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12-Week Plan: Best Kettlebell Workouts to Gain Strength
Do you need more variation in your workouts? Well, improve upon your overall body strength and coordination with this kettlebell workout. We’ve got the whole workout plan laid out for you already, so let’s get started!
Kettlebells have been around for many years, and continue to grow more popular in the fitness arena. Increasingly, people are turning to kettlebell training as a way of building variation into their workouts while cutting back on their workout duration. Originating in Russia, it offers distinct advantages over traditional barbell and dumbbell training.
It requires a level of coordination and proprioception not necessary with barbells or dumbbells because of their weight distribution. For this reason, they activate stabilizing muscle groups such as the abdominals and paraspinal’s, which ultimately leads to building a high level of core strength. It also allow individuals to use a wider array of full-body movements, thereby adding a cardio component to strength training that increases metabolic activity, leading to greater fat burning capability.
Kettlebell workouts help to improve ligament and tendon strength, and aid in correcting muscle imbalances when performing single limb movements. Kettlebell exercises recruit more fast-twitch muscle fibers, which makes them excellent for anyone looking to improve their power.
One of the biggest benefits of using kettlebells is that they develop high levels of functional strength that translate well to activities of daily living. Kettlebells are also a wise choice for people who are looking to improve their conditioning for occupations that require medium to heavy physical exertion, particularly repetitive lifting.
Kettlebells can be challenging for a beginner because of the technique involved. If you have not used kettlebells before, it is a good idea to seek instruction from a certified professional that has experience with teaching the basic kettlebell exercises. Correctly learning the fundamental kettlebell movements is the key to getting the most out of your training.
The following twelve-week training program progresses in difficulty and is designed for people at the intermediate to advanced level.
Kettlebell Workouts Training Plan:
Week 1-3:
Day Exercise Sets Reps
1 Two Hand Swing 2 10
1 Goblet Squat 2 10
1 Overhead Press 2-3 12
1 Static Lunge 2-3 10
2 Deadlift 2 9
2 Single Hand Swing 2 9
2 Double Hand Squat 2-3 11
2 Row 2-3 11
Week 4-6:
Day Exercise Sets Reps
1 Push Press 2 8
1 Static Lunge and Press 2 8
1 Kneeling Press 2-3 8
1 Goblet Squat 2-3 8
2 Turkish Get Up 2 7
2 Two Hand Swing 2 7
2 Overhead Press 2-3 7
2 Overhead Walking Lunge 2-3 7
Week 7-9:
Day Exercise Sets Reps
1 Clean 2 7
1 Double Handed Squat 2 7
1 High Pull 2-3 7
1 Overhead Walking Lunge 2-3 7
2 Snatch 2 7
2 Turkish Get Up 2 7
2 Overhead Press 2-3 7
2 Goblet Squat 2-3 7
Week 10-12:
Day Exercise Sets Reps
1 Deadlift 2 6
1 Push Press 2 6
1 Turkish Get-up 2 6
1 Goblet Squat 2 6
2 Snatch 2 6
2 Single Arm Swing 2 6
2 High Pull 2 6
2 Overhead Walking Lunge 2 6
Training guidelines:
Perform a light full-body warm up for 5 to 10 minutes before lifting to ensure your muscles have adequate blood flow to loosen up. When the session is complete, make sure to cool down for 5 to 10 minutes with some dynamic stretching exercises. The training program is condensed because many of the exercises chosen are full-body. Thus, fewer movements are needed to stimulate strength building and fat burning effects. Concentrate on mastering the technique for each exercise. Make sure to control the weight throughout each motion fully. Perform each repetition with perfect form before adding additional weight. Maintain adequate hydration throughout the training session. Each training day, three-week block, or the entire 12-week program can be converted to circuit training if desired. Simply work with lighter weights and rest for one to two minutes after performing one set of each exercise. Sets can be increased up to three or four for exercise if necessary.
Allow a minimum of 48 hours of recovery time between training sessions to permit adequate muscle repair.
Kettlebells provide a variety of training challenges for an individual to learn and master, with movements that require a higher degree of dexterity than using dumbbells. Kettlebells develop sport-specific power, functional strength, core stability, total body strength, and aerobic capacity. Kettlebells target more muscle groups than many other types of strength training, and for that reason produce results in short order.
Kettlebells are basic, simple, and straightforward. The workouts will stretch you beyond your comfort zone, but the results will speak for themselves.
