Kettlebell Exercises for Muscle Toning

How to tone up with kettlebells

One of the questions often asked by any kettlebell beginner is

• Top 4 kettlebell toning exercises
• Stomach toning kettlebell exercises
• Kettlebell arm toning exercises
• Kettlebell leg toning exercises
• The secret to muscle toning
• Strength training (new window)
• Aerobic exercise (new window)

So, how to tone up with kettlebells, are kettlebells good for toning, and what’s the secret? First, let’s be clear that it’s not weight you want to lose but fat. For muscle toning, you need to put on muscle. For females, this might sound daunting but it’s the way it is and there is no way around that if a toned body is desired. There is no need to worry about looking like a bodybuilder or gaining muscles that make you look like a man, it’s not going to happen. You will not become bulky.

To get those muscles toned, you need to take up strength training and remove the layer of fat that’s covering the muscles. You need to stress the muscles and that’s not going to happen with a very light kettlebell weight and high repetitions.

Top 4 kettlebell toning exercises

It all comes down to the programming of the kettlebell exercises, picking the right weight, the right repetitions, the right rest, the right split, etc. For a minimal selection of kettlebell exercises to cover most bases:

1. Kettlebell shoulder press
2. Kettlebell chest press
3. Kettlebell bent over row
4. Kettlebell racked squat

These kettlebell exercises cover the following muscles:

• Triceps
• Deltoids
• Rhomboids
• Abdominals
• Trapezius
• Pectorals
• Latissimus dorsi
• Gluteals
• Hamstrings
• Quadriceps
• Calves
• And more…

These muscles cover your legs, stomach, arms, back, and your butt. Basically, your entire body is hit with these four kettlebell exercises.

Kettlebell arm toning exercises

For those that don’t want to neglect the biceps, I also highly recommend biceps curls with the kettlebell. The great thing about standing biceps curls is that it also works your upper back and even your shoulders (stabilization).

For those that want a bit more excitement than just 8 to 10 reps of each kettlebell exercise, try this kettlebell combo that targets the arms and shoulders.

Kettlebell leg toning exercises

How to tone your legs with kettlebells? The main muscle groups in the legs are the gluteals, quadriceps, calves, and hamstrings. The racked squat is super effective when it comes to leg exercises for toning. The racked squat also works the upper back and the rest of the core.

Again, if you want to make your toning workouts more exciting and fun, add some leg and arm work together in a combo.

If you’re short on time, combine your strength and cardio in one toning routine.

Check out our Click Play membership for over 200 kettlebell workouts that cover cardio, strength, endurance, toning, and more. Many kettlebell workouts that you can complete from home and all you have to do is click play and follow along.

Stomach toning kettlebell exercises

How to tone your stomach with kettlebells? The main muscles in the stomach area are the rectus abdominus, external obliques, internal obliques, and transversus abdominis. To work the rectus abdominus kettlebell weighted crunches and leg raises are going to be key. Crunches will target the upper part and leg raises target the lower part. However popular, sit-ups are not the answer. If you have a bar at home then hanging leg raises or toes-to-bar are awesome for this area. If you don’t, use supine floor leg raises.

To target the obliques, both internal and external, anything with rotation and lateral flexion is going to be optimal. Kettlebell exercises like the Windmill and Side Bends are perfect to target the rotation and lateral flexion of the spine.

To target the transversus abdominis, kettlebell exercises such as Racked Squats, Deadlifts, and even heavy Shoulder Presses will do the trick if you intentionally compress and tense the abdominal wall.

The secret to muscle toning

The secret to muscle toning with kettlebells is that there is no secret. The term ‘toning’ is a marketing ploy by trainers and ‘health experts’ to sell and appeal to women. If you search our website you’ll most likely not find a lot on toning and that’s because we prefer to be real.

Muscle toning is no different from normal resistance training for growth, it’s hypertrophy training with fat loss. So, the secret is the good old kettlebell training sessions 2 to 3 times a week with cardio and nutrition in check. Also, women don’t need to train differently from men when it comes to strength training. With the exception being some of the focus points, like for example, almost never would women want to focus on growth in the forearms whereas men would. And men will focus more on the biceps rather than the butt, etc. But the concepts behind the training remain the same.

Muscles either shrink or they grow and when they grow it’s called hypertrophy which is a reaction in response to the training stimulus. How far you take that growth is of importance, luckily, or unluckily for some, that process takes a long time and one does not just look like a man overnight or grow bulky. So, you could say that the real secret is to use the quickest route to build the right amount of muscle for you and maintain that.

Now, can high reps tone your muscles? Have you seen kettlebell sport people? They do lots of reps, they work on endurance but they also increase the weight they lift, so they get to work under a good amount of resistance and work cardio at the same time.

High reps and a light weight is not going to provide a stimulus to the muscles for growth and will not increase the muscle size. The quickest route to being ‘toned’ is the fastest route to optimal muscle growth and then maintaining that point at which you’re happy, and that is a hypertrophy program. Add the right workouts for fat loss and you have the best recipe for muscle toning.

Summary

In summary, look at your diet, focus on fat loss, and do resistance training with kettlebells. With a healthy diet and kettlebell exercise, you’ll improve your muscle tone and definition.

Related:

• How To Use a Kettlebell For Strength
• Kettlebell workout goals
• Kettlebell workout