Kettlebells & Body Building

I've written extensively about this before, so I won't go over all that I already wrote again. At least not verbatim.

I'll find that article from the archives of earlier this year and share it.

But in today's article, I just wanted to touch on the basics.

In short, kettlebells CAN be used as part of a general "body building" goal. More plainly, kettlebells can be used as a tool to increase muscle mass.

Kettlebells work really well in some movement patterns with certain exercises to effectively target and build specific muscle groups.

However, there are other muscle groups and movement patterns that the kettlebell is not so good for.

Movement patterns that the kettlebell is very well-suited for include:

1. Overhead press variations 

2. Hinge variations (specifically single leg and staggered stance Romanian deadlifts)

3. Lunges, split squat, single leg squat variations 

4. Row variations

The kettlebell covers those 4 movement patterns in EXCELLENT fashion, and will build a lot of muscle if you have appropriately sized kettlebells to work close to failure in the general 5-15 rep range (any range within that broad range is fine).

In fact, I'll argue that the kettlebell is the BEST tool I've used for overhead presses and rows.

As for lunges, Bulgarian split squats, and hinges, it's pretty much the same as dumbbells – which is high praise in those patterns. 

Here are the movement patterns where the kettlebell is lacking, though, from a muscle building standpoint:

1. Horizontal press (bench pressing)

2. Vertical pulling (can't be done unless you're using kettlebells as added resistance for pullups, or as a weight for cable pulldowns)

3. Bilateral squats (don't even get me started about this. But since you're looking at me that way, I have no choice! Single and double kettlebell front squats are great general exercises. So are goblet squats. But, for maximizing leg musculature, they're all garbage. The limiting factor will always be the core or upper body instead of the legs. If you can't ever take the legs near failure each set, then you can't expect to build much muscle in the legs with these exercises. Stick with lunges, split squats, or staggered stance – another quasi unilateral variation – squats instead, or use something other than kettlebells)

4. Basically all isolation exercises. Bicep isolations, tricep isolations, leg extensions, leg curls, lateral raises. These can all be done with kettlebells, but not in a comfortable, efficient manner. Lateral raises are the best of these options with kettlebells, but you'd still be better off doing lateral raises with dumbbells or cables.

Let's briefly discuss ballistics: swings, cleans, snatches, jerks, and push presses.

Don't waste time or energy with ballistics if you're goal is maximizing muscle mass, aka, hypertrophy, aka, body building.

If you want to do some swings, cleans, or snatches as a "finisher" or as a conditioning workout, then go for it. Kettlebell ballistics are GREAT for conditioning and power and a lot of things. But they're not good at all for building muscle. 

Therefore, when I'm creating a "muscle plan" of some sort with kettlebells, I don't program any ballistics. Though, I will put the option for doing ballistics as a warmup, finisher, rest day "cardio" workout, or even a quick conditioning workout at another time of day. 

In the final example, you might say, "but Benen, I want to do 50 kettlebell swings every day."

And I'll say, "that's great, Scout! Go ahead and spread those 50 swings throughout the day. Or do them in the morning when you wake up. Or in the evening before you go to bed. Or use that as your warmup before lifting sessions (a fantastic option, by the way) and on rest days from your body building plan, knock out those 50 kettlebell swings whenever you want."

You see? We can have it all.

For the record, I absolutely LOVE the idea of doing 50 kettlebell swings as a warmup before any lifting session. It gets the central nervous system going, it gets the heart pumping, it gets the blood flowing, and it gets the sweat dripping. 

But, don't say you want a body building plan with kettlebells and expect a bunch of sets of swings, cleans, snatches, clean & jerks, or push presses in your body building workouts. I won't stand for it.

I'm a nice guy. Even reasonable, according to some.

But I have no time for this argument of using kettlebell swings as your muscle building hinge exercise. Especially when the single leg Romanian deadlift, while holding onto something with the off hand for support, is such an effective hinging, posterior chain muscle building exercise and works immaculately with the kettlebell. And it'll only take you 2-3 sets to absolutely fry those glutes and hammies, all while making your local physical therapist proud of your commitment to injury proofing your hips, back, and knees.

I'm rambling now.

So, in short, if you love kettlebells (as I do) but you also love building as much muscle as possible (as I, also, do) – use kettlebells alongside other pieces of equipment.

I use kettlebells for overhead pressing, single arm rowing (along with dumbbells), lunging or split squatting  (along with dumbbells), and hinging (I do lots of single leg RDLs with kettlebells or a landmine setup).

For everything else, I use cables, dumbbells, bodyweight exercises, and specific machines like a sissy squat bench, a lying leg curl, and a belt squat.

I really enjoy doing 30-50 kettlebell swings as a warmup before training. 

I even sometimes will throw in a "Saturday Kettle-Bro Day," where I just do an entire workout of various kettlebell exercises, complexes, etc and just have some fun with it. 

I've said before and I'll stick to my guns: a great general body building home gym can be built simply with an adjustable bench (with leg extension+leg curl attachments), adjustable dumbbells, a few kettlebells, and a pullup bar.

You don't NEED kettlebells, but they can be a great addition, and, like I said, nothing feels better for overhead pressing (in my opinion) than a correctly executed kettlebell military press.

Contrary to popular belief, kettlebells can work great for body building. But only if you use them intelligently and fill in the kettlebell gaps with other exercises/pieces of equipment.

Be well and be swell(ed), friends.