What Is The Best Kettlebell Weight to Start With | John Wolf

21 April 2025


What Is The Best Kettlebell Weight to Start With | John Wolf



Looking to start kettlebell training but not sure what weight to begin with? Look no further!
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In this video, we'll be discussing the best kettlebell weight to start with for beginners. We'll cover the factors you need to consider, such as your current fitness level, goals, and experience with weight training.

Coach John wolf will walk you through the benefits of using kettlebells, and how to choose the right weight for your body and goals. We'll also demonstrate some basic kettlebell exercises that you can try with your chosen weight.

Whether you're looking to build strength, improve your endurance, or simply add a new element to your workout routine, this video will provide you with the information you need to get started with kettlebells.

Don't let the fear of choosing the wrong weight hold you back from experiencing the benefits of kettlebell training. Watch this video and start your journey towards a stronger, fitter you!

| How To Choose a Kettlebell |
Kettlebell designs vary. Some are coated in rubber to protect floors from impact. Others are designed specifically for kettlebell lifting competitions and have a straight handle; they’re uniform in size regardless of weight.

In an attempt to appeal to beginners, a few manufacturers make kettlebells with concave faces, which are intended to be more ergonomic. Some other newfangled kettlebells work like dumbbells and can be loaded with plates, offering multiple weight changes with one implement.

If you’re buying a kettlebell in person, perform this test before making a final decision: hold up your hand and touch your thumb to the tip of your pinkie.

Notice the channel it forms in your palm—that’s where the kettlebell handle should rest most of the time, from the outside knuckle of the index finger diagonally down to the opposite side of the wrist. (This will be your primary grip for most conventional kettlebell lifts, such as pressing and squatting.) Pick up the weight and hold the handle in the middle, letting it fill that channel. “The bell should rest on the back of your forearm when the wrist is straight,” says Heins.

“It should not impinge on the boney profile of the wrist,” adds Wolf. If you pick up a kettlebell that rubs against the bone that protrudes on the lateral side of your wrist, the weight displacement from the handle is not ideal, and you could end up getting injured.

Another safety tip: don’t use a kettlebell with too thick a handle. “Onnit’s handles are a little over an inch in diameter,” says Wolf, which is enough to work your grip but not so demanding to hold that it creates unnecessary fatigue. “When you’re performing an exercise like the swing, you may be doing hundreds of reps in a workout, as opposed to four sets of eight,” or some other standard set-and-rep-scheme you’d use with conventional exercises. “We don’t want your grip to burn out. I think that’s counterproductive from a technique standpoint. Once someone’s grip is overworked, you’ll see a whole slew of mechanical problems that come into play.”

As for how much weight to start with, men can invest in one or two bells that are 16 kilos (about 35 pounds). Wolf says that will provide plenty of challenge on a wide range of exercises. “For gals, an eight-kilo kettlebell [17.5 pounds] will give you a lot of bang for your buck.”

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00:00 – Intro
00:20 – The Best Kettlebell Weight for Men
00:46 – Intermediate Male
01:20 – Beginner Male
01:47 – The Best Kettlebell Weight For Women
02:14 – Intermediate Female
02:47 – Beginner Female
03:17 – 4 Things To Look For In A Kettlebell
03:42 – A Comfortable Handle
04:14 – Where Should The Kettlebell Rest?
05:03 – Powder Coating for Grip
05:50 – Color Coding by Weight
06:40 – When To Go Up In Weight

Kettlebell weights for beginners
Choosing the right kettlebell weight
How to start kettlebell training
Best kettlebell weight for women/men
Kettlebell weight selection guide
Kettlebell weight for strength training
Beginner's guide to kettlebell weight
Kettlebell weight for home workouts
Kettlebell weight for fat loss
How heavy should your kettlebell be?

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hey this is coach John Wolf with on it and a popular question I have to answer is what's the best starting kettlebell weight for beginners and right here we have a full line of Weights that I usually suggest let's go over a little bit why the Kettlebell weight selection is so important one most men overestimate the amount of weight that they need to use to get a great training effect with kettlebells now the thing about kettlebell training is it's all full body training and the limiting factors to you getting a good workout are often grip and core endurance and secondary skill development so in terms of starting kettlebell weight for men generally we hang out in these two kettlebells right here we have if you've been indoctrinated into the iron game you have a bit of a training age you know what it is to move weight around hey you might move a bar or dumbbells around pretty often generally speaking I recommend a 16 kilo kettlebell this is 35 pounds approximately and that might sound light to many of you but remember you're moving this thing around more dynamically than most of your dumbbell or barbell work and for more reps usually also for Less rest in terms of your rest intervals so now that's if you've been moving iron around if you're new to both iron and kettlebells though generally speaking I recommend this 12 kilo Bell this is an awesome weight to get you to develop some coordination strength and develop skill with the Kettlebell without being too distracted by selecting a weight that's a little too heavy too soon both of these kettlebells are awesome and you'll be able to learn and play with them for a lifetime to come as you develop your kettlebell skills and strength now for the ladies it's really important to acknowledge the opposite truth is often the case a lot of y'all underestimate your ability to move weight and with kettlebells there's a sweet spot in terms of way great selection for you as well yes if you're using dumbbells and you're used to Five Pound three pound or really small increments that may be very useful for the type of Fitness you're using but with kettlebells The Sweet Spot generally is these two weights here we have an eight kilo kettlebell this is 18 pounds and for some of you that might sound heavy but remember full body exercise using your whole body as a coordinated machine to move this weight and learning how to use from head to toe all your musculature to do so this is a great weight if you've done if you develop some strength or familiarity with conventional exercise dumbbells barbells at all 18 pounds eight kilos awesome starting weight now if you're new to weight training in general and new to kettlebells as well then this six kilo kettlebell so it's right around the 13 pound mark five pounds less than the original prescription is gonna be awesome for you to really move the weight have enough weight in hand to get an awesome training effect have a lot of fun but not be overwhelmed in the process hey these are the best kettlebell weights no matter where you are starting in your kettlebell Journey new to iron been experienced in the iron game I still suggest this weight range for everyone to start now that we've talked a little bit about what weight is appropriate to start with let's talk about other factors that you should take into consideration when you pick out your first kettlebell now I might be partial to the Onyx kettlebell line because I helped redesign them a couple times but let's go over things that I thought about in helping design these bells that you should think about when you pick out your perfect belt one is the diameter of the handle many times people will tout a thicker handle because it will increase the amount of grip strength and endurance required unfortunately the downside is if you're learning to use kettlebells for Fitness a big limiting factor to your ability to get the best workout will be pre-fatiguing your hands so ideally we find a handle that's going to fit in your hand comfortably so the diameter of the handle being bigger is not necessarily better as you want to build your grip strength endurance second is the window height here between the base of the bottom of this handle and the top of the Kettlebell itself the ball of iron we want this window to allow the Kettlebell to rest not on the Bony part of your forearm but on the soft tissue on the back of your forearm the extensor muscles now if the Kettlebell rests on that musculature it can not bruise the bone right it won't bruise you up as badly now when you learn how to use kettlebells that's one of the most frequent complaints is when you learn to do Dynamic drills if that Bell doesn't rest appropriately in the right spot it creates discomfort so the most comfortability is going to be what we're shooting for here now when we talk about Comfort one thing that really comes into play is the quality of the coating these are powder coated Bells now powder coating is nice because it has a little bit of grip you don't want it too smooth in your hands it'll create a lot of coat like friction coefficient in terms of like the skin wanting to create calluses or even blister and peel off just The Sweet Spot of a little bit of friction but allow for the hand to move around that handle freely the key is that we want a little bit of friction and not too much but also that we don't want any Burrs so high quality kettlebells should have a little bit of texture but no sharp edges sharp edges especially around the handle or anywhere that's going to come into contact with your body going to make for a bad training experience all together now last but not least you notice that these kettlebells on the handles are color coded this makes it easy to visually ascertain well what weight am I working with and guess what each one corresponds to a specific weight so this baby blue corresponds to says six kilograms or 13 pounds clearly labeled on the Kettlebell so you don't have to figure it out right even though you see the baby blue you see the corresponding weights the pink eight kilo 18 pounds this was that starter weight for gals that train with the iron already this dark blue same thing we have a nice clear marking 12 kilo or 26 pounds the guy's starter weight who don't move iron yet and back to that yellow you see that that weight 16 kilo 35 pounds this is our starter weight for guys that already move iron in some way shape or form all right with all of this kettlebell talk another question often comes into play hey John when is it that I should step up to the next kettlebell weight and oftentimes the answer is it kind of depends but there's some pretty good guidelines one the first area that you're going to find your kettlebell weight you're wanting the next step up is when your lower body endurance really starts to Excel and in that case the great way to get you to familiarize yourself to the next kettlebell weight is to hold that heavy kettlebell in whichever position you're going to do so while you're doing your lower body exercises it's going to increase that grip strength that we set is off in the limiting factor while building that lower body engine that's going to keep the bells moving second if you can do an overhead press with the Bell super slow for five reps and you could do that for set over set chances are that's going to be time to move up to the next weight and it's important to have these kind of qualifying factors in your head because if you notice the jump in increments from kettlebell to kettlebell are often in kilos so four kilos roughly it's nine-ish pounds that's a little bit bigger of a jump than we've traditionally seen in dumbbell five pound increments so what that means is we have to often get creative using those tempos understanding that our lower body strength and endurance will increase faster than our upper body strength and endurance for many trainees is going to be something that you take into consideration when you invest in the next increment up but guess what the great thing with kettlebells is no matter what weight you started here you'll be able to use them forever and as you step up it only increases the options and the opportunity to fall deeper in love with kettlebell training hey what are you waiting for if you're ready to pick up some audit Bells go ahead and click that link right above or the text Link in the description [Music]

#Kettlebell #Weight #Start #John #Wolf

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47 Comments
  1. Dont start with to low it will wast your time

  2. I do everything in LBS, because freedomville. I have a 15, 20, and 35.

  3. I'm super new into entering Kettlebell workouts. Super excited ❤ Thank you for advice

  4. And here I am, an obese/large man, struggling to handle a 10Kg KB 🙁

  5. Great video ! Got a bit lazy since i left the military. Beer belly and all ! wanted an exercise i can do at home, want to get that tv/movie body 😮 make the missus happy.

  6. I’m about to buy a set glad I know what type to buy the wider the grips area the better thank you

  7. A lot of palaver. The realistic starter weight for male or female kettlebell workouts is between 10% to 20% of your bodyweight. A novice might weigh 120lbs & another might be 300lbs so saying a 16kg for both as a starter is not valid. 10% of bodyweight is a good learning start for women & maybe 20% for men.

  8. I have a 5lb, 10lb, and 15lb kettlebell. I'm a 60 yr old male. Should I begin with the 10lb or 15lb kettlebell?

  9. So what do you do after an injury (frozen shoulder) which has become much weaker than the rest?

  10. I'm pretty sure that's way too much. I will be starting tomorrow and I am not new to weight training but I am new to kettlebells. I have 5, 10, and 15 and obviously I will be starting with the five pounds.

  11. What if i have some strenght. But i stopped gymming for 3 years. Should i do 12kg or 16kg?

  12. I have never used these before, i have joint problems in some parts, i opted for 2 x 4kg i use for warming up, one in each hand and do swings etc, i hold them straight out as if im holding two pistols and rotate 180 and back for 30 second sets, really good for the forearms and shoulders (my shoulders are problematic with joint issues) but because the arms are doing the work its much better better, also good for out running with as they are small and easy to grip comfortably.

  13. i bought 20 kg/44 lbs as my first kettlebell and got injured. injured my supraspinatus/rotator cuff, partial tear

  14. I am 48, quite a bit overweight and sit on my arse all day typing on a computer. My core strength is weak as f. I struggle to get up out of the chair. I've got me a Bowflex adjustable KB and while I can move 11kg and even 16kg OK, I can only do about 5 or 10 reps before sweat is pouring out of every gland and I'm gasping for breath, needing to stop for 10 mins to get my breath back and my muscles to stop being on fire. I even find the 9kg setting a struggle. I have it on the 5.5kg setting and while that sounds pathetic, it's plenty to get my heart racing with 10 reps of different types with 30 seconds break in between and I'm definitely noticing my core strength improving . It's a slow process but any kind of exercise is unbelievably hard if you haven't moved for years and I've no doubt got a bad case of muscle atrophy to reverse 🙁

  15. For anyone starting out, I recommend checking out Heygainz for a variety of kettlebell exercises. It's a great resource to help build your routine.

  16. Thanks for breaking down the weight selection process. I’ve been hesitant to start kettlebell training, but now I feel more confident in my choice.

  17. Great video.. Started 6 years ago with my first 16kg KB. Using it till today. It's rusty and scratched, but it works fine. My GF started with 10Kg and it's a nice weight for her.

    KB training has a much slower progress compared to weight lifting. I started with 16 Kg and now I use 24 Kg (sometimes 28 Kg) for the drills. In weight lifting I started with 50 Kg for bench press and I ramped up to 130 Kg in like 3 years or something. In KB training this will not happen. If you decide to buy a new KB you will use it for years. It's like progressing to a new weight class.

  18. Men should start with 25lbs and develop the skill first…. then move up in weight after 10 -12 weeks of foundation work

  19. Which will be best for 50 kg 5/7 guy

  20. 35 lbs is way too heavy even if you've lifted traditional weights. If you're a total beginner without technique you're gonna damage yourself. Start with 20 or 25 and get down the basics.

  21. My experience, at least when it comes to men, says that you should start with 8 kg, especially if you are older, or have never used a kettebell before. 8 kg is not a big weight, but the body should be allowed to adapt to the technique and movement. Practice the movements with even less weight. The goal is not to bulk up, but to gain specific fitness, endurance and explosiveness through ballistic movements with a high number of repetitions. Start slowly to avoid injury.

  22. 16kg each hand ? Or if your using one kettlebell

  23. instructions unclear I bought an 85 lbs KB

  24. Please do not lift what he is suggesting. You will tear your tissues. Keep it low. Not more than 8kgs

  25. Listening to this, suggests I should start at a 12kg, as although not big/particularly overweight, I am pretty out of shape. However I HAVE moved iron around (many years ago now, before I had kids), but to no great extent, and i have 3 kids – 1x aged 10 (that I can still squat and pick up/carry around), and twins aged 8 (that I can JUST about squat and pick up both – one in each arm, and carry around), so my core strength is fairly good, but nowhere near what it could be.
    You do say (paraphrased) "if you move iron in some shape or form, go for a 16kg", so would the 16kg be better for me? I'm perfectly fine going for a 12kg, but my wife has a 10kg, and if I could just skip the 12kg altogether and start with the 10kg, i'd rather spend the money on the one thats going to last me longer…

  26. Awesome shirt, where did you get it?

  27. I did no exercise until I started doing Russian Swings a month ago. As an older man, I thought the weights would be too much for me as a beginner so I started with the 8kg kettlebell, thinking it would be too much for me. It felt too easy so I moved on to 12kg, with the 10kg next to it in case I had to move back down. That felt too easy so now I moved on to 16kg, which is only now starting to form calluses on my hands. Now I feel ready to do different exercises with the 16kg kettlebell. Pick a weight but have a lower weight next to it just in case, so you can carry on with your reps.

  28. Great presentation, you would have had 2x the views without the background music.
    Continual background Music rarely adds to instructional videos.

  29. I can do a set of 4 presses with a 27 kg kettlebell with my right arm, and a set of 5 with a 24 kg kettlebell with my left arm.

  30. I've ordered a 16kg kettlebell. Im a complete beginner with no weight training experience and I'm 47.
    I'm a little concerned that I've aimed too high, but I'll take it slow and see what happens.

  31. I love that you considered for complete total newbies the overwhelm factor. Because if kettlebell is too heavy we just give up 😢

  32. Thank you for this informative video…. very helpful.

  33. Thanks for the cool vid mate.
    I've been working out for years,but i'm new to kettlebells and I just bought my 1st set of kettlebells.
    I have 8kg to 24kg bells (all singles),and i'm wondering which one's I should have as pairs?
    Any recommendations on with weight to pair up?
    P.s.I have a girlfriend that wants to use them too.
    Thanks.

  34. Thank you much, this information was useful.

  35. Heh, came into the gym wanting to get into kettlebells, after 2 days settled for 12kg for harder stuff and 16kg for easier stuff. Nice to confirm that it was the right choice

  36. 12 or 16kg for a guy? 12. If its to little, just do some more rounds. You can flor yourself even with 10, but it takes more time.

  37. Believe me, 16kg kettlebell its not a "lightweight" for the Ameteurs 😀 Shit is heavy af. I cant do a military press with my left arm with that 16kg.

  38. Great video, thank you! To the point, yet detailed enough to make an informed decision.

  39. Great video, thank you! To the point, yet detailed enough to make an informed decision.

  40. I'm a woman. Is a 20lb kettlebell ok for me to start off doing kettlebell swings to work out my abs?

  41. Very informative video, thank you.

  42. Thanks for the advice, I`ll put to good use. Also folks keep in mind how your body feels with the weight you want to train. If there is a store for weights near you its always best to go and try in person. Good luck

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