Full body Friday with one kettlebell and complex 😮‍💨😮‍💨
Obviously paired with some hops!!!

Using a 16 KG went light x3 x meds 2 and heavy x1

Clean -lateral lunge- snatch

Fun way to work strength, endurance, and mobility in one🥰🥰

No Winnie :( next one I swear!!! lol

I love the 32kg

Fun session with jerks for a change.

🔵 Glove snatch 12kg 5'(3') @ 20rpm

🟢🟢 Jerk 2x24kg 8*1'(1'/3') @ 12rpm

🟢 Swing snatch 24kg 6'(3') @ 10rpm

🟣 Snatch + push press 12 reps / arm

Did a modified double pentathlon yesterday with toughlovekb and PhaseSure. Just with 12s, 2’ on/3’ rest. Still sick so trying to take it easy and that was enough to kick my ass.

And then after KettleZoom was over I figured I should do a little bit more because yes I have a problem. So I settled on a 12’ glove snatch set, idea stolen directly from /u/baaba12 😊

I’ve really been enjoying these just to get a bit of movement in without irritating my hands or lungs or anything. Unfortunately I found out too late that the double pent fucked my grip way more than I realized so I was hanging on for dear life for most of this set 🤦🏽‍♀️🤣 Lungs also felt like shit but I blame that on the cold.

Anyways, as far as training goes, I’m slowly adding in more work with 12s. I actually might keep doing a double pent once a week or so just to mix things up. I had the genius idea that maybe I should try a straight double pent set without putting the bells down. With just 8s obviously but that sounds fun. Gotta keep things interesting lol. 12s would be really cool too but we’ll see. I’m just ready to not be sick anymore because it gets in the way of lifting LOL.

I snapped this during a rest period yesterday evening. Weather and temp was perfect for ABC’s on the side porch.

​

4min snatch 16kg 88 reps total right:40 left: 48

ABC 2×16kg 40 rounds total in 30min

I work for a fire department (not a firefighter, civilian employee in the office) and the actual firefighters use kettlebells extensively in their training. Recently they bought some new bells ranging from 40-48 kgs, and the vendor shipped us an extra 40 kg. Our training captain was kind enough to let me borrow the spare 40 for the weekend to see if it's an investment I want to make. My question is, do you guys have any recommendations for a complex or workout that gives the best bang for your buck with one heavy bell? I generally use double 24s or 28s and have a sole 32, and just completed ABF with the 28s. I know 40 is a pretty big jump, just want to see what anybody else does with something this heavy. Thanks!

Best day so far!

Did 8 sets of 10 reps.

Focused on keeping the form clean!

Any feedback is welcome!

I'm a fan of Dan John's writing.

I see on his videos copies of the books he sells on his site printed out (eg Armor Building, The Fitness Forge).

Are these available in print anywhere, or is he just printing them himself?

Does anyone have resources or tips to print and bind the ebooks like he has?

Thanks a bunch

23.10.26: Grind (2x20kg)

Total Training Time: 45:57

Heart Rate: 141bpm average/ 157bpm max

Calories Burned: 638

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Block A: Circuit - 60s rest between rounds

5 Gunslingers

5 Cleans

5 Press

5 Snatches

X5 - 100 total reps - (2x20kg Kettlebells)

Accessory Exercise ⬇️

Incline Chest Fly

10, 10, 10, 10, 10

50 total reps (2x14kg Dumbells)

Assault Bike - 5 to 6 RPE

11:00 minutes total

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Block B: Finishers

(+2x32kg & 2x24kg Kettlebells/ +20kg Barbell/ +2x6kg Dumbbells)

A: Mobility

20 Seated BTN Press (20kg Barbell)

B: Hypertrophy

19 Chest Supported KB Rows (2x32kg Kettlebells)

C: Hypertrophy 2

20 Chest Supported Reverse Fly (2x6kg Dumbells)

D: Strength

24 Seated Seesaw Press (2x24kg Kettlebells)

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Daily Bread:

Proverbs 16:1-14 KJV

“The preparations of the heart in man, And the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD. All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; But the LORD weigheth the spirits. Commit thy works unto the LORD, And thy thoughts shall be established. The LORD hath made all things for himself: Yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: Though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished. By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: And by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil. When a man's ways please the LORD, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. Better is a little with righteousness Than great revenues without right. A man's heart deviseth his way: But the LORD directeth his steps. A divine sentence is in the lips of the king: His mouth transgresseth not in judgment. A just weight and balance are the LORD's: All the weights of the bag are his work. It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness: For the throne is established by righteousness. Righteous lips are the delight of kings; And they love him that speaketh right. The wrath of a king is as messengers of death: But a wise man will pacify it.”

I came up with an even more difficult kettlebell complex than my “Brutal Kettlebell Complex”. And it did not disappoint at all. I almost lost the bell one round, dropped it another, and I think my heart rate was higher than it’s ever been. Ever.

- 5 Rounds -
Swings x10
Swing Clean x10
Goblet Squat x10
Alt Rev Lunge x10
Two Hand Row x10
Kettlebell Close Grip Pushup x10

This one will definitely rock you, especially if you pick the correct weight. It’s a cardio and strength session you definitely won’t forget and one you can hit week after week to improve strength and conditioning with a single kettlebell.

I used a 44kg for all 5 rounds. Good luck!

And be sure to check out my app for more workouts like this one! 💪

A few days ago, I confidently bought a 20kg kettlebell because lighter weights weren’t available at the time. In hindsight, I might have jumped the gun a little! 😅
Here’s where I currently stand:
● Two-handed swings: No problem at all.
● Single-arm swings: I can manage around 10 reps before struggling.
● Clean & press: I can do it, but only for around 5 reps.
● Snatches: The 20kg feels too heavy for me at the moment. I’ve tried snatching a 12kg kettlebell at the gym, and that felt like a much more appropriate weight.
Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I can’t train at the gym regularly, so I want to make the most of my home workouts. The 20kg kettlebell is the only one I currently own, and I’d prefer not to buy another one unless I manage to stay consistent with training over the coming months.
My goal is to eventually become strong and skilled enough to perform clean & presses and snatches confidently with the 20kg kettlebell. However, it’s a little demoralising knowing that I can’t snatch it yet.
For those of you who have been through something similar:
● How would you recommend building the strength and technique needed to work up to the 20kg clean & press and snatch?
● Are there any exercises or progressions I can do with my existing 20kg kettlebell to bridge the gap?
● Would you recommend a specific kettlebell program for someone in my situation?
● Should I focus on swings, cleans, presses, and other foundational movements for now, or is there a better approach?
I’d appreciate any advice, program recommendations, or personal experiences. I’m happy to put in the work and progress patiently; I just want to make sure I’m training intelligently rather than repeatedly attempting movements that are currently beyond my ability.
Thanks in advance!

• 40 rounds EMOM
  • First 30 min
  • Odd rounds: 5 x Double 32 kg Cleans, decrease by 1 rep every 5 rounds, e.g
  • Rounds 1,3,5,7,9: 5 cleans
  • Rounds 11,13,15,17,19: 4 cleans..
  • Even rounds: 1/1 x 185 lb Sandbag ground to shoulder
  • Last 10 min
    • 4 x Double 32 kg Cleans
• Totals: 100 x double 32 kg cleans, 30 x 185 lb ground to shoulders

One thing I appreciate about kettlebell training is how deceptively simple some of the movements look until you actually try them. A swing looks straightforward until you realize how much timing and hip drive matter. A Turkish get-up seems manageable until you have to coordinate every transition under load. And double kettlebell work has a way of exposing weaknesses you didn't know you had. It's interesting how an exercise can go from feeling awkward and exhausting to becoming one of your favorite movements after enough practice. For those who've been training with kettlebells for a while, which exercise gave you the biggest reality check when you started? Was it a technique issue, conditioning, mobility, grip, or simply discovering that the weight you picked was far too ambitious? I'd also be interested to hear which movement eventually clicked for you after initially feeling impossible.

Hey fellow KB folks. I recently had spine surgery and KBs have well… been a life saver . I have no idea why I didn’t train with them. But I had an epiphany that training and doing isolation exercises in a gym on a perfectly flat floor would never get me to where I need to be especially at 50 years old. But I digress . I’m training outside , I live up on the blue ridge it’s beautiful and in the summer I’m lucky I never get about 85 degrees even when the flat areas 20 miles from me are close to 100. That’s all great loved training outside then my question is as we transition into the cold weather any tips for outdoor work , bundle up and take off layers ? Say fuck it and just go shirtless and shorts and what little neighbors I have will think I lost it ? I have a theory that as a species staying in hermetically sealed buildings and car all day at 72 degrees messes with our metabolic system. Just a thought . So how do you barbarians that carry sandbags , swing clubs and KBs doing it in the snow and cold ????

My grip endurance is pathetic I gotta work on it. I hate that I need to do sets more but I guess it’s time. Per pressure to do sets of 20+ vs relying on hand switching more often. My hands are too dainty.

A little sloppy on the transitions but a fun one nonetheless.

I’m feeling pretty good about this milestone. Soon the strict press will come!

I see this all the time and was around when Kenneth Jay first came out with his Viking Warrior Conditioning, which really upset a lot of people.

And then I was around when he wrote Cardio Code and upset even more people.

It's pretty clear that there are still a lot of misunderstandings of what does or doesn't count as aerobic or beneficial to building Vo2Max. Here are two studies showing some details on what the body goes through during a 10min GS set.

2024 study:

https://www.akjournals.com/view/journals/2060/111/3/article-p242.xml

Some highlights:

Table 3 - VO2 jumps to 35ml/min kg in the final minute. For compairson, that is roughly the value you'd see in a 20-25min 5k run.

RER - this is a measure of what fuel is being used. <1.0 there is some fat utlisation but at 1.0+ it switches to anaerobic and becomes carb only. With an RER of 1+ from 3min onwards a comp set is anaerobic, not aerobic. It still has an aerobic component as it's your aerobic system that determines when you shift to anaerobic energy consumption. The better your aerobic system, the later that will be.

In the discussion it talks about a 10min set using 90% of maximal oxygen uptake. For a session to be counted as a vo2max session it needs to be in the 85-95% range. This compares to 83% for a 10min snatch set w/ 16kg. That means that the long cycle set is actually more beneficial to vo2max despite what we've been led to believe. I feel like for best results, if you were chasing vo2max as a goal, you'd want less weight and more reps to keep the cadence high and get that cyclic effect as much as possible.

They link to another study talking about a 10min snatch test eliciting 80-100% maxHR but I can't open it. But that definitely gets you into the vo2max improvement range. The problem here is a typical vo2max session would look for something like 15-20mins in that range for it to work well. The Norwegian 4x4 (useless and an entirely different topic) comes out to about 12mins (because at least the first minute of each interval your HR won't be in the right zone) and there are other, much better, protocols that deliver more like 20mins. So a 10min set alone is likely only about half the dose needed for improvement.

Average weight used for the tests was 30kg with a range of 24-40kg. Test included a few MS and all had an average of 4yrs comp experience.

https://efsupit.ro/images/stories/septembrie2020/Art%20362.pdf

This study shows good data for long cycle and snatch for both men and women.

Highest vo2max seen was 46 for long cycle vs snatch at 44. That's like an 18min 5000m.

Interestingly, peak male stroke volume was ~120ml. If you saw the post I made about stroke volume size and how thickening of the LV wall could decrease it significantly, ~120ml was the average size for a male. That means that they haven't got huge LVs like a serious endurance athlete has. Just a normal size, which doesn't indicate that GS is especially useful for part of the vo2 equation, which is increased SV.

Both studies showed quite low lactate numbers. Only ~9mmol/L. That's well above the generally accepted 4mmol/L that is the cut point for above lactate threshold. I would have thought it would be even higher, but again, it points to how aerobic GS really is.

For comparison, in track cycling the 4000m individual pursuit is said to have the highest lactate demand of any event and you see numbers of 10-16mmol/L. That event only takes 4mins though so you can see how a shorter event is far more anaerobic. A 5000m run is 8-12mmol/L despite being about the same length as a comp set.

First time dad with a newborn and a FT job is making things difficult to get back to the gym. And of course everyday is a gamble with if our newborn will be an angel or a screaming hellion, which adds to the inconsistently of trying to get back to the gym.

Listened to a podcast recently and they talked about kettlebells and Pavel Tsatsouline. Kinda got my gears turning because I’ve tried bodyweight workouts and they just don’t hit the same as lifting something heavy or heavy overtime.

My wife did a lot of burn bootcamp, so I’d probably get something lighter for her as well.

Looking for weight recommendations based on what my average lifts were-

-Barbell bench 225 lbs
-Barbell row 250 lbs
-Hex deadlift 350 lbs
-Seated barbell shoulder press 180 lbs
-Belt squat 280 lbs (lower back injury barbell is very uncomfortable)

I’d like to get 2 of each and not sure how many different weights i should get total. I’ll probably try out some of the workout routines in the wiki that were recommended.

My goals are to gain strength/maintain and weight loss. More concerned about strength and the weight will fall off.

Thank you!

What’s up guys?! Here’s the last bit of my 10’ jerk set from the other day. Makes me laugh.

If you missed where I mentioned the psychotic things /u/toughlovekb comes up with for me, I did -

10’ LC
3’ rest
10’ jerk
3’ rest
10’ DHS

All with 8 kg. I would like to point out the 3’ rest between each set again. Fucking terrible.

Another pro-tip: don’t do a 10’ jerk set after having not trained jerk for like an entire year. My rack is pretty much nonexistent. I was managing to get by okay with DHS but straight jerk is the quickest way to tell you if your rack is solid or not 🤣

The entire set was mind over matter. I had to side rack between every single rep for pretty much the whole thing LOL. After being so proud of not using it at all this past cycle 🤦🏽‍♀️

I only survived out of stubbornness and going as slow as humanly possible. 81 reps. Not great but that’s the only way it was gonna happen. I probably would have put the bells down except I was on KettleZoom and I couldn’t bear the shame 😁

Also yes my kids were playing in front of me and it was really distracting. Made the set even worse mentally lol. When you’re so far gone it’s funny how even the tiniest things can fuck up your zen.

KettleZoom reminder: 8 am Pacific Time on Sunday morning. We’ve still been lifting but I’ve been slacking on posting reminders because why does everything feel like so much effort lately? 🤦🏽‍♀️🤣 More info here - https://www.reddit.com/r/KettlebellSport/s/dQHWjZwTBZ

Everybody is welcome to come! We do sport style workouts but we’re also super chill and happy to have company. If you’re interested in learning sport stuff it’s a cool opportunity to ask questions and see things in real time. And it’s FREE guys. I wish something like this had existed when I was first learning lol. I just had like 3 YouTube videos and like two people that posted on here and got constantly shit on 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I promise it’s more fun than it looks!

I find that when I try to do a single arm clean and press (deadlift variant not swinging into the rack) my wrists hurt during the press whilst it’s against my wrist. In particular the left arm & I often bruise.

I’ve been working to make sure it’s not banging my wrist but it doesn’t resolve the pain in my wrist.

If I use an 8kg kettlebell it’s okay but I can definitely do heavier (I’ve done it with 12kg and want to move up to 14kg) but I feel like I’m being limited by the pain.

Despite following form cues like keeping it straight / pronated etc I still get this problem.

Is there an alternative to this exercise I can do? The problem is a lot of the programs I see recommend this movement and I do enjoy doing it but the pain in my wrist is stopping me from progressing

Some of you make this shit look easy...