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Kettlebell one KB for life

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I always enjoy these questions. And I was just thinking about this during my workout on Saturday. My pick would be the 24kg.

What is funny is that I probably would have picked the 32gk a year or two ago. That is the bell I work out with most of the time. But thinking long term, and some of the things I've read from people who have been in this game for decades, many talk about doing more with less. The story of Victor getting rid of most of his weights and only using the 24, a pull up bar, and a couple light clubs is one example among many.

So for my one bell, I'm dropping down a full size from what my first answer would be.
 
brian d said:
But thinking long term, and some of the things I've read from people who have been in this game for decades, many talk about doing more with less.
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I think I read somewhere " It is vain to do with more what can be done with less" :) and you are right, something to think about for sure.
 
Probably 32. I want to say 40 but rest of my life? Not sure I'll be as eager to press 40kg when I'm an old dude. When I travel, I take the 32, even though I enjoy working with heavier bells.
 
24 or 32. Leaning toward the 32. That is about 1/2 my body weight. I can almost press it and it is heavy enough to get plenty of strength benefit from, while still being usable as a conditioning tool with two hand swings.
Though I honestly don't think I would feel "too weak" if I only owned a 24, but had mastered all lifts with it. Like 10 reps or more of presses, 200 rep SSST, 50-100 consecutive swings, perfect TGUs for reps, maybe a few pistols, etc. The 32 just gives more room for max strength work.
 
I would say 32kg. Light enough for high reps (swings, etc) yet heavy enough to get a practice in with movements like the C&P. Looked at my copy of ETK and saw that picture of Pytor Kryloff on page XIV with the quote of 88 reps in the C&P with one arm. Most of us probably need to get to work.
 
at first sight, I questioned the question...
thinking back and forth it is the 32kg for me and there are many facets to practice towards mastery. Challenging no nonsense drills:

- multiple press, squat, pullup ladders
- farmers walk: rack, overhead, waiter
- bottom up press/squat
- pistols
- single leg deadlift
- the SIMPLE weight
- armbar
- overspeed swings (it is my 30%weight)
- snatchtest with it would be some badass
- pullups

I imagine, that dedicated training with this weight would lead to taming the beast, leading to some real strength. The conditioning possibilities of this one bell are obvious.
Still swinging/squatting this bell when I am two times my current age is a cool image in my mind.
 
@Harald Motz you put beautiful image in my head right now...i would love to have 48 and 32, ;) its good to have simple and sinister with you :) when you tired you use simple, when you ok you use sinister.. Levi Markward i think done 100 snatches with 40 or 48 kg ...
 
Bringing back this old thread, if one were to own just one kettlebell to primarily do two handed swings with that would be challenging for years to come, what would be the best weight to go with? Thank you!
 
vlam said:
Bringing back this old thread, if one were to own just one kettlebell to primarily do two handed swings with that would be challenging for years to come, what would be the best weight to go with? Thank you!
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As noted in the earlier replies, it depends on your current strength and ability, and your goals. Whatever the weight, you will eventually master it and need to resort to varying sets and reps, or exercise variations to keep it fresh.

To answer the question, probably one between 24 and 32 kg.
 
24 kg is the standard size for the military as I understand it - that would be the size I'd choose as well. For stronger folks, 32 kg could be it. A bell you could complete the Rite of Passage with, or Simple.

-S-
 
I personally would get a 32kg competition kettlebell. With a competition bell I can do both hard style and sport style lifting. A 32kg would also allow me to maintain the simple standard and would allow growth in other areas such as the snatch, clean & jerk and press.

I'm saying this because at the moment it's the size I mostly use. But in the future it might be a 40kg.
 
My answer is 24kg. It's kinda light for me, but I think it never gets too light. There are always something you can work with it.. snatch test, secret service snatch test, high volume presses etc...
And hopefully I can still use it 40 years from now. I'm 74 then. :)
 
If it's for the rest of my life, I would chose the 24kg. If I was a bigger man I would perhaps have chosen the 32kg. But I don't see myself pressing a 32kg at 70+ years.
 
Norville Barnes said:
As noted in the earlier replies, it depends on your current strength and ability, and your goals. Whatever the weight, you will eventually master it and need to resort to varying sets and reps, or exercise variations to keep it fresh.

To answer the question, probably one between 24 and 32 kg.
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Thank you! Being new to kettlebells, I'm hearing different types of suggestions especially that two handed swings should be done with heavy weights. Would a 24kg give me the same results as a 32kg doing two handed swings?
 
I love this kind of thread!!

@Norville Barnes surely it shouldn’t depend on your current strength and ability if your using one bell to progress with indefinitely...? I’d have to agree with most others and say a 24 or 32 as when I get older a heavier one will become much less useable. Tbh I’d feel the 24 is a bit light but I think that’s kinda the point. Take a reasonably light bell and think of ways to continually make it challenging.

You could get really creative with training goals....

C&P for reps

Snatch test 5/10 min
Or treat it like a sprint and time your fastest 100 rep time

20 swings p/min for as long as you can! (simple is 5 min but what beast could do this for an hour?!)

100 swings without putting the bell down

The 10 min clean and jerk test from the martial conditioning article

Most consecutive get ups without putting the bell down
You could set an interval timer for 10s and only change position on the beep.
Or just do on the minute reps for as long as you can.

Weighted pistols for reps

Suitcase carry’s - how fast can you speed walk 1Km with a heavy bell in hand?

Take a leaf out of worlds strongest man and set up a high jump rig to see how high you can throw it

More suggestions?
 
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