The 6 Essential Exercises of Kettlebell Training and How To Program Them Into Your Routine

I became a HUGE fan of kettlebell training 5 years ago when I only had 3 kids.  

I found that with my limited time – training clients full time, getting an online business set up, coaching, family commitments, etc – that I needed a training solution that would allow me to get the most bang-for-my-buck in the least amount of time.

I bought my very first kettlebell when I was a junior in college but really had no idea what to do with it.  In fact, the only exercises I really attempted to perform with it were military presses and swings.

My military presses were horrific-looking where I would never go to full lockout and wouldn’t align the bell properly forcing it several degrees in front of my body.  Maybe that’s the reason my shoulder still bothers me on occasion.

My swings were equally as horrific as they resembled more of a sumo deadlift/squat type of thing.  I remember always trying to decelerate the bell on the way down to allow me to get the slow eccentric/negative to "build more muscle".  

Dumb Jock.

Things are a little different now.  Reading and researching everything I could get my hands on about kettlebell training and studying & training for the RKC has really opened my eyes.

There are 6 Core Movements/Drills/Exercises when it comes to hardstyle kettlebell training…

-The Swing (1 arm & 2 arm)

-The Snatch

-The Clean

-The Squat

-The Military Press

-The Get-Up

(Don’t ask me why I put "The" in front of every exercise. I guess it just sounds more official, no?) 

These 6 can be further divided into 2 categories – Ballistic Drills and Grinds…

Ballistics – Swing, Snatch & Clean

Grinds – Squat, Military Press, Get-Up

Ballistic Drills involve explosion and triple-extension (of the hips, knees and ankles) and are incredible for developing power, building work capacity and over-all athleticism.  

A great example of the benefits of ballistic kettebell training is my experience training for the RKC snatch test.  Over the period of time that I was training for the test (100 reps of snatches done within 5 minutes), I noticed that my vertical jump increased by almost 3 inches (I test this by trying to grab a basketball rim or seeing how high on the backboard I can touch).  I also got significantly leaner without altering anything with my diet or adding in any cardio work. 

Grinds are great for pure strength development, joint alignment, developing mental toughness and packing on slabs of muscle.

One of the main benefits that I have seen with doing the "Grinds" is how much healthier my joints and posture seems to be.  Especially since I started doing the Get-Up on a regular basis.  I used to have a chronically bad right shoulder and since I started doing Get-Ups my should pains and weakness have seem to have gone away.

One of the main reasons for this is because of the way the Get-Up is performed.  You are required to move your body around your vertical arm forcing yourself to stabilize your shoulder at various angles while you maneuveur your body from a lying position to a standing position and back.

As a result, not only do you get incredible shoulder/scapulae stability benefits, but you get a lot of hip mobility and spine stability as well – all from one GRINDING exercise.

However, because I’ve differentiated the 2 categories, that doesn’t necessarily mean that each charicteristicc is exclusive to either grinds or ballistics.  For example, just because I said that Cleans are great for developing power and work capacity, that doesn’t mean that you won’t develop muscle by doing a highly ballistic movement like cleans.

Don’t believe me?  Try doing 50 – 100 double Kettlebell cleans once per week and see what kind of results you get after only a few sessions.

The bottom line is that the above 6 exercises ARE ESSENTIAL to not only a kettlebell training specific program, but to ANY program.  It’s important as kettlebell enthusiasts to make sure that we familiarize and master those movements/exercises.

On Thursday, in Part 2 of this article series, I’ll go through my 3 Essential Bodyweight Exercises.

Then on Thursday, in Part 3, I will pull everything together and show you how I would set up a program incorporating all 9 of my essential exercises in a complete 4 week program.

Chris Lopez, RKC

P.S. Make sure to stay tuned for the next article and see how you can take your kettlebell training to the next level

Tags: 6 core movements, kettlebell 6 movement routine, RKC grinds