The Basics—Beginner Kettlebell Workout

This is a basic kettlebell workout that includes 3 of the best exercises for beginners.

  1. Goblet Squat
  2. Single Arm Swing (both sides)
  3. Front Press (both sides)

You perform 5 reps of each and complete 5 rounds, rest when required.

Alternatives

The alternative for the single arm press is double arm one bell press, this is good if the kettlebell you have is too heavy for single arm press. You can also change the single arm swing for double arm if the bell you have is too heavy or simply aren’t ready for single arm swings yet. So the alternative workout would be 5 Goblet Squats, 5 Double Arm Swings, 5 Double Arm Presses and perform 8 rounds.

If you don’t have good shoulder range of motion yet, work with a light weight and do quarter presses, the height of the press is just till above the head, no full lockout, bit by bit over time you will be pressing it a bit higher till the full lockout comes natural and is easy to achieve.

Kettlebell Quote

The Kettlebell Goblet Squat

This is such an amazing beginners exercise because it forces you to stay upright, which is what you want when squatting, you don’t want to be leaning forward, we already have a movement for that which is called the hip hinge, doing this works the posterior chain muscles, but with the squat you want to tax the anterior chain muscles, so your objective is to get your hips as low to the ground as possible while maintaining an upright position. Holding a kettlebell in front of your chest will force you to stay upright otherwise the kettlebell pulls you forward.

A goblet squat is a type of front squat with a goblet grip on the kettlebell, if you don’t have a goblet grip on the kettlebell then it’s more than likely it’s another type of front squat with a different grip on the kettlebell. On that note, check out our Kettlebell Grip PDF which you can download for free from our website, it has over 25+ kettlebell grip with illustrations. Once you know the grip names you can name your squats appropriately and ask your clients to hold the bell correctly.

To read more about the Goblet Squat please read this article.

Squat Deep!

As mentioned, your objective with the squat is DEPTH, but not at the cost of form and technique. Always stay upright and keep working till you can go deeper. This means that if today you can only do a quarter squat while maintaining form, then today you’re doing quarter squats even if your Facebook friends threaten to unfriend you.

quarter squat, remove friend

Most people tend to lean excessively forward when they start squatting and get no proper coaching. All the weight is on the back and removed from the quads and the hips are not going below the knee line. If you’re squatting it’s for a purpose, it’s to tax the quads, it’s to get better and stronger at squatting, it’s not to do the movement at any cost, so keep that chest out, chin up, look ahead and load up those quads!

Kettlebell Swing

Since the kettlebell swing should be perfected by all who dabble in kettlebell training it is included in this workout, the swing is the progression to cleans and the king of kettlebell exercises, the Snatch! Swinging with one arm requires more stabilization and once perfected also provides more exercise options to transition to.

Do this workout and post below or on our facebook. Questions below.

Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkXtJEF7GuQ

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