Kettlebell Workouts
Welcome to my Nourishing Moves Kettlebell Workouts. This page is an ongoing resource and video collection showing some of my favourite and most effective kettlebell routines. It aims to introduce you to the harder, more athletic side of my nourishing moves training philosophy.
I have been using kettlebells with clients for just over 10 years after completing my first kettlebell certification with BJ Rule in London. I later went on to complete my Strong First SFG certification in 2014 under the instruction of Iron Tamer Dave Whitley and Fabio Zonin
StrongFirst SFG November 2014 with Iron Tamer Dave Whitley and Fabio Zonin
Today kettlebells are often my first tool of choice to help clients who want to build extra strength, endurance and mobility. As a welcome side effect body composition also naturally improves.
Using kettlebells effectively is a real skill. Before trying any of my workouts you may like to take a look at some of my kettlebell tutorial videos to help you to develop the correct technique. You can find my tutorial links bellow.
Remember its Beautiful movement that creates beautiful bodies so practice, listen to your body and enjoy.
Warm Up
This simple routine will warm and wake up your joints and muscles. Importantly it also helps get your brain in gear, preparing you for the exercise to come.
Kneeling Kettlebell Warm Up
This kneeling warm up routine is perfect to wake up the various postural muscles needed for some kettlebell swings and presses.
"Humane Burpee"
The "Humane Burpee" is the perfect kettlebell workout if you are short on time as it can be completed in just under 5 minutes. The Humane Burpee targets the key muscles that get weak and tight from sitting at a desk. By putting the exercises together into a complex the circulation soon gets pumping too!!
"Skip & Swing"
The "Skip & Swing" kettlebell workout has a very simple yet highly effective format. The kettlebell swing is there to develop strength-endurance while the skipping improves co-ordination and agility. This is perfect for those who want to be more competitive at thier chosen sport, as well as those looking to stay youthful.
"Anti Ageing Ladder"
The Anti Ageing ladder is the perfect routine to reawaken your body from a day at the desk, helping to build a strong yet mobile body. The kettlebell swing fires up those muscles which go to sleep from sitting too long. The Hindu press up opens up and stretches those muscles which get stagnant and tight from a day at the office.
Core Discovery
The Core Discovery kettlebell workout does just that. It puts core stability to the test in 5 separate movements challenging you from your feet to your hands. Remember to stay tight. Tension is strength.
Beast Mode
"Beast Mode" is a great challenge in human movement. The routine nourishes the body-mind by developing strength, mobility, co-ordination, endurance, agility, body awareness and concentration. It's not often we get to move our bodies as nature intended so allow it to play outdoors, in nature with this challenging routine.
2-1-3 Double Strength
"2-1-3 Double Strength" uses 3 of the main human movement patterns and develops raw strength within them. The repetition ratio is suited to the individual lifts so you can use the same two kettlebells and put the exercises into a short sequence.
Upper Body Builder
"Upper Body Builder" uses higher reps and less rest to create a muscle building effect. The 4 exercises focus on the upper body muscles but as with most kettlebell exercises the whole body will still get some work.
Beginner Kettlebell Workout
"Beginner Kettlebell Workout" introduces you to three key and complimentary kettlebell exercises to help you get the most from your body.
The standing plank teaches you to hold your body with tension in a standing position. This is an essential skill when strength training and exactly how you should hold your body at the top of a swing and squat. The kettlebell swing will work the back of your body with the goblet squat focusing more on the front of your body making this a simple yet complete workout.
Backside Builder
"Backside Builder" "is designed to focus on the backside muscles in a progressive and challenging way. This routine is perfect for people who need to develop more strength and muscle in the backside/glutes.
Kettlebell Bodybuilder
"Kettlebell Bodybuilder" uses the optimum principles to build muscle. 8-12 rep range, multi joint exercises with short rest periods. As we get older and hormone levels change and muscle soon wastes away. This is a great routine to build the body back up to be full of youthful vigour.
Gladiator Complex
The Gladiator Complex is the brain child of RKC II Gabriele D’Angelo. Its based on using a pair of kettlebells for 10 reps and 5 sets.
Start with 10 kettlebell swings and a 10 - 20 second rest.
For the second set perform 8 kettlebell swings and 2 double cleans with a 10 - 20 second rest.
For the third set perform 6 kettlebell swings, 2 cleans and 2 squats with a 10 - 20 second rest.
For the fourth set perform 4 kettlebell swings, 2 cleans, 2 squats and 2 presses with a 10 - 20 second rest.
For the final set perform 2 kettlebell swings, 2 cleans, 2 squats, 2 presses and 2 squats. Now take a 2 minute rest before repeating this routine for 4 more rounds.
This is a true whole body kettlebell workout which uses the kettlebell swing as it’s foundation. If you complete all five rounds and stick to the time limit you will feel how perfectly this routine sits between strength and cardiovascular exercise.
A good weight for men to aim for is a pair of 16kgs kettbells. Women should build up to a pair of 12kgs kettlebells
30 Reps of Tension
The idea with the "30 reps of tension complex" is to teach the body to stay tight with a series of movements. Remember tension equals strength and this complex demands that the body stays tight and strong.
Start with 10 double kettlebell swings and move straight into 5 front squats followed by 5 alternate presses, finishing with another 5 front squats.
Aim for 5 rounds with as much rest as needed between rounds. Go as heavy as you feel you can manage.
200 Swings 4 Kettlebells Challenge
The swing is the king of kettlebell exercises! Not only does it improve strength, power, burn fat and build muscle, it also improves our posture and helps fix our bodies from the chair based shape we can easily become. This is why Steve Maxwell believes that the kettlebell swing alone is superior to 99% of sophisticated strength and conditioning programs out there.
This advanced challenge focuses solely on the kettlebell swing and asks you to perform swings with 4 different weights. In this example I used a 20kg, 24kg, 28kg and 32kg kettlebell. There are 4 rounds to this challenge with 80 swings to be done in the first, 60 swings in the second, 40 swings in the third round and 20 in the 4th and final round.
For the first round perform 20 swings with the 20kg kettlebell, 20 swings with the 24kg kettlebell, 20 swings with the 28kg kettlebell and 20 swings with the 32kg kettlebell.
After a short rest begin round 2, repeating the pattern but for 15 swings with the the 4 progressively heavier kettlebells. Perform 10 reps with each kettlebell for the third round and just 5 reps with each kettlebell for the 4th round. By the end of the 4th round you will have completed 200 kettlebell swings.
Take as much rest as you need but time the challenge to give you a bench mark. Look to shorten the time it takes to complete the challenge with practice. If you can complete the challenge in under 10 minutes its time to increase the weights. Swap the lightest kettlebell with a new heavier one. For this example I would replace the 20kg kettlebell with a 36kg kettlebell so the order would be 24kg kettlebell, 28kg kettlebell, 32kg kettlebell and 36kg kettlebell.
The video of me attempting this challenge shows it isn’t easy.
Perfect Pair Ladder
This perfect pair ladder challenge takes two complimentary exercises and puts them together. To simplify the kettlebell swing will strengthen the muscles in the back of your body with the burpee strengthening the muscles in the front of your body. Both exercises work to improve power, speed, strength, cardiovascular health, agility and burn fat.
Pick a medium weight kettlebell for your fitness level and perform 20 swings. After and with as little rest as possible perform 10 burpees.
Perform another 20 swings but this time 9 burpees. After another 20 kettlebell swings perform 8 burpees. Continue this pattern until all the way down the ladder to 20 swings and 1 burpee. You will have completed 200 kettlebell swings and 55 burpees which your muscles, heart and lungs will confirm!
Try to complete this challenge as quickly as possible.
To increase the challenge you could swap the swing to a single arm swing and perform 10 reps on each arm. Or try replacing the swing altogether with a kettlebell snatch, again perform 10 on each arm.