Kettlebell Conditioning 101

The kettlebell is one of the most effective and efficient strength and conditioning implements in existence. Kettlebells can be used to get you into great physical condition in a phenomenally short amount of time.

However, there are a lot of things that go into learning proper kettlebell training technique and designing a program that's suited to your goals. In this article, I'm going to give you a basic overview of what you need to know to get started.

Basic Kettlebell Exercises

The three basic kettlebell exercises that you should learn and master first are the Swing, the Turkish Get Up, and the Goblet Squat. One of the biggest mistakes people make when getting started with KB's is jumping ahead to advanced drills when they're not truly ready for them. Don't be one of those people; your workouts will likely be much less effective and you could very well end up getting injured.

A Beginner Kettlebell Workout

Now, let's take these three exercises and put them together into a workout:

Start with a 10 minute warm-up - pick three or four body weight exercises like push ups, squats, sit ups, etc. and put them together into a circuit - do 10 reps of each about two-three times through. Make sure to chose movements that hit different parts of your body - for example:

10 body weight squats

10 push ups

10 sit ups

Repeat this sequence 2x without rest

First, perform 3-5 sets of 12-15 reps of the Goblet Squat. Take 30 seconds of rest between sets.

Next, perform five sets of 15-20 reps of kettlebell swings. Again, take 30 seconds rest between sets.

Finally, do three Turkish Get-Ups on each side, switching sides with each rep.

That's it! This workout might look simple, but it's sure to challenge you if you stick to the prescribed rep ranges and rest periods.

While kettlebell training is a huge and complex topic, this article should be enough to get you started on some of the basics. Remember that practicing and mastering the Swing, the Get Up and the Goblet Squat should be your main focus when getting started with kettlebell training - only then can you move on to more advanced work. Train hard and good luck!

P.S. To learn more about how to perform the basic kettlebell exercises mentioned in this article, for frequently updated articles and videos about kettlebell conditioning, and for your free Beginner's Guide to Kettlebell Training, check out my kettlebell blog at http://kettlebellbasics.net