Catalog · Kettlebells
The kettlebell library.
28 exercises, grouped by movement family. The same families the method articles describe — start here when you want the specifics.
Before you start
The map first.
The kettlebell library is organized around movement patterns, not individual exercises. If you haven't read the method articles yet, two pieces are worth the ten minutes:
Family 01 — Hinges & ballistics
Hinges & ballistics
The hip-driven engine of the library. Power is produced here and finished elsewhere.
Kettlebell Swing
The foundational ballistic hip hinge. The same motor pattern as late-stance push-off in running — train it and every stride produces more propulsion for less effort.
One-Arm Swing
Unilateral kettlebell swing. Trains the anti-rotation stability that keeps your form intact when fatigue tries to break it down in late miles.
Kettlebell Snatch
Single-motion overhead lift — the tsar of kettlebell exercises and the most metabolically demanding KB lift.
Kettlebell Clean
Explosive hip-driven pull to the rack. Trains the same load-absorption skill your legs handle on every running foot strike.
Clean & Thruster Complex
Clean into front squat into overhead press in one continuous sequence. Maximum full-body training economy.
Single Leg Deadlift
Unilateral hinge with the bell. Builds posterior chain strength, balance, and the hip stability that protects against runner's knee and IT band issues.
Family 02 — Carries
Carries
Walked under load. Trunk strength trained dynamically, position by position.
Farmer's Walk
Walk a distance with a heavy bell in each hand. The simplest, most honest test of grip, posture, and total-body integrity.
Suitcase Carry
Walk with a single bell at your side. Anti-lateral-flexion training — your obliques fight the load to keep your trunk upright stride after stride.
Rack Carry
Walk with bells in the rack position. Teaches the breath-and-brace pattern under load — the foundation for every standing kettlebell skill.
Overhead Carry
Walk with bells locked overhead. Builds shoulder stability, thoracic extension, and core bracing under the most demanding overhead load there is — motion.
Rack and Suitcase Carry
One bell in the rack, the other at your side. Asymmetric load — the deepest core demand of the carry family.
Rack and Overhead Carry
One bell racked, one locked overhead. Mixed-position carry that trains shoulder stability through two distinct demands at once.
Overhead and Suitcase Carry
One bell locked overhead, one at the opposite-side hip. The most demanding asymmetric carry — shoulder stability, anti-lateral core, and grip in one drill.
Family 03 — Presses
Presses
Rack to overhead. One arm at a time builds the trunk-stable runner.
Single-Arm Overhead Press
Strict unilateral kettlebell press. Builds shoulder strength with a built-in anti-lateral core training bonus — same trunk demand as every running stride.
Thruster
Front squat into overhead press, in one continuous motion. Maximum power output per rep — squat strength launches the press.
Lunge Press
Lunge down, press the bell overhead at the bottom. Combines lower-body single-leg work with an overhead stability demand at peak instability.
Family 04 — Core work
Core work
The trunk producing and absorbing movement — not just resisting it.
Russian Twist
Seated rotational core hold with the bell passed side to side. Trains rotary trunk strength under a stable lumbar spine.
Straight Arm Sit
The first phase of the Turkish Get-Up — supine to seated with the bell locked straight overhead. Builds the bracing pattern that anchors every get-up.
Wood Chop
Diagonal chopping pattern from high to low (or low to high) with the bell. Trains the rotational core power that transfers between hip and shoulder.
Family 05 — Get-ups & windmills
Get-ups & windmills
Slow and positional. The bell stays stacked overhead while the body changes shape.
Family 06 — Circles
Circles
The bell traces a path around the body. Mobility primer light, real strength stimulus heavy.
Also in the library — Supplementary lifts
Supplementary lifts
Squats, lunges, and rows. Not at the heart of our running-strength method, but useful when programmed well.
Goblet Squat
Dan John's teaching squat — and the kettlebell squat. The bell becomes a counterbalance that pulls you into proper depth and an upright torso.
Rack Lunge
Reverse or forward lunge with the bell racked at the shoulder. Loaded single-leg strength with an anti-rotation trunk demand from the off-center bell.
Side Lunge
Lateral lunge with the bell held at the chest. Frontal-plane strength and adductor mobility — the plane runners neglect.
Renegade Row
Plank position on two bells, rowing one at a time. Anti-rotation core plus unilateral pulling in one demanding package.
Single-Arm Bent-Over Row
Single-arm kettlebell row from a hinged stance. Upper-back strength with anti-rotation core demand — keeps your posture upright over marathon distance.