20-Min Beginner Kettlebell Workout | One Kettlebell, All Standing, No Repeats

We're keeping things simple and effective today. All you need is one kettlebell and we have 16 standing strength exercises. This is the beginner kettlebell workout I wish I had when I started. So let's jump in. All right team, I'm Lindsey Bomgren of Nourish, Move, Love. And today I'm joined by the amazing Caroline. Hello. On set with us. She'll be offering some modifications because I'm gonna be doing today's workout with one single kettlebell. But if you don't have access to kettlebells, no worries. Caroline's gonna show you how you can do every exercise today with a single dumbbell. So you can use a single dumbbell or kettlebells. We're doing an all standing strength kettlebell workout. We have 16 kettlebell exercises for you. You're gonna do each exercise for 45 seconds of work followed by 15 seconds of rest and it's no repeats. So that means you do each exercise once and you are done. Let's go ahead and get started with the warmup and then we can dive right in. All right guys, we're gonna start with your feet about shoulder width distance apart and we're gonna start with a knee hug. So you're just pulling your knee up balancing on the other leg if that's available to you. If not, you can always grab a counter, something you can stand next to. You can just go for a march, just pulling that knee up, thinking about opening up your glutes, lengthening through those glutes as you pull that knee up. Nice. Awesome job. Today's going to be all low impact, all strength, all standing. Great workout. Give me one more. Great. Now we're going to go into a hip hinge. So feet are shoulder-width distance apart. And if you want, you can put your hands right on your hip. Think about pushing your fingers into your hip bones. There's a soft bend in your knees. Press the floor away to stand up. So you're initiating with a hip hinge. Okay, this is gonna be a very important move today. You're gonna see deadlifts, and then we're gonna add power to this exercise in the form of the kettlebell swing. We wanna make sure we're not squatting, but it is a hip hinge. So your fingers should go right into the crease of your hip bones, soft bend in the knees. Another marker, as you're gonna take this into a swing, you can take your hands between your legs as if you had a kettlebell. And I want you to think about your forearm hitting your inner thighs. All right, if you get past the forearm into the elbows, you know you're squatting too much. All right, so it'd want to be a hip hinge. Now you can add some power, push the floor away to stand tall. Hinge, stand tall. Hinge, stand tall. Forearms to inner thighs, press the floor away to stand you tall, driving those hips forward, not overextending at the top. This is going to be your swing. Nice, give me 2 more. Down, up. One more. Down Up. Nice. Now just go into that hinge position and think about lengthening tailbone to fingertips. So reach your fingertips away from you. Now reach them behind you. Now reach them away from you. Nice. Stand up and we're just going to drop into a squat. So you're dropping down into a squat. Same thing. You're pressing the floor away with all of your foot to stand you tall, trying to get a little bit deeper with each squat. Knees are going to track out away from your body. I like to think about my knees driving to my outer 3 toes. Chest is going to be upright in the squat position. Chest is going to come parallel to the floor in that hinge position. All right, so the squat's hitting a little bit more of my quads and my glutes. The hinge is going to hit the backside of my body, the hamstring. You have 2 more squats here. Down, up. One more squat here. Nice. Stand tall. Bring your arms up to a 90-degree angle. Palms down, palms up. Reach overhead, drop. Palm down, palms up, reach, pull down. Nice. Warming up those shoulders in an overhead pattern today. Be doing some overhead presses. Push. We'll be doing some single-sided exercises focusing on one side of the body at a time. So try and grab some heavy weights or heavy kettlebells if you can and really push your weights. You're only doing each exercise once. Nice. Give me one more here. Down, up, push. Nice work. Let's just go for a step back lunge. So step back, right? Stand tall, step back left, stand tall, driving through that front foot. Shoulders are staying stacked on top of your hips here, driving through this front foot to stand you tall. Nice work. Just dropping that back knee to the ground. Drop and stand, drop and stand. Nice. You have 4. We're gonna go lateral or side to side lunges. Nice. In 2 and 1, lateral lunge. So I'm going to step right first, step right, stand tall, step left, stand tall. So hitting side side, driving off that bent knee. Nice. We're going to train side to side and front to back. This very functional workout, building strength for everyday life. Nice. Let's do one more each way. Hit right and hit left. Awesome job. All right, we're going to finish with some halos. Just want to mimic the move. Pretend you're holding a weight here. You're going to go all the way up and around your shoulders to the other hip. So hip up and around your head to hip. This move does require shoulder mobility and core strength, if that's not available to you, Caroline's gonna do a dumbbell front raise. That'll be a great option. All right, so we're just mimicking some of the moves you're gonna see today. Anti-rotation, so your toes face me, your core stays steady. All right, let's do it. We are warm. We are gonna jump in 16 standing strength exercises. We're gonna go 2 leg exercises, then 2 arm exercises alternating as we go. So grab a heavy kettlebell. I have anywhere from 20 to 35 pounds with me today. I'm gonna start with my 35-pound heavy kettlebell. Gripping the horn or the, the top of it, and I'm gonna pretend like I'm splitting that horn in half. That's going to activate my lats. Going into that hinge pattern, hinge, hinge, hinge, tapping the bell towards my heels and standing up. So it's a deadlift, right? That move we warmed up with. You're there for 45 seconds. In 3, 2, let's go. So soft bend in the knees, press the floor away to stand tall, hinge, hinge, hinge. Or think about pushing your butt back towards that wall behind you. You could also think about shutting a car door with your butt. That's helpful if you're a visual learner. And Really think about splitting that bell in half. That's going to activate the lats. Keep it tight to your body. If you can try and increase the range of motion, you're trying to tap that kettlebell back towards your heels. If you're Caroline, you have a little bit farther distance to travel. You see the kettlebell stops me, so you don't have to go all the way down. Range of motion is going to look different for everyone. You could always set a book on the floor if you wanted to tap that instead. Nice work. Remember, you do it once and you are done, and you have 5 seconds left here. Nice, finish. 3, 2, let's do one more together. Now you're going to go into a squat, a goblet squat. I'm going to bring the kettlebell up here, holding at the sides. I'm going to drop into a squat. I want my elbows to fall between my knees here at the bottom and press the ground away to stand tall. You're there in 3, 2, let's go. It's a goblet squat. Again, I'm holding the kettlebell, but I want my elbows nice and tight. Elbows are dropping between my knees. Not letting the weight pull me forward, keeping it nice and tight to my chest. Inhale down, exhale, push that floor away, stand tall. Inhale down, exhale, push the floor away, stand tall. Nice work, team. Chest up. Nice, nice neutral neck. Really using my entire foot to press the floor away. Awesome job. We got 2 lower body exercises. Next up is going to be 2 upper body exercises. 10 seconds here. We're going to transition to single arm back rows in 5, 4, 3, 2. Rest and recover. Nice work. I'm going to swap down to a 30-pound weight. Still going to go heavy. Split stance, left foot forward, right, right leg back. Right arm grabs the bell. Single arm row, elbow to hip pocket in 3, 2. Let's go. Roll, hold, squeeze. Lower with control. Squeeze. Lower with control, squeeze. So I'm hinged over, chest is parallel to the ground. You can always place your opposing hand on your knee, on a bench. Row, lower with control, get some nice length at the bottom, then pull elbow to hip, hold, squeeze. Strengthening your mid upper back here, strengthening your lats, your rhomboids, hitting that back. The back is the largest muscle group in your upper body. It's nice and big, so try and go heavy. 10 seconds, we're gonna switch to the other side. Focusing on one arm at a time should allow you to go a little bit heavier. For 4, 3, 2, rest and recover. Set it down, shake it out. Same thing, other side. Left hand's gonna grab that weight, right foot forward, left foot back. Same thing, single arm row. Not opening, but keeping those shoulders square to the ground. In 3, 2. Let's go. Row, lower, pull, squeezing at the top. As you squeeze, really think about pulling your shoulder blade back and down. Okay, shoulder blade goes down towards the hip. Nice, awesome job. I feel like these workouts are so motivating to like lift up heavier. Oh yeah, especially with a kettlebell. I always go like a little heavier than I normally would. Absolutely, you have one weight, it's a good chance to go heavy. We're hitting single side of the body, great chance to try and go heavier than you normally would. When people ask if they're buying a kettlebell for the first time, I always say go heavier than you normally would. Try and push that weight. When we get a lighter kettlebell, you'll see overextension, you'll see this opening pattern because it's not heavy enough for you. 3, 2, rest and recover. Awesome job. Back to the legs. We're going to go to a reverse lunge. Caroline's going to keep her feet planted, right foot forward, left foot back. Right here, I'm going to go for a full step back lunge. You're there in 3, 2, let's go. Right foot forward, left foot back. I'm stepping back to a lunge, standing tall. My back left knee drops towards the ground. You can hold the weight right here in the left hand. It's more comfortable. You could always hold it at your chest, goblet style. You get to decide. I like this uneven weight distribution. It's really going to force your core to turn on when you hold the load on one side of the body. You're getting a little bit of ab and core work here. Built into your standing strength work. Driving through that front foot. Inhale down, exhale stand up. Nice work, guys. 10 more seconds here. Doing each exercise for 45 seconds. A little bit longer, a little extra burn, shorter rest. 3, 2, rest and recover. Same thing, other side. Now I'm going to hold the kettlebell in my right hand, left foot forward, right knee drops back towards the mat. Single-sided lunge. All right, building strong glutes and legs in 3, 2. Let's go, step back lunge. Stand tall again, so shoulders stay stacked over hips here. We're focusing on building the quads and the glutes in the step back lunge, a little bit more of the front side of the body. We'll hit the back side, we did with deadlifts. We'll hit the back side again with some more deadlifts and swings. Awesome job, guys. Back to upper body after this. We're going to target the shoulders next. So you get 2 leg exercises followed by 2 arm exercises to alternate muscle groups. Again, allowing you to go heavy like Caroline said, because you're getting rest between those muscle groups and you only do each exercise once. 10 more seconds here in these lunges. Single arm presses in 5, 4, 3, 2, rest and recover. Nice work. I'm going to set that weight down. I'm going to swap out for my 20, my lightest kettlebell. Single arm press, right hand. Bell is going to go right here on the back of my hand. Single arm press overhead and lower with control in 3, 2, let's go. Push, lower with control. I do think doing the overhead press with a kettlebell is definitely more challenging. That's why we're doing a single arm press. Because again, the weight load is really uneven and it's behind you. That bell is pulling me back. I have to counter that pressing overhead, locking up my core, soft bend in the knees. Inhale down, exhale push. Kettlebell is great for strengthening the shoulder. Nice work, guys. Big push. Again, focusing on one arm at a time. 10 seconds here. It's feeling heavy. Glad we only got to do it once. For 5, 4, 3, 2, and recover. Nice work. Same thing, other side. Shake out those shoulders. Same thing, other side. If holding the kettlebell like this against the backside of your wrist isn't comfortable for you, you can always swap to a dumbbell for this exercise. We go in 3, 2, let's go. Push, lower with control. You also switch your watch face so it doesn't hit it. Yes, helpful. I do. Whenever I'm doing a kettlebell workout, I flip my watch so it's the other way so I don't scratch the face of my watch because the bell is resting on the backside of my wrist where my watch is normally. Woo! Nice work, guys. Big push overhead. Come on, back to lower body after this. We are hitting lateral lunges. We're going to move laterally. Nice work, team. Keep pushing. It should feel hard. You're building strength one rep at a time right here. What would it look like if I said final 5, 4, 3, 2? We got to do one more up. Woo! Holy bananas. That felt heavy. That felt heavy. All right, we're going to hit lateral lunges, stepping just to our right side first, stepping out to the right. Stand tall. You're there in 3, 2, let's go. Here we go. Hit right, stand tall. Nice work. You're dropping into that bent leg on the right and then you're powering up. Chest is still staying upright but coming slightly hinged forward. I like to think about transferring the weight to the outer edge of my foot and driving off that bent knee. Nice work. Basic standing strength. We love it because it works. We train in all planes. Because that's what life is. This is a very functional strength workout designed to help you build strength in your legs, your arms, in multiple planes of motion so that can translate into real life, making things easier, right? We were just moving my kids' bedrooms this weekend, had to move a big bed frame, a mattress, and I was like, yeah, I got this. 3, 2, you're out. Nice work. Same thing, other side. Same thing, other side. It's what we're training for, that translation into real life. Stepping to your left in 3, 2, let's go. Hit left, drive off that bent knee. Hit left, drive off that bent knee. Nice. If you have lighter weights, you can always double them up. You could use 2 dumbbells right now instead of 1, right? But again, if you are purchasing kettlebells for the first time, I would highly encourage you to go heavy. I've got 30, 35-pound kettlebells. I like to use heavy ones, right? Continually striving to increase that weight, especially in these single-sided exercises. Yes, team, nice work. We're back to upper body after this. We're going to hit biceps. 10 more seconds here, 10 more seconds. Nice work, team. Finish for 5, 4, 3, 2, rest and recover. You can set it down, shake it out, however's comfortable for you. Grabbing each head of the dumbbell, or I'm actually going to grip right here and curl. This is how I'm going to curl. Okay, curls in 3, 2, let's go. Soft bend in the knees, curl all the way up, lower with control, hitting the biceps. We're gonna do arms and then we're gonna do those halos. We warmed up with. Then for our last couple exercises, we're going to add a little bit of power. We're going to take these basic strength moves you've done and we're going to add some power. We're going to get into swings, cleans. It's going to be a solid way to finish this workout. You've built some solid strength. You know the basic moves. How can you get better? You keep coming back. You do this workout again. It's showing up day after day. 10 more seconds here in these curls. It feels hard, I know. You got it. Last 5, 4, 3. You got to give me one more. 2, 1, rest and recover. You can set that bell down. I need a quick sip of water. We're going halos. A move that can be challenging. 45 seconds. The extra 5 seems longer. The extra 5 is harder. Halos can be a challenging move. They require a bit of shoulder mobility with strength, especially if you're using heavy weight. I'm going to try and stick with my 30. Going up and around from hip to hip. Caroline's got a great standing option for you if the halos aren't available. A good front raise, right? You're going to hit those shoulders and strengthen them. Dumbbell halos in 3, 2, let's go. 45 seconds up and around the head to the hip. This is an anti-rotation core exercise. Toes stay facing me, core stays nice and strong. As I take weight all the way around my body, forcing my obliques to activate, my deep transverse core, transverse abdominals. Everything is turned on in that midsection. You're bracing yourself with bent knees, soft knees, tight core. Woo! Yes, team, you got it. Come on, we're gonna add power with cleans after this. Give those shoulders a break. 10 more seconds here. Shoulders on fire. Keep it up, Caroline. You're here for 5, 4, 3, 2. Rest and recover. Woo! My eyes were closed. Yeah, I don't know how Rachel smiles. Little squinty eyes happening. We're going for cleans. This is where you want to flip that watch face. Hand is going to grab, right hand grabs, clean up to the shoulder, set down, switch at the bottom. 3, 2, let's go. Push that floor away, clean. Set down, switch hands at the bottom. Clean. So you're driving that weight up to the shoulder. It gets there because your hips drive forward. You press those feet into the ground, stand up, drive the hips forward, building momentum here because we're going to go from cleans into swings. We're going from cleans into swings. Heart rate's going to start to pick up here. Reaching the end of this workout. I want you to finish strong. Finish strong. Yes, come on, you got this. Nice work, team. 10 more seconds in these cleans. 10 more seconds. Awesome. Finish it. Last 5, 4, 3, 2. Rest and recover. If you're with me, that bell comes in front of you. You are hiking it back like you're hiking a football. Break the bell in half. Activate the lats. Forearms hit the thighs. Swing, drive forward. We're not overextending at the top. 3, 2, let's swing, hinge, drive, hinge, drive. Again, you're pushing that floor away to stand tall. Forearms hit the inner thighs. If you get past the forearms, it means you're squatting too much. This is a hinge pattern. Hips back, hips forward, just standing straight up, not overextending at the top. You are building hip, glute, and hamstring strength here. Hip, glute, and hamstrings. Woo! Heart rate's rising, heart rate's rising. Come on, 2 moves after this, guys. 2 moves. Finish strong. 10 more seconds. You got this, you got this. Last 5, 4, 3, 2. Rest and recover. Whoo! Is right. Shake it out. Back to the deadlift, what we started with. Clean press. Okay, deadlift, clean, hand slide down the bell, press. Deadlift in 3, 2, hinge, clean, push, lower, reset. Hinge, clean, push, lower, reset. Adding power. Deadlift, Clean, push. Putting it all together. Hammies, hips, core, shoulders. Yes. Hammies, hips, core, shoulders. Finish strong, you guys. Hinge, clean, push. Big full body finisher. This one more move targeting your core. It's a goblet march. Hinge, clean. Heart rate's rising. Feeling strong. Finish it. 5, 4, 3, 2, rest and recover. Nice work. One move left. Holding that weight at your chest. March, march. It's a core finisher. Standing core. 45 seconds and you're out of here. We go in 3, 2, let's march, march. This is it. 45 seconds, all standing core. Woo! Yes, team, we did it! 16 standing strength exercises. I hope you feel so strong, powerful, ready to take your kettlebell game or single dumbbell game to the next level. Come back, repeat it, think of how you can get better. Is it heavier weights? Improving your form? Improving your range of motion? Always a way to challenge yourself to get better. Keep moving here. Keep those elbows tight. Yes. Keep marching for 10, 9, 8. You got this. 7. Stay with it. Finish strong. Final 3, 2. Rest and recover. Woo! Weights are down. Shake out those forearms. Grip on fire. High fives. Let's shake it out. Cool it down. You did it, team. So proud of you. I don't know about you, but my forearms are on fire. And oftentimes with kettlebell movements, your traps can creep up. So right hand out, fingertips to the ground, grab it with your left hand and pull it over to your left hip. Nice stretch there. Now can you drop left ear to left shoulder? Open up the traps, stretch the shoulders. Nice work. Release. Take that right arm across the body, drop the shoulder, roll out the wrist. Nice work, team. I hope you feel very strong after that workout. I loved it. We hit everything head to toe. Here we go. Left arm, hand out, fingertips down. Right hand over to right hip. Drop the shoulder, drop right ear to right shoulder. Open up the traps. Nice work. Awesome job. Release. Left arm across the body. Drop the shoulder, roll out the wrist. So proud of you for showing up today. Couple hamstring scoops and you're out of here. Right toes up to the ceiling. Big scoop and reach, lengthening through those hamstrings you just worked. Nice work. Releasing that tension in the low back. Nice. Give me one more here. This time, can you reach and hold? Actually, just hold. Reach for those toes. Hold. Think about releasing that tension in that low back. Nice. Stand up tall. Same thing, other side. Left toes up towards the ceiling. Scoop and reach. Scoop And reach. Nice. 2 more just like it. Awesome. This last one, you're going to scoop and hold. Scoop and hold. Grab those toes if it's available to you. Release that tension in the back. Nice work. Stand it all the way up. High five. High fives to you at home. Awesome job. We'd love to see you back on the mat soon for another workout. Nice work on that standing workout. If you loved it, drop a subscribe to my channel. I've queued on an ab workout you could add on here. Otherwise, I'd love for you to join me in a 2-week strength challenge. You can find it all in this playlist right here. Have a great day.