by Andrew Coates and Marcus Martinez
How to Build Power & Conditioning with KBs
Take your training beyond barbells and machines. Gain power, increase athleticism, and get conditioned with these kettlebell lifts.
You probably fall into one of these kettlebell camps:
Camp One: You know kettlebells as those awkward, dusty things over in the corner of the gym.
Camp Two: You carry them and occasionally goblet squat with them.
Camp Three: You’re a kettlebell master whose body moves in unison with the 'bell.
Why are most lifters still in the first two camps? Probably because many conflate strength training with power training. Strength is the ability to produce force against load. Power is the rate at which we produce that force.
Most lifters are great at prioritizing strength and building bigger muscles. But direct power training is often neglected, and kettlebells are some of the best tools to train it. So let’s skill-up on four basic exercises:
1. The Kettlebell Swing
The swing is the gateway to all kettlebell exercises. The anatomy of the 'bell – handle on one end and concentrated mass on the other – lends itself to swinging around.
The swing is about power, momentum, and timing, making it ideal for going heavy and hard. It hits the crap out of your glutes, hamstrings, back, shoulders, and even your grip if you go heavy enough. It’s fantastic for developing hip speed and getting athletes to understand how to move explosively under control.
There are tons of swing variations, but ol’ faithful would have to be the basic two-hand swing.
Here’s How To Do It
- Set the kettlebell just in arm’s reach on the ground in front of you.
- Set your body with enough tension to keep your back safe.
- Lower by driving your hips back and bending your knees as much as you need.
- Grab the 'bell and imagine you’re trying to break it in half. This helps you pack your shoulders and create a rigid torso.
- Keep your shoulders above your hips and hike the kettlebell explosively behind you, trying to get your arms tucked into your body.
- Once you’ve hit the “downswing” position, stand up explosively. Imagine you’re jumping without leaving the ground. This gets you into an upright position without hyperextending and leaning backward, or losing power by keeping your hips back.
- Stand tall, stand proud. At the top position, the 'bell should be anywhere from naval to eye level, depending on how explosive you were without lifting the kettlebell with your shoulders.
- As you reach the peak of the swing, pull the 'bell back to the downswing position between your legs. Don’t move out of the way too fast. Time it so the 'bell travels down as it’s about to hit you in the goods (and not a split second later). Drive your hips back and down.
- Repeat or allow the 'bell to swing down and forward to the ground without breaking the tension in your upper body.
Should You Go Overhead?
No, it’s unnecessary. With the anatomy of the kettlebell and hand position being much narrower than shoulder width, it puts you in an unnatural position overhead. This can create shoulder issues. Not to mention, most people jut their heads forward at the top, trying to scrape out some extra range of motion and putting unnecessary pressure on the neck.
Going overhead is more common in CrossFit; it’s a skill within the sport. Unless you’re a Crossfitter, there’s no value in extending overhead, plus there’s some risk involved.
Sets and Reps
For strength and power: Grab a heavy (for you) kettlebell. Do 4-6 sets of 5-10 swings. Rest as much as you need to create as much power as the previous set, typically 2-3 minutes. Do these near the beginning of your workout.
For endurance/conditioning: Use a light-to-moderate weight. Do 5-10 sets of 15-20 swings with as little rest as possible. Throw in some movements or positions to balance things out. Since it’s predominantly a posterior chain exercise, you can add some planks, leg raises, push-ups, or anything that gets the anterior (front side) core. Do these near the end of your workout.
2. The Kettlebell Clean
The one-arm kettlebell clean gives you many of the same benefits of the Olympic lifting variation but with less technical difficulty. It enhances vertical jumping ability, builds full-body explosiveness, and helps you create power.
Since you’ll be using one side at a time, the clean also requires you to resist torso rotation, making it an awesome core-strengthening exercise. And since you must maintain a loose but firm grip on the kettlebell, it helps you build a stronger grip. Once mastered, it’s the transition to most other kettlebell exercises since it gets the kettlebell effectively to the rack position.
Here’s How To Do It
- Place the kettlebell on the floor in front of you at the same distance you would for the swing.
- Create full-body tension, hinge at the hips, and lower yourself to reach for the 'bell without overreaching.
- Squeeze your glutes and abs, then hike the 'bell back, bringing your arm to connect with your torso.
- Once you reach the peak downswing, stand up explosively, keeping the 'bell as close to the front of your body as you can. This creates a natural arc that, as the kettlebell gets to about belly button height, allows you to rotate it so it’ll land safely in the rack position between your forearm and upper arm.
- Maintain a straight wrist and relatively vertical forearm position. There should be no slam here whatsoever. One of our favorite ways to build up to this and understand the path of the clean is to use two hands and slow down the movement, allowing the 'bell to rotate in the hand. Don’t over-grip it or you’ll enjoy raw hands and bruised forearms.
- Reverse the motion by unraveling the kettlebell around the forearm, straightening your arm, and hiking the 'bell quickly to reset it back in the rack position or back to the ground.
With the clean, you’re targeting many of the same areas as the swing, effectively hitting hamstrings, glutes, back, and shoulders along with your grip and forearms.
Sets and Reps
For strength and power: Use a heavy 'bell and do 5-10 reps per side. Rest 1-2 minutes between sides and another 2 minutes between sets. Do 3-6 sets. Stop when your form starts to deteriorate. Do it early in your workout.
For endurance/conditioning: Do 30 seconds of cleans on one side, rest 15 seconds, then 30 seconds on the other side. Perform 5-8 sets. Do it later in your workout.
3. The Kettlebell Snatch
The snatch is a powerful full-body movement that’ll build your backside, shoulder, grip, and core strength. Once you master the clean, the snatch is relatively easy.
There are two ways the kettlebell can get to the overhead position. In one, the kettlebell goes up and over to land on your forearm, but this requires a “punch through” and timing to make sure there’s no slam. We prefer the other way: the corkscrew method. There’s greater control, less timing involved, and you’re less likely to slam the 'bell on your forearm.
Here’s How To Do It
- Place a kettlebell on the floor in front of you at the same distance as a swing.
- Create full-body tension, hinge at the hips, and lower yourself to reach for the bell without overreaching.
- Squeeze your glutes and abs and hike the 'bell back, bringing your arm to connect with your torso.
- Once you reach the peak downswing, stand up explosively, keeping the kettlebell relatively close to the front of your body.
- As you stand and pull, let the 'bell travel past your head.
- Before it reaches the overhead position, rotate your forearm so the end of the kettlebell never goes end over end. It just rotates or corkscrews around the forearm into the overhead position.
- To get it down, bring it back to the rack position.
- From there, you can unravel like the clean, but instead, you’re going to bring it back to the overhead position. Once you’ve learned to drop safely from there, you can drop it from overhead into the downswing position.
- Maintain a rigid, tense torso and keep your shoulders packed. Even a light weight will feel much heavier due to the speed.
Sets and Reps
For strength and power: Use a heavy 'bell and do 5-10 reps per side. Rest 1-2 minutes between sides and another 2 minutes between sets. Do 3-6 sets. Stop when your form starts to deteriorate. Do this toward the start of your workout and before any fatiguing strength work.
For endurance/conditioning: Do 10-15 snatches per side with little rest between sets. Do 3-5 sets. Finish your workout with these.
4. Kettlebell High Pull
This one’s similar to the two-hand swing, but instead, you’re coming up onto the toes at the top of the movement and then immediately receiving the downswing for some repeat action. The added triple extension (fancy term for getting your heels off the ground with your hips and knees extended) is fantastic for generating more power and building coordination/timing.
This is similar to repeat-effort barbell high pulls, but instead of keeping the bar in a vertical(ish) line, you’re going to hike it back like you would at the bottom of a two-hand swing. This is a great movement for building glutes, hamstrings, and back as well as your upper back and shoulders from the added pull.
Here’s How To Do It
- Place the kettlebell in front of you, drop low enough to keep your shoulders above your hips, double down on the full-body tension, and then hike the 'bell explosively behind you.
- As you stand up forcefully, drive your toes into the ground, getting your heels up while simultaneously pulling the kettlebell up slightly like an upright row. Don’t try to get it too high. A little goes a long way.
- As the weight comes back down, plant your heels and receive the downswing.
Sets and Reps
For strength and power: Grab a heavy kettlebell. Do 4-6 sets of 5-10 reps. Rest as much as you need to create as much power as the previous set, around 2-3 minutes. Do this near the start of your workout.
For endurance/conditioning: Use a light-to-moderate weight. Do 5-10 sets of 15-20 reps with as little rest as possible.
Notes
Practice makes progress, so start lighter than you think. Once your technique is there, add some weight and build some power.
We meatheads can be prone to trying to muscle through movements like Olympic lifts and kettlebell exercises instead of flowing through the correct movement and using momentum (something we’re taught not to do with barbells and dumbbells). Once you have the technique down, heavier weights will force you to rely on good technique instead of muscle.
