15 Minute Kettlebell Workout
If you’re looking for a rapid-fire cardio workout to burn mega calories while also boosting your heart and lung efficiency, you can’t do much better than kettlebells. Kettlebells will elevate the heart rate, activate your major muscle groups and keep your heart rate at more than 50 percent of its maximum. They will also challenge your body’s stability in a way that you can’t get with dumbbells or machines. In this article, I’ll lay out a killer kettlebell cardio workout that you can complete inside of 15 minutes.
Program Overview
You will do this kettlebell workout every other day. That means that your workout days will change from week to week. Here’s how it will look over a 3 week period.
The workouts will be performed in circuit fashion. That means that you progress from one exercise to the next, with no rest between them. Then, when you have completed all of the exercises (a round), you will rest for 60 seconds. You will complete 3 rounds of this workout.
Each exercise will be done for 60 seconds.
Begin the workout with a short warmup consisting of 60 seconds jogging on the spot followed by dynamic stretches for the major muscles (thighs, chest, back).
The Workout
Kettlebell Swing
How To Do It
With your feet hip width apart, hold a kettlebell in front of your body with your arms straight.
Now bend your knees slightly as you begin to swing the kettlebell down and between your legs.
Now buck your hips forward as you swing the kettlebell up to chest height, keeping your arms straight.
Continue this fluid swinging motion.
Stand with feet shoulder width apart and a kettlebell held in both hands at arm's length in front of your body.
Lower and repeat.
KettleBell Push Up / Row
How To Do It:
Get down in the top push up position with a pair of kettlebells on the floor at shoulder level. Grab the handles as you support your body at arm’s length.
Lower down until your chest is about three inches from the floor.
Push back up to the start position.
Now row the left hand dumbbell up to your ribcage.
Lower and perform another push up.
Now row the right hand dumbbell up to your ribcage. Be sure to keep your spine neutral as you perform this exercise.
Kettlebell Burpee
How To Do It:
Stand with a pair of kettlebells in your hands at your sides and your feet hip width apart.
Drop to the floor and kick your legs back so that you are in the top push up position.
Perform a single push up.
Now kick your feet back in and explode back to the start position, with the kettlebells still in your hands.
This is a challenging version of the burpee. Begin by using a light weight, focusing on speed of movement rather than resistance lifted.
Kettlebell Halo
How To Do It:
Hold a kettlebell in both hands by its handle at the level of your chest.
Straighten your arms directly overhead so that the kettlebell is above your head.
Now begin rotating your shoulder joints to circle your head with the weight, going in an anticlockwise direction.
After each rotation, drop the kettlebell back to the level of your chest.
