How to choose your first kettlebell
Most people buy wrong the first time. Not because it is difficult, but because the advice online is written either by someone selling kettlebells or by someone who has trained for ten years and forgotten what starting felt like.
The short answer: most adult men start at 16 kg, most adult women at 8-12 kg. If you are only buying one.
Why too light is worse than too heavy
Kettlebell training is built on the hip hinge — swing, clean, snatch. Those movements need enough weight that you can feel where the power is coming from.
A bell that is too light invites you to lift with your arms. That is both technically wrong and an excellent way to end up with a sore lower back, because you compensate with the spine for the force the hips should have produced.
A slightly heavy bell does the opposite: it forces you into the hips, because your arms simply cannot manage it. The technique almost arrives on its own.
Within limits, obviously. If you cannot hold a neutral back through a set of ten, it is too heavy.
Two bells is the jump that matters
Going from one kettlebell to two gives you considerably more than twice the programme. With two weights, a programme can:
- use the heavy bell for swings and the light one for presses
- progress by changing the weight rather than only adding reps
- offer a real alternative when an exercise needs swapping out
The second bell should usually sit 4-8 kg from the first. If you have 16, buy 24 or 12 — not 18.
Cast in one piece
Buy a kettlebell cast as a single piece, not one with a bolted handle or adjustable plates. The handle should be smooth enough to rotate in your hand during a snatch and wide enough for two hands.
Adjustable kettlebells sound sensible and rarely are: they are awkward to swing, and the weight distribution is wrong in exactly the movements you bought it for.
What KETTPILOT does about it
When you enter your weights during onboarding, the programme is built around precisely those. If you only own one 16 kg bell, the app will never prescribe a set at 20. Progression happens through reps, sets, tempo and rest intervals instead — until you add another bell yourself.
That is the whole point: the programme should fit what is actually on your floor.