These are the 5 best kettlebell exercises for weight and fat loss
- Kettlebell Deadlift/hang lift
- Kettlebell Shoulder Press
- Kettlebell Row
- Kettlebell Chest Press
- Kettlebell Farmer Walks
These exercises change as you lose weight and get stronger. You have to follow the progression that has proven to work and take it step-by-step.
I will also explain below why these five are the best. Be prepared to put in the time, not only to read everything on this page, but also into all the videos and supplemental content provided to you. Note that you won’t be asked to pay money. You can get free access to everything you need.
Quick links:
- The Best Kettlebell Exercise For Weightloss
- What Kettlebell Weight To Start With?
- Consistency, Commitment, And Accountability
- Progressions
- How To Program Or Use These Exercises
- PDF Downloads
- Free Online Course How To Lose Weight With Kettlebells
- Lose Weight With Kettlebell Exercises
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The Best Kettlebell Exercise For Weightloss
I will assume that you came here as someone who is currently obese, i.e drastically overweight. First, congratulations on making a change. Step one is research and step two is action. Action speaks louder than words but let’s take a step back and not rush into this. If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.
Before you continue, I have to tell you that I absolutely love kettlebells and know that they are the best thing when it comes to working out, but… Rewind. Step one is to first master several bodyweight exercises, namely the:
- hip hinge
- squat
- plank/push-up
And by ‘mastering’ I am not talking about ass-to-grass deep squats, I am referring to the knowledge and understanding of the movement, how to stay safe, how to progress, and how to adjust. Those are the important things right now, not the depth, not the reps, and not the weight. Two perfectly executed slow quarter squats are going to do you a whole lot more good at this stage than twenty badly executed fast deep squats.
Let’s not forget that you are already carrying a lot of extra weight/load, so there is no need to make that load any heavier without building a solid foundation first.
1) Hip Hinge
After you have invested time into the hip hinge then it’s time to add load and you can look at including the kettlebell deadlift or more likely the hang lift (due to flexibility/range). The hip hinge deadlift is great because it will teach the foundation for the kettlebell swing, which is an explosive exercise great for cardio and even strength. Explosive exercises should be looked at after you have mastered all the slow lifts. Even though the kettlebell swing is great, in most cases the size of an obese body does not lend itself well to the mechanics of swings.
2) Squat
The squat is so fundamentals for everything in life but also for exercise. It’s extremely important to get this right, your knees will depend on it. You have a lot of weight to carry, the knees and ankles/feet are the parts that carry the most weight. They are already taxed a lot for a long period of time. Invest in some good for them. Free those feet and look into barefoot training.
3) Plank/Push-up
The plank is super important to work on your core, your core is what everything will be depending on, if you’re core is weak everything else will be weak, you will get injured and most likely will regress rather than progress. A half low plank is great to start with. Progress to a full low plank, high plank, and then take a step for push-ups off the knees.
Top 5 Kettlebell Exercises For Weight Loss
Okay, let’s get back to the reason you came to the home of the best online kettlebell education. The reason why the top 5 kettlebell exercises are great for fat loss when it comes to obesity is as follows.
The 5 kettlebell exercises work on strength and are of low impact. They are not very technical which is great as kettlebell training has a higher learning curve (well worth investing in) and it’s better to focus your time on dropping that weight first. High impact exercises should be avoided at this stage, things like running, jump rope, jumping, snatching, etc.
But what about cardio? I can already hear you thinking “I need cardio to burn more calories, etc., etc.”. Yes, burning more calories than you are eating is definitely a very huge part of this mission, but foundation first, build the strength, develop the technique, control the movement, avoid injury, and let us not forget that more muscle will burn more calories, so, let’s turn that fat into muscle! Let’s reduce calorie intake as well. Reduce what you put on your plate and pour in your glass.
1) Kettlebell Hip Hinge Deadlift
Deadlifts are great to strengthen the core, the back, grip, the legs, and more. They also work you up to kettlebell swings, which will be great for cardio, which is a component you should add to your training once you are ready.
2) Kettlebell Shoulder Press
Download the FREE PDF Master Kettlebell Racking, you will need this when pressing weight from the chest as a good racking position is extremely important, especially when you progress and start doing racked squats in the future. If you don’t invest the time in these kettlebell fundamentals now you will regret it later as kettlebell training can become painful and annoying.
3) Kettlebell Row
The kettlebell row is great to work the back but also works the core, however, at first, you should work on removing the core work and perform the exercise with support. As you get stronger and lift heavier weights you can look at removing the support and add the additional core work. Start with one kettlebell and over time you can row two kettlebells.
4) Kettlebell Chest Press
Kettlebell chest presses are great because you are laying down and working out. You just need to work on getting a good grip and perform the safety roll to get them to your chest. Download the FREE PDF Master Kettlebell Grips, guaranteed that you will thank me for it later.
5) Kettlebell Farmer Walks
Farmer walks are great as they add load in a very safe way and you’re working your trapezius, core, grip, and many other muscle groups. You can go nice and heavy which will quickly raise the heart rate. Lift the weights from an elevated platform or with a squat movement and don’t forget to put them down the same way you lifted them but in reverse.
Programming
Programming is key! Do too much and too fast and you will regret it. Learn how to be patient and program correctly, program your reps, duration, load, rest, recovery all correctly. A whole video is dedicated to programming and working out with these 5 kettlebell exercises in the free online How To Lose Weight With Kettlebells.
Slow And Steady Wins The Race
Slow and controlled, work on strength, after that you perform the same bodyweight or kettlebell exercises but at a faster pace and higher reps.
What Kettlebell Weight To Start With?
To accurately determine what kettlebell weight you should start with we need to do some tests. Without the information from the test, the following weight is a good start.
Male
On a budget
- 8 Kg kettlebell
- 16 Kg kettlebell
Better
- 8 Kg kettlebell
- 12 Kg kettlebell
- 16 Kg kettlebell
Female
On a budget
- 6 Kg kettlebell
- 14 Kg kettlebell
Better
- 6 Kg kettlebell
- 8 Kg kettlebell
- 14 Kg kettlebell
* or 16 Kg if 14 is not available
Buying two kettlebells is optimal but you can do with just one of each described above.
Consistency, Commitment, And Accountability
You are going to need all of the above to get to your goals and you are going to need to make small manageable and achievable goals too. Consistency. Keep at it no matter what the brain tells you. Commitment. Commit and make no excuses! Accountability. Find a place where you stay accountable. Invest money into it, free is all too easy to give up.
Join our private online Caveman Inner Circle with over 75 awesome people for weekly workouts, coaching, commitment, consistency, and accountability.
The number one thing is the mind and conquering your fears. You can’t let the feeling of apprehension, lack of comfort, or awkwardness around other people keep you from who want to be. For those that need time to overcome this, we will provide an additional support group called Lose30. This group is hidden and completely private, no one but the members of Lose30 will be able to see what happens in the group. Once you’ve joined the inner circle you need to request access to this group by emailing us.
Progressions
Once you have developed good core and overall strength, mastered the basics, and have lost some of your weight, then it’s time to progress to other exercises and become more dynamic with them. You also want to include some more endurance workouts in your programming. Things like clean and jerk, swings, half snatches, and so on.
You can learn all these kettlebell exercises from our book Kettlebell Exercise Encyclopedia, and when you are ready to progress from there, you can start looking at our Kettlebell Complexes Made Simple. If you are interested in digging deeper into the fundamentals of kettlebell training, which I highly recommend, then you should check out Kettlebell Training Fundamentals or 21-Days To Kettlebell Training For Beginners.
How To Program Or Use These Exercises
Now that you know how to perform the exercises, you still are missing one vital piece of information, and that is how to program these exercises in a workout. You can enroll in our online course completely free and access the full videos.
PDF Downloads
Here are the links to the free PDFs that are important for grip and racking. You can download these from our website for free.
Free Online Course How To Lose Weight With Kettlebells
You can unlock free access to the full-length video and online course with all the kettlebell exercises broken down and a lot more details with a simple share, like, or subscribe below.
Lose Weight With Kettlebell Exercises
Are kettlebells the answer to weight loss? Unlock the video below to find out.
Other Recommend Resources
- Preventing Kettlebell Training Injuries
- 21-Days To Kettlebell Training For Beginners
- Kettlebell Training Fundamentals
- Kettlebell Workout Books
- Kettlebell Complexes Made Simple
I see many videos online showing instructors teaching the kettlebell swing without a hip snap. Is this a good swing technique and should I be doing swings this way?
Hi Kevin, great question. What I can highly recommend is that you find out what the difference is between them and when/why to do one over the other, or why to use both. There is a lot of free information on this website that explains it all, but you have to have the drive to want to dig deeper.