles differently than barbells and dumbbells.