The Best Kettlebell Exercises to Work Your Whole Body

Gyms are still closed in most places and people are desperately looking for ways to stay active and these 10 beginner friendly kettlebell exercises are just another example.

Bodyweight workouts are fun and all but they do get a bit boring after a while. Not to mention that you have to be continuously creative in finding ways to make them more challenging each time.

The solution is to invest in some small, portable equipment pieces like resistance bands, dumbbells, or a kettlebell. This can definitely spice things up, especially when you employ techniques like tempo training or supersets.

Although our living room is slowly turning into a small fitness studio (and I’m still unsure how I feel about it), you can actually achieve so much with just a kettlebell, as it’s such a versatile equipment piece. Especially, if you implement some of the best kettlebell exercises listed in this article.

What kettlebell to buy?

If you’re looking to invest in one, I’d say go for a weight that you can comfortably hold overhead with one hand. This will ensure that you can do a wide variety of exercises using it.

Ideally, get two – one that you can hold overhead, and a heavier one that you can use for lower body exercises.

10 beginner friendly kettlebell exercises for the full-body

1. Kettlebell Goblet Squat

Suitable for: The goblet squat is an exercise suitable for all levels of fitness.

Target muscles: Quadriceps, Glutes, Hamstrings, Scapular Stabilizers (Upper Back);

How to perform:

Hold the kettlebell (you can also use a dumbbell) at chest height.

Find the right squatting stance that feels most natural to you (squat stance can vary depending on your anatomy).

As you squat down, make sure to keep your weight balanced and over your heels.

Keep your chest up. Don’t let your torso or the kettlebell drift forward.

Don’t let the kettlebell fall lower, keep it at chest height.

When coming up, remember to keep your torso upright and put the movement on your quads, rather than hamstrings.

2. Kettlebell Swing

Suitable for: All fitness levels (just adjust the weight).

Target muscles: It’s truly a full-body movement. The prime movers are your glutes, quads, and hamstrings. Once the kettlebell is overhead, your deltoids (shoulders) and upper body muscles get involved, as well as all the stabilization muscles along the spine.

How to perform: Stance is slightly wider than shoulder-width.

Feet point slightly out.

Hips hinge back but never go to parallel. Knees move in line with toes.

Keep your back neutral.

Rapidly extend your hips and legs to drive the kettlebell overhead.

Keep your arms straight.

As the kettlebell descends, hinge your hips back and start the new rep.

3. Kettlebell Snatch

Suitable for: Advanced level of fitness. It does take some time to master the technique. Start practicing with a lighter weight, and only go up in weight once you’ve mastered it.

Target muscles: Glutes, hamstrings, shoulders, lower back.

How to perform: Start with slightly bending the knees and pushing back the hips.

Keep your back neutral.

Rapidly extend your hips and legs, shrug the shoulders and pull the kettlebell up with your arm.

Rapidly extend your arm overhead (think of it as punching your fist straight to the ceiling), using the momentum from your hips.

Timing it right is the key to not getting your forearm hit.

Admittedly, it does take a lot of practice to get the feel for it.

The good news is that it’s like riding a bicycle – once you learn it, you never get it wrong anymore.

4. Kettlebell Lunge (Overhead/Front/Reverse)

Suitable for: All levels of fitness.

Target muscles: Glutes, quads, hamstrings, core.

How to perform: The kettlebell front rack lunge can be done using one or two kettlebells.

Hold the kettlebell at chest height, resting it on the side over your forearm. Don’t let the kettlebell overextend your wrist, as to avoid injury – keep the wrist straight and locked out.

Brace your core and step forward, keeping your torso straight.

Lower yourself until the knee of your back leg lightly touches the ground and step backward.

5. Kettlebell Thruster (Single hand/Both hands)

Suitable for: As long as you have the mobility/flexibility required, even beginners can perform these exercises. If you can’t comfortably hold the kettlebell overhead yet, skip these exercises until you build up the strength and mobility.

Target muscles: Shoulders, quads, hammies, glutes.

How to perform: Think of this exercise in two parts – it’s essentially a squat and a push press.

Use your usual squat stance and hold the kettlebell in a front rack position.

Brace your core, go down in a squat, and, using the momentum of extending your hips and legs on your way up, push press the bell overhead.

6. Kettlebell Deadlift (Single leg/Standard)

Suitable for: All levels of fitness.

Target muscles: Hammies, glutes, lower back.

How to perform: There are a few main deadlift cues that are true for any type of deadlift:

Back stays neutral throughout the entire movement.

Keep the tension in your upper body.

Hips only hinge, but don’t go down.

Focus on engaging your posterior chain and moving the weight up using your hamstrings and glutes.

If you’d like to learn more about the different variations of the deadlift and how to perform them you can check this article here:

Compound movement: The Deadlift – everything you need to know

7. Overhead Kettlebell Squat

Suitable for: Advanced level of fitness.

Target muscles: Glutes, quads, hammies, shoulders, core.

How to perform: Squat stance. Shoulder and arm push into the kettlebell keeping it locked overhead.

Armpit showing forward. The core is engaged.

The back stays neutral. Hips descend back and down until the hip crease is parallel or lower.

Knees stay in line with toes, and the weight is kept over the middle of the foot.

8. Burpee to Kettlebell Squat Clean

Suitable for: All levels of fitness. If you have troubles with the squat clean technique, you can separate the movement into power clean + front squat.

People with back injuries should avoid burpees in general.

Target muscles: Full body exercise – your entire body is in on the fun.

How to perform: Another exercise that you can separate in two – burpee + kettlebell squat clean.

Here I’m showing a high plank burpee but you can also choose to go all the way down to the ground.

When you come up out of the burpee, jump into a squat stance, and in a smooth motion pull the kettlebell in front of your chest, stand up and immediately go down into a squat.

All the usual rules for proper squatting apply.

9. Kettlebell High-Pull

Suitable for: All levels of fitness.

Target muscles: Shoulders, quads, hammies, lower back.

How to perform: Stance is a little wider than shoulder-width.

Have the kettlebell between your feet in front of you.

Hinge your hips back and bend your knees until you grab the kettlebell. Keep your back neutral and your core braced.

Extend your hips and legs, and using this momentum, pull the kettlebell up to and above chest height.

10. Kettlebell Good Morning

Suitable for: All levels of fitness.

Target muscles: Hamstrings, glutes.

How to perform: Holding the kettlebell with both hands, place it comfortably between your shoulder blades.

Bring your chest up, shoulders back.

Hinge your hips as far back as possible. You should feel a slight stretch in your hamstrings.

Keeping the tension in your core, extend your hips back to starting position.

Keep a straight back throughout the entire movement.