Which kettlebell should I buy?

You don't have to buy anything

Every weighted move in here has a bodyweight version sitting right underneath it. If you own nothing, the app notices and switches the whole plan to bodyweight — no setting to find, no decision to make, unless you've already picked a side yourself.

So the honest advice is: do a couple of weeks first. If you're still showing up, buy a bell. A kettlebell bought in week one is a very expensive coat hook.

Why three bells, eventually

Every weighted move in the catalog is tagged light, moderate, or heavy. The app turns those tags into real numbers by looking at what you own: the lightest bell for light, the heaviest for heavy, the one in the middle for moderate.

With one bell, all three tiers point at the same number. The suggestions technically work, but they aren't telling you anything. Two bells give you a top and a bottom; three give you a middle.

Being honest about the ceiling: most of the catalog sits in the moderate and heavy tiers. The light bell mainly buys you Turkish get-ups, which are genuinely worth owning a lighter bell for and genuinely miserable with one that's too heavy. Two bells is a real gym. Three is a comfortable one.

Buy one first

Skip the boxed bundles. One bell, used often, beats a rack you bought in a burst of enthusiasm. The usual starting points:

These are averages, and you are a person, not an average. If you're between two sizes, take the lighter one. The overhead work — presses, get-ups — punishes a bell that's too heavy far more than it rewards an ambitious one, and that's the movement that caps what you can use.

That same lift is the honest test: the bell you can press overhead for about 5 clean reps. The app calls it your press anchor, and once you set it in Settings, every kettlebell suggestion scales from it. If a shop lets you try before buying, press first.

Then two more

When you add bells, jump — don't creep. At the bottom of the ladder 4 kg is the smallest step worth paying for, and it widens to 8 kg near the top. That's why bells are sold in the sizes they are, and it's worth staying inside one family: bells come in kg-native sizes (8, 12, 16, 24) and lb-native ones (15, 25, 35, 50). Mixing the two buys you a 25 and a 26 that feel identical.

The light slot is for the slow, awkward stuff — Turkish get-ups, where the bell spends a long time overhead and control matters far more than load. The heavy slot is for swings and deadlifts, where your hips are doing the work and a light bell just gets in the way.

These buttons add to whatever you already own — they won't wipe your gym, and they add in whichever unit your gym is set to, so the lb equivalents go in if you've switched. Everything is editable in Settings.

Day E wants dumbbells

One day in the rotation is built around dumbbells rather than bells. One pair covers it, but pick a pair you can press for about 10 controlled reps, not 5 — the press anchor is a kettlebell measurement and the dumbbell day never uses it. With a single pair the app suggests that same weight for all four moves, including the flys and curls, and those want the lighter end of your range rather than your press maximum.

If you'd rather not own both, Day E's bodyweight version is there too.

Cast iron or adjustable?

An adjustable bell is the cheapest honest route to three tiers. One purchase, one footprint, and you get the light/moderate/heavy spread the app wants without buying three objects. The trade-offs are a chunkier handle and a bell you really should not drop.

A cast iron bell feels better in the hand, survives being dropped on concrete, and will outlive you. Buy them one at a time as you outgrow what you have. Competition bells are excellent and completely unnecessary at this stage.

Either way: a used bell is the same as a new bell. Iron doesn't wear out.