What Weight Kettlebell?

Kettlebell weight is traditionally measured in poods. 1 pood is approximately 35lbs or 16kg. Typically most kettlebell ranges will increase in 4kg increments. The smallest kettlebell I have seen on the market is 4kg.

What weight should I start with?

I’m not going to apologise here for telling you something available on lots of other sites. These are the standard guidelines for starting weights for a kettlebell.

The key thing when choosing a Kettlebell is that it is a totally different being to a dumbbell. Historically, one of the reasons people stopped using kettlebells is that they found they could use more weight if they moved to dumbbells.

I’ll go into more science later on the kettlebell and its benefits, but in simple terms, the kettlebell sits away from the centre of your grip, as opposed to a dumbbell where the weight is evenly distributed through the handle. This means you use a lot more muscles to lift and stabilise the kettlebell.

You also need to consider some of the main exercises such as the swing and snatch which are a lot more dynamic than “traditional” dumbbell exercises, and you need to be able to control the weight. (At the bottom of the swing movement it’s estimated the force is 3-4 times the weight of the bell)

Once you’ve been using kettlebells for a while, typically a lady will do most of her work with a 16kg bell and a man will use a 24kg bell. A lot of the military men who use kettlebells for fitness (and obviously can’t carry a full set of ‘bells when they’re on duty) will take 1 x 24kg. With 1 bell, depending on exercise select you can do both strength and conditioning routines - no problem!

16kg/24kg may not seem a lot of weight and there are heavier bells out there so in time you may progress right up to the 40kg bell, commonly known as “the beast”. You can obviously do work with double kettlebells but for the first 8-12 weeks (minimum!) it’s really worth spending the time getting a good base to avoid injury. Use this time as practice.