28th December 2010
Though written a few weeks short of a year ago the kettlebell sceane in Ireland has moved so fast that some of this information is now out of date! I'll be writing an updated version shortly.

09th January 2010

Buying Your First Kettlebell

When I decided to buy my first kettlebells there were at most three suppliers in the country and they weren’t to be found in Argos catalogues or in the big brand sports stores. Information on the ground was sparse and only little pockets of the new style Soviet revolution existed outside Dublin and Belfast.
So with the little information I had gleamed from Youtube I searched the internet and came across one of the few Irish suppliers. Not knowing what weight I should be going for and not knowing anything about the different materials used to make kettlebells (the site I bought them from only offered the one kind) I played it safe and after over a month finally took delivery of a rubber (!) 4kg and 8kg.
Although I had a good grounding in weightlifting and fitness I wasn’t sure how or if that would help me in kettlebell lifting which is why I started at the lighter end of the scale. It quickly became apparent that the 4kg was completely useless and while I did make some use of the 8kg for a while, perfecting my technique in the swings and learning the Turkish getup, I picked up two competition 16kgs after a few months. The 4kg and 8kg have since found a new home at a local athletics club where I’ve thought the juvenile athletes the windmill and they practise their own strange version of the getup someone showed them which I’ve tired to teach them out of.
On the Where to Buy page I have put up a list of kettlebell suppliers in Ireland on the internet. If anyone knows of local stores that sell them drop me a message and I’ll add it. As mentioned above Argos do now stock kettlebells. While I was putting up the suppliers I thought it might also be useful to put up a guide to buying your first kettlebell. I hope this is actually a help and doesn’t confuse anyone! The first thing we have to decide is what weight to get (unless you have your mind set on an adjustable kettlebell! If so see the next step). In general the weights of kettlebells increase in multiples of 16kg. 16kg is close to one pood, a unit of weight in Imperial Russia. So you have 4kg, 8kg, 12kg, 16kg, etc, up to 32kg readily available and heavier weights can also gotten (such as “The Beast” which is 106lb/48kg) but not as yet in Ireland. There are also lighter, “irregular” weights such as 2kg, 6kg etc, but again these are not readily available.
The general rule of thumb changes depending on who you talk to. One Irish supplier advises the following on their website:

However Shawn Mosen of Agatsu advised at the kb certification in Naas that women new to lifting should start with the 8kg and men start with the 12kg. I would tend to agree with this. The 4kg is almost completely useless due to it being so light and for women should only be recommended to those who have VERY low fitness and/or flexibility, the same applying to the 8kg for men. Unfortunately one common problem instructors will face is the notion most women have that lifting weights leads to huge bulging Arnold-esk muscles and many fit and healthy women will reach for the 4kgs at a kettlebell class because of this! If an instructor attempts to implement the above on day one of a kettlebell course they might find themselves with a steadily dwindling number of female participants at their class!
Also, fit doesn’t always mean flexible. While I can quite easily snatch a 20kg and got a couple of reps off with the 24kg at the kb certification the 12kg is still presenting problems to me in the Turkish getup and I have recently progressed from the 12kg to 16kg in the windmill. As such it’s not a “one fits all” solution. You might be able to do swings with a 16kg but need to drop to 12kg to do presses or jerks.
For starters getting their first kettlebell I would advise:

(a) Normal/Adjustable

First we start with normal and adjustable. What I call the normal kind is the most common one that you see. Irregardless of what material it’s made of (see below) it is as it is. Bits can’t be put on or taken off of it. To get a full understanding of what it is I’ll explain what it is not, and that is adjustable
The second kind is the adjustable kettlebell. There are many different makes and types: shot loaded, some kind of screw in type thing and the adjustable handle type
I’m sure you can see the difference now. Adjustable kettlebells allow you to buy one kettlebell and plates or shot and increase/decrease the weight of it. This saves on space and cost.
With these two kinds it is really a matter of taste. If space and cost mean a lot to you and if you are only going to be using the kettlebell for short or infrequent training periods you may consider going for the adjustable kind. If the kettlebell is going to become a staple of your training regime or if your looking to lift heavy or lift in competitions, the normal kind is advised. Instructors would be advised to stock up on the normal kind for classes or in gyms as they look better and are more stable then the adjustable kind, even if they present a bit of a transportation problem!


It’s possible some of you more experienced lifters are still laughing at me and my rubber kettlebells. They are no longer available from the supplier I got them from and for good reason. Rubber coatin is one thing, but a rubber handle is completely different. Price or hatred of your clients are the only reasons I would advise you to get the rubber ones, they leave a black residue on your hands as you use them (I only used an 8kg, I can’t imagine what a 16kg or 20kg would be like!) and really are not suitable to lifters using the heavier weights. Maybe buy them in 4kgs to hunt the lazy athletes onto the 8kgs faster….
Material is quite important and depends a bit on what your aim is. The three most common are cast iron, neoprene/vinyl coated, and hollow cast/competition.
Cast iron kettlebells are generally the cheapest and come in an exciting range of colours such as black, black and black (a new colour, black, will be introduced in the summer). Because they are solid cast as opposed to hollow cast they are smaller and take up less space. They are a good investment for the recreational lifter.
Neoprene/vinyl coated are basically cast iron kettlebells coated in one of the aforementioned materials. This can significantly increase the price for the added benefits of “protecting the floor” and looking nice. For an instructor it might be easier to sell your class to certain groups if you have these nice shiny kettlebells instead of a couple of heavy looking, paint chipped hollows but cast irons and a few mats can do the job just as well. With these you really are just paying for the coating.
One of the problems with the above two is their size. This is because when you perform some exercises, such as a Snatch(note that she is using a 16kg) the “ball” or “bell” part of the weight will be sitting high up and will be in contact with the wrist. For beginners who don’t perform the exercise with the immaculate technique of a trained veteran the weight will smack off the wrist and can hurt and cause bruising. Instructors will have to watch for this in their clients; if they think you’re practising KGB torture instead of KGB training methods on them they mightn’t come back. The same for the person training at home; if after two or three sessions all you have is pain in your wrists you might call it quits and your investment will be banished to collect dust in the shed. (The coating doesn‘t really help prevent bruising, a 12kg hoping off your arm is a 12kg hoping off your arm, coated or not. Patience and proper technique are a better alternative, or even a wrist band!)

In comes hollow cast to save the day! Price wise they wander in somewhere in the middle, slightly more expensive then cast iron and less then the coated ones. If placed side by side a 12kg and a 32kg would look identical other then colour; same height, same width, same handle size. This is because they are hollow cast, the 12kg being more hollow then the 32kg. The theory is that as you move from a 12kg to a 16kg cast iron the handle size changes and the centre of gravity changes and you must “relearn” the body in all the exercises to the new weight. With the hollow cast the handle size stays the same and the centre of gravity stays the same. Also, because the weight is larger it is further down on your arm during a clean or snatch. So while you might still get bruising from poor technique it won’t be in your wrist and it will cause you less pain.
Hollow cast are also the official competition weights. WKC rankings and all competitions must be conducted using these. Some coaches even refer to cast iron or coated kettlebells as “broken” and will, where possible, not use them.
But which of these three you go for is going to be determined by our next criteria and that’s your goals. Me, trying to train for strength (weight throwing) with a 4kg rubber kettlebell didn’t make much sense. Your goals will determine the weight and type of kettlebell that you get:
The person who wants to try out kettlebell lifting along with other forms of exercise or the person who won’t have much time to dedicate isn’t going to want to invest a lot of money in buying 5 or 6 kettlebells. Either the adjustable kettlebell if you think you’re going to be using it often or a cast iron if your only going to be doing a few sessions every once and a while. If you would like something which won’t look like you dragged it out of a scrap heap treat yourself to one of the coated kettlebells.
People looking to lift at kettlebell competitions or who intend to lift on the heavier end of the kettlebell scale for a sport or for recreation and fitness would be advised to go with the hollow cast/competition kettlebells. You already sound like the type of person who has a home made gym (a shed with a squat rack) but if space is a problem in America there is a growing tradition of Kettlebell Clubs which are sometimes in gyms but often at the house of a guy with a big garage. Round up a few friends and set aside a few nights of the week for meeting up to train.
Kettlebell juggling. This is a tricky one. To learn juggling and to practise it for fitness or for a sport I would advise getting a wide handled cast iron. The wide handle makes it easier to catch, especially the two handed flips, and because the ball is smaller its easier to flip. But for competitions I’m afraid it’s the hollow cast again! As yet there are no competitions in Ireland but you must be prepared at all times! If you only have hollow cast I would make do with them, I don’t see a need to buy cast iron unless you are going putting together serious juggling programs.
Instructors. This depends on the cliental. New mothers looking to lose some weight mightn’t be too impressed with a row of grey 20kg hollows and likewise the local MMA club mightn’t look too favourably on your collection of vinyl coated 8kgs.There are numerous ways to approach this but a good idea would be a mix, coated or cast iron for the 4kgs, 8kgs and maybe the 12kgs as in general to the clients using these appearance may be an important factor and cast iron for the 16kgs up. A nice cast iron set from 4kg to 20kg-24kg wouldn‘t go too far wrong in a gym.


For those with a competition kettlebell looking for the 70-80 reps for a ranking or to get in competition shape, or even those doing high rep training, you might want to optimise your kettlebell. This means sanding or grinding down the handle of the kettlebell so that it “chalks” better (more below). This can also be done with cast iron. Here is a video of just such an optimisation. While very common in gyms in America this is not absolutely necessary
Many people ask about wearing gloves to prevent blistering and wristbands to prevent bruising on the wrist. For competitions I think wrist bands are allowed but not gloves. However. if your aim is to get fitter or healthier but you don’t think calluses are battle scars to proudly display then there is no reason you shouldn’t. For instructors (who for appearance probably shouldn’t wear either) whose clients inquire as to gloves and wristbands to first thing to see is are these required because of poor technique. On the lighter weights blisters will rarely occur unless there is something wrong with the way the kb is being gripped through a snatch or clean. However calluses at the joint between the palm and the fingers might occur and if people wish to prevent that then they should be allowed use gloves.
Some peoples lifting lives depend on chalk powder, covering their hands in it when going to open a door, while others use it only on very heavy lifts. Chalk powder is used in lifting to give a better grip and is used in very high quantities at kb lifting competitions. Often you will brush off the idea of needing it but it can be a good help when increasing weight for the first time or going for a high rep test. Chalk powder can be gotten in most training equipment stores and the above video shows how you can optimise your kb so that chalk gathers on it better, giving a better grip.

Phew! That took awhile but I got there in the end. The basic points when getting your first kettlebell are:
Your fitness level
Price you’re willing to pay
Is appearance important?
What your goal is, what you are going to use the kettlebell for

I hope this is a help and sheds some light on what to think about when buying your first kettlebell. If you are just about to do so I wish you the very best of luck and hope you get lots of enjoyment and success from your training. If you have any questions drop me a comment below.