I Did Kettlebell-Only Training for 12 Weeks; Here’s What Happened

For years I’ve centered the bulk of my strength training around the barbell. It’s a proven and reliable method, and the barbell along with its accouterments became the central focus of my own garage gym. That said, I’ve also always enjoyed the idea of kettlebell training. I’ve done some of the well known programs like Pavel’s Simple & Sinister, and incorporated things like snatches into my conditioning, but I’ve never fully committed to doing a kettlebell-only program. The hardcore proponents of kettlebell training love to claim that it can flat out replace the barbell if you do it right.

So, I figured I might as well fully commit and try it out.

As a reminder, I like to break my training year into “seasons.” Each one is anywhere between 8 and 16 weeks, and has a particular emphasis. The typical sequence goes Mass -> Strength -> Specialty. Mass meaning hypertrophy (aka muscle growth), strength meaning an emphasis on higher intensity, and Specialty being whatever the thing is that I want to do. I use specialty blocks for traditional things like serious conditioning, extra physique work, or to take little detours into new training methods like calisthenics, sandbags, strongman, and kettlebells in this case.

Choosing a Program

With my mind set to go pick a kettlebell-focused program, I set out to look for one that met my goals. By the end of my search, I ended up on Geoff Neupert’s Kettlebell Maximorum. Geoff is a longtime Olympic Weightlifting competitor, former strength and conditioning coach for Rutgers University’s athletic teams, and one of the OG kettlebell guys in the United States. He’s also the biggest proponent of double kettlebell work out there, with most of his programs involving two kettlebells rather than one.

I selected Kettlebell Maximorum because I thought represented a complete system. It had the double clean and press for upper body strength, double front squats for some leg strength, and snatches for the ballistics and conditioning side of things. Most kettlebell programs only emphasize one thing at a time, which is tough for me to do for months at a time.

Geoff’s website is full of examples of men who transformed their physiques using his programs. Shirts get tighter across the chest and shoulders, while pants get looser around the waist. Discussions on message boards are also loaded with others talking about the progress they made on the program. I was intrigued by the prospect of getting these kinds of results in a fraction of the time I typically spend in the gym.

With curiosity in mind, I swiped my credit card in September 2023, read through the program, and slotted it to my training calendar for late spring/early summer 2024. The first day was June 3rd, and I finished on August 23rd.

Kettlebell Maximorum

Out of respect for Geoff’s work and business, I’m not providing specific details on how this program works. Instead, here’s a general summary so you understand what I was doing.

Maximorum is 12 weeks long. Each week consists of four training days. You commit two days to the kettlebell snatch with a single bell, and two days to circuits of double kettlebell clean and press followed by double kettlebell front squat. Each workout has a set time duration (20-30 minutes), and Geoff prescribes how many repetitions of each exercise you need to complete to finish one “round.” The goal of the workout is to complete as many rounds as you can within the allotted time limit.

There are a few catches, though.

The biggest one is that you must maintain control of your heart rate and exertion level. Geoff has strict rules around not starting another set until your heart rate and breathing is under control. For me, that meant waiting until my heart rate came back down to the 130’s or so. You’re also not supposed to start a set unless you’re absolutely sure you can complete it with good technique. No sloppy reps from fatigue allowed.

This system provides a natural rate limit to how much work you can do within the time allowed. With each week, Geoff increases the number of reps in every round. By the end, you’re doing way more volume per set than you were at the start.

Some Personal Additions

Against Geoff’s prescription to not add anything to the program, I did still include some additional cardio work. After every snatch session, I jumped on the Rogue Echo Bike for 20-30 minutes of low intensity cardio. On Wednesdays, I made it a point to go outside and either do a low intensity Run for 30-45 minutes, or do a 5k tempo run every other week. On Saturdays, I did 45-60 minutes of low intensity cardio that was usually a mix of the Echo Bike and intervals of jumping rope.

In total, this was a significant amount of additional cardio on top of kettlebell work that routinely sent my heart rate into the high 160s. There’s a good chance that all of this extra work cost had some downsides are far as strength and size gains went.

Early Lessons Learned

Geoff specifies that you should pick a kettlebell weight that allows you to do 5 good clean & presses, and 10 snatches. For the entire 12 weeks, I used a pair of 24 kg (53 lb) Rogue E-Coat kettlebells. This was perhaps slightly too aggressive, to be honest. I was able to do the five clean & presses, but the last two were somewhat shaky. I probably would have been better off using 2 x 20 kg kettlebells, but I didn’t own them and didn’t want to buy them. So 2 x 24 kg it was.

Hand Care

On the second day of snatching in week one (where I did 54 reps per side), I realized I had a technique problem. Over the course of the workout, the kettlebell ripped a good chunk of skin out of the palm of my right hand from friction. The issue was that my grip was fatiguing too quickly, so I was compensating by overgripping kettlebell during the transitional periods it was rotating in my hand. I didn’t want to stop the program and wait, so I purchased a pair of gymnastics grips from Bear Komplex to help. They did a good job of both protecting my hand and giving me a little bit of extra help in the grip department. I used them for the remainder of the program, and I think relying on them cost me some grip strength in the long run that I have to make up for.

I also grabbed a tin of Rip Fix to treat any future tears or friction points.

Joint Pain

By the end of the second week, I was starting to get some pain in my right elbow. This also turned out to also be a technique issue with the way I was catching the slack of the kettlebell as it came down from the snatch. After a few technique reviews and tweaks, I fixed the issue and the pain never returned. The trick was to make sure that the arm always came to contact and pressed against the inside of the thigh on the back swing. Also, there was probably a normal adjustment period for this much snatching and I just had to adapt.

The takeaway here is that I should probably have sought out some real coaching on the proper execution of the snatch before starting this program.

Calorie Intake

Lastly, I started the program while still on a 750 calorie deficit per day. This was the tail end of a three month effort to get down to 180 lbs on my scale, in line with my target for “martial weight.” I reached that target on the fourth week, and then switched to maintenance calories (or a slight surplus) for the rest of the program. You’ll see in a minute that this coincided with a significant jump in performance. So, in other words, getting enough food matters a lot.

Calorie deficits, especially paired with a program like this, will help you lose weight quickly- but it also makes recovery a real issue. I can’t imagine how I would have fared were I to keep the deficit well into the later weeks of the program.

Execution and Performance

I kept track of every workout’s repetitions as well as what was going on with my heart rate during the session. As you look at the raw numbers below, note that Week 12 was actually a taper week for the clean and press and front squats. Those movements peaked during Week 11 with the most reps per set. Week 12 was the peak for snatches, though. Also note that the snatch count was total for both arms, divide it in half to get the per-arm amount.

As you can see, I did see performance gains week over week on just about everything. By the end, I had increased my snatch rep count by nearly 220% in the same amount of time. Similarly, I had a 250% increase in my clean and press volume and 180% increase in my front squat volume within the same fixed time limit. I attribute these gains mainly to improved conditioning, but strength was certainly a factor.

On an exercise performance note, as the reps started climbing higher around Week 7, I began doing more push pressing than strict pressing of the kettlebells. It’s allowed, but technically the push press is a different movement.

My starting point was 2 x 24 kg kettlebells for 5 shaky repetitions. At the end of Week 12, I tested again and had 8 clean repetitions, so that is clear progress.

Heart Rate and Cardio

I’m not going to show an example of an actual workout since it would have the sets and reps, but here are two example of a typical heart rate plot for a workout. This program was intensive on cardiovascular conditioning.

First is a typical day of clean & press / front squat circuits. The second one is a snatch session followed immediately by 20 minutes on the Echo Bike. For the record, heart rate was tracked with a Polar H10 chest strap and these images from the associated Polar Flow App.

As you can see, I did my best to let my heart rate return to the blue zone before starting the next set- but that didn’t always happen. Of course, I was trying to compete with the log book and still beat my previous numbers from session to session if I could.

Final Results

After Week 12, I took a week to test my barbell lifts to see where they were at before beginning my next training block. The end of this week also coincided with my monthly body measurements to track several metrics I like to monitor.

So what were the results? Well, to be honest, they were kinda meh. For the record, I started the program at 185 lbs and finished at 183.7, but keep in mind that I went down to 180 during the course of it and then came back up a bit. Also, I should note that my starting strength numbers below were already depressed from what I was able to do before. When I tested these numbers, I was already two months into a calorie deficit that was costing me energy and strength.

Despite what I’m going to show are potentially not great, I want to emphasize that I had more compliments about my physique and looking fit towards the end of this program than I ever have before. That’s an intangible result that has no measurement.

Upper Body Strength & Size

On June 1st, two days before starting the program, the circumference around my shoulders and upper chest was 47.5″. My arms measured 14″ around the thickest point of the bicep when flexed, and my chest measured 40.5″ at the nipple line. My barbell overhead press was around 140 lbs for one rep (documented on May 6, 2024) and my bench press was around 205 lbs for one rep. I was able to do 9 chin ups with good technique. To be honest, these are fairly mediocre numbers in the gym world- but I’m working on it.

After 12 weeks, I was still able to do 9 chin ups with good technique despite not doing any for 12 months. I’ll accept that. There’s probably something to the cleaning and snatching as a decent back maintainer.

My barbell overhead press decreased to around 125 lbs. The circumference around my shoulders also decreased to 47.25″. Now, I think the measurement change is probably a margin of error in my technique, so I’m not really concerned about that given how many of my other measurements went down in the same time period. The loss in overhead pressing strength could also be technique atrophy.

My bench press decreased to 180 lbs, and chest measurement went down to 40″. There was no change in arm circumference.

Lower Body Strength and Size

Prior to starting, my thighs measured 24″ each, and 39.5″ around my glutes. Calves measured 15″ at the start, as well.

My squat was around 305 lbs and deadlift at 355. After 12 weeks, my squat decreased to 285 and my deadlift went up to 365.

Again, I do think technique atrophy was an issue here. I hadn’t done a proper barbell back squat in three months, so there’s a good chance that strength was actually there but technique was not.

As for measurements, my thighs decreased to 23″, hips decreased to 38″, and calves remained the same. However, I think this is an anomaly as I had some weird dietary stuff going on in the week leading up to the final measurements. For most of the 12 weeks, the measurements were stable at 24″ and 40″ for thighs and glutes respectively, the same as at the start.

Conditioning Changes

This is where the bulk of the impact was. Below you’ll see my polar tracking for most of the program, and how my calculated conditioning level climbed over time. Polar figures this out by monitoring changes to heart rate during exertion and how changes over time. The algorithm then figures out a relative performance index against my prior history.

In practical terms, my running performance improved a lot. I was able to run longer distance for the same amount of time while keeping my heart rate at Zone 2. Similarly, my tempo run time for a 5k came down 3-4 minutes. Mind you that a tempo run is not a race pace, but a slightly more challenging regular run where I let heart rate drift a bit higher than I would in a low intensity run. By the end of the program, I would regularly see Polar rate my running as “elite,” which was kind of neat for me.

On the Echo Bike, I had a noticeable improvement in my low intensity pace and calories per minute. This indicates a higher level of output with the same or lower perceived level of effort.

The workouts themselves also showed a lot of improvement, as it took more time for my heart rate to reach higher levels and it also showed a lot of resiliency to come back down quickly after exertion ended.

All of those are big wins in my book.

Drawing Conclusions

So what can I take away from this experiment?

First, I have to admit that I don’t think I’m the target audience for Geoff’s work. Most of his content and videos seems to be focused on convincing men to do something, and that they can get great results with far less time than they think per week. I don’t need convincing to go be active for 20-30 minutes 3-4 days per week. Prior to this program, I was typically training for 6 days per week up to an hour at a time.

I bring this up because I think it skewed my results negatively. Even though I don’t consider myself particularly strong, I’m probably well beyond the “average” for the kind of person this program is targeted to. My biggest limiting factor was technique, which improves over time.

Where I to repeat this program for several cycles, I have every reason to think that the gradual progression of repetitions and load would generate great results in upper body strength. I see no reason that eventually jumping from 2 x 24 kg bells to 2 x 28 kg or 2 x 32 kg would not keep improving both strength and physique. However, that progression is slow. For me, barbells seem to be the more efficient tool.

When it comes to squats, though, my opinion is a little different. When you’re already able to squat 300+ lbs, then front squatting for 105 lbs and moderate repetitions just doesn’t carry the same “oomph.” As a strength endurance tool, then I think they’re great. Building in double kb front squats for high reps as part of a circuit would be killer- but as a main strength builder for the legs, it didn’t do much for me.

The Mental Game

The last thing I’ll add is that the mental game becomes a grind. 12 weeks of the same few exercises absolutely started to wear on my mindset. By about Week 10 (which was a hard one), I was having trouble motivating myself to continue. This was largely a bit of boredom. That’s a me problem, though. Kettlebell programs, especially minimalist ones, are notorious for this happening at some point. The game is that you have to stick it out and keep showing up- because that’s where the results are in the long term.

What I’ll Keep For the Future

Through this program, I’ve become a huge fan of both snatching and the double kettlebell clean and press. I think both of these movements have their place in a larger system for me that mixes with barbell work and other conditioning tools. I enjoyed the density style of training where you have a fixed amount of time to produce as many repetitions as possible. I’ll definitely keep this in my pocket for the clean and press.

I also purchased another of Geoff’s programs, The Giant-X, which completely focuses on the double clean and press. I think running that in conjunction with some barbell work (particularly squats for the lower body) and calisthenics (pull ups and dips) on alternating days would be a better overall program for me.

I’m also going to keep snatches as a staple of my conditioning days. Whether it’s done in density format like Kettlebell Maximorum did, or do it in a StrongFirst A+A style of training. Snatches have a very powerful effect and seem like a total body conditioner.

For the squats, I’ll probably use these only for strength endurance work. I see a place for them in things like complexes or other high rep activities.

Should YOU Try This Yourself?

To close this one out, I’m answering this question. I did this for 12 weeks, should you give kettlebells a try? The short answer is yes, absolutely. While I don’t think my personal results were in line with the reviews and hype that Geoff’s program had, I also don’t think I was the target audience. I’m also a little bit crazy with an almost robotic tendency to show up six days a week to work in the gym.

For most people, men or women, who either can’t or won’t put in that kind of consistent effort- the kettlebell represents a really nice minimalist training method. If you can tolerate the monotony of doing the same 1-3 movements over and over for months at a time, then you will definitely see results.

Could you get better results if you put in even more time and variety with a barbell and other traditional gym work? Probably- if you were able to commit to showing up for 1-2 hours per day, 4-6 days per week. For most people, that’s not happening over the long term. This is where the kettlebell program shines: it combines both strength and conditioning work into the same training session, and you’re done in less than 30 minutes. Repeat 3-4 days per week and you’ll reach sufficient strength for the rest of your life.

I’d say that’s at least worth trying.