What Weight Kettlebell Should I Use? Starting Weights by Exercise

Most women should start kettlebell swings with an 8 to 12kg bell and most men with a 12 to 16kg bell, then go roughly 4kg lighter for anything pressed overhead or for Turkish get-ups. Those numbers are the starting points that StrongFirst-style instructors have used for years, and they work for the majority of healthy adults, though they're a convention rather than a law: your training history, body size and the exercise you're doing all shift the answer.

The bigger mistake people make isn't picking the wrong number. It's buying one bell and trying to use it for everything.

Why the right weight depends on the movement

Kettlebell exercises fall into roughly two camps, and each one tolerates a very different load.

Ballistic hip-hinge moves like the kettlebell swing, the snatch and the kettlebell clean are driven by your glutes and hamstrings snapping the hips forward. The bell is moving, so momentum does some of the work, and your hips are among the strongest muscles you've got. That's why the swing is usually the heaviest thing you'll do with a kettlebell. A 2022 study of trained women doing overhead swings with 8, 12 and 16kg bells found the hip absorbed the biggest share of the extra demand as the load went up, while knee mechanics barely changed (Watts et al., Sports, 2022). Heavier swings mainly mean harder-working hips.

Grinds are slow, controlled lifts: the goblet squat, the deadlift, the press, the Turkish get-up, the row. There's no momentum to help. Lower-body grinds like squats and deadlifts can still take a fairly heavy bell, but anything that goes overhead is limited by your shoulders and by how well you can stabilise a weight at arm's length. For most people that's around half of their swing weight, sometimes less.

So "what weight kettlebell should I use?" really means "what weight for which exercise?" Here's the answer in table form.

Kettlebell weight chart by exercise and experience

These ranges assume a healthy adult with no injuries. If you're older, recovering from injury or very new to any kind of strength work, start at the bottom of the range or below it.

Exercise	Beginner women	Beginner men	Intermediate women	Intermediate men
Two-handed swing	8 to 12kg	12 to 16kg	16 to 20kg	20 to 28kg
Deadlift	12 to 16kg	16 to 24kg	20 to 28kg	28 to 40kg
Goblet squat	8 to 12kg	12 to 16kg	16 to 20kg	20 to 28kg
One-arm row	8 to 12kg	12 to 16kg	12 to 20kg	20 to 28kg
Clean	6 to 8kg	10 to 12kg	10 to 12kg	16 to 20kg
Overhead press	6 to 8kg	10 to 12kg	8 to 12kg	16 to 20kg
Turkish get-up	4 to 8kg	8 to 12kg	8 to 12kg	16 to 20kg

You'll notice the deadlift sits higher than the swing. It's the easiest lift to load because the bell starts on the floor between your feet and you only need to stand up with it. That's also why a heavy bell you've outgrown for swings stays useful for deadlifts and loaded carries for years.

For context on the swing numbers: in a six-week training study from the University of Chichester, men swung 12kg if they weighed under 70kg and 16kg if they weighed more, twice a week, and their squat strength and jump height both improved, by a margin comparable to jump-squat training (Lake and Lauder, J Strength Cond Res, 2012). Those bells aren't heavy by gym standards. They were enough.

Signs your kettlebell is too heavy

Swings tend to show it first. If you find yourself squatting the bell up instead of hinging, leaning back at the top to counterbalance it, or feeling it in your lower back rather than your glutes, the weight is winning. The bell should float to roughly chest height on its own momentum; if you have to lift it with your arms to get it there, go down a size.

On presses, a heavy bell shows up as a lean: you bend sideways or arch your back to get it overhead. During get-ups, the giveaway is a wobbling arm or a bell that drifts out of line with your shoulder. Don't push through that one. Losing control of a bell above your face is how people get hurt.

Grip failure before your legs or hips feel tired is another clue, particularly on high-rep swings.

Signs it's too light

This one is easier to miss because light bells feel pleasant. If you can do 20 or more clean two-handed swings without your breathing changing much, or you're getting through presses so easily that your form never gets tested, you aren't giving your body a reason to adapt.

A too-light swing bell also tempts you into sloppy technique. Without enough weight to demand a proper hip snap, people start flicking the bell with their arms, which is a habit that gets harder to unlearn once you do move up.

When to move up a size

Pick a rep target, hit it cleanly, then progress. Simple targets that work well:

• Two-handed swings: 10 sets of 10, resting as needed, all with crisp hip drive.
• One-handed swings: 10 sets of 10, alternating hands each set.
• Goblet squats: 3 to 4 sets of 10 to 12 with good depth (our goblet squat guide covers form).
• Presses and get-ups: 5 sets of 5 per arm for presses; 5 smooth get-ups per side for the get-up.

When you can hit the target with clean form for two sessions running, move up one bell. Before that point, you can make a bell feel heavier by slowing the lowering phase, cutting rest or adding reps. Researchers have even looked at changing swing height to make the same bell harder or easier (Ross et al., J Strength Cond Res, 2023), which tells you how much mileage there is in a single bell before you need the next one.

Why the 4kg jumps matter

Traditional kettlebells are sized in steps tied to the Russian pood, which is about 16kg: 8kg, 12kg, 16kg, 20kg, 24kg, 28kg, 32kg. That's fine at the heavy end, where 28kg to 32kg is roughly a 14% jump. At the light end, though, going from 8kg to 12kg is a 50% increase, and that's a lot to ask of your shoulders on an overhead press.

This is why so many people stall when moving from their first bell to their second. Their swing might be ready for the jump while their press clearly isn't. Many brands now sell 2kg increments (10kg, 14kg, 18kg), and those in-between bells are worth buying for pressing if you can. If you can't, use the strategies above to squeeze more out of your current bell before you make the jump.

Buying two kettlebells vs one

If you're buying for yourself, two bells is the smart setup: a lighter one for presses, cleans and get-ups, and a heavier one for swings, squats and deadlifts. A common pair for women is 8kg and 12kg; for men, 12kg and 16kg, or 16kg and 24kg once you've got some training behind you. The light one also covers single-arm work while the heavy one handles everything two-handed.

If budget means one bell only, buy for the swing. Swings are the backbone of most kettlebell programmes, and you can still do presses with a swing-weight bell by switching to bottoms-up holds, two-handed presses or lower reps. You can't really make a too-light bell work for swings.

A cast iron bell sold in every standard size makes this easier, since you can buy your first bell now and add the next weight later without the handles feeling different. The Chase Fitness Cast Iron Kettlebell is a good example. The listing covers 4kg to 40kg, it's solid cast iron with a textured grip, and the 16kg version was around £39.95 at the time of writing.

Check Chase Fitness kettlebell sizes on Amazon

For a lighter pressing bell, the Amazon Basics Cast-Iron Kettlebell has a wide textured handle you can hold with one hand or two, and the 8kg was around £24.11 at the time of writing. Other weights sit on the same listing.

Check Amazon Basics kettlebell price

Our best kettlebells UK roundup compares more options if you want to look wider.

What about an adjustable kettlebell?

An adjustable kettlebell solves the 4kg-jump problem neatly, because one unit covers several weights and you can step up gradually. It's a good fit for small flats or anyone who mostly does grinds like presses, rows and goblet squats.

The trade-off is in the ballistic work. Adjustable bells are usually bulkier than a fixed bell of the same weight, and the shape changes how the bell sits on your forearm during cleans and snatches. For heavy, high-rep swings, plenty of people still prefer a fixed cast iron bell. If swings are your main exercise, buy a fixed bell for those and consider an adjustable one for pressing.

Choosing your first bell: the short version

Pick your bell for the swing using the chart above, err on the lighter side if you're unsure, and add a second, lighter bell for overhead work when you can. Then work through the best kettlebell exercises with that pair before you think about going heavier. Most people who rush to a 24kg bell end up using it for deadlifts while doing everything else with something lighter.

Recommended reads

• The best kettlebells in the UK
• How to do a kettlebell swing
• How to do a kettlebell clean
• The best kettlebell exercises
• More home gym guides