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Comment by artemonster | Hacker News Reader

Which weight to start with for a 90kg guy with little experience and poor shape?

16kg is pretty standard for a male. Personally, with getting older I really love higher reps for conditioning with a 12kg but they all have their use.

I think most people are delusional though to believe they are going to stick with home kettlebell workouts if they don't like the gym. Most likely the kettlebell will be an expensive door stopper in a few months.

I have just met so few in shape people in my life that don't go to a gym. I have a pretty decent home gym and a good assortment of kettlebells but the external gym I go to just has so much more.

This will go against the normal advice, but I suggest getting a 25lb kettlebell to learn the movements, and then move up from there. 32lbs tops. The key to kettlebells is proper form and explosive movements. You'll steadily get hooked on the activity and want a larger one, but it's always nice to have a lighter weight to learn a new movement on. When you grow out of it entirely you can pass is on, or loan it out to folks so that they can try it out.

I'm just a casual kettlebell user rather than a trainer or anything but the recommendations I see for adult males is always 16kg/35lbs. If you're completely untrained/weak then it might be better starting with a lower weight.

This is pretty good advice. I bought some adjustable ones. They're fairly expensive, but you can start with a lower weight and work your way up. You can also do other exercises at lower weights to work smaller muscles.

The kettlebell reddit (/r/kettlebell) is a very good place to learn from - lots of people helping each other get the technique right. Seems the most common mistake is "hinging too early" in the swing.

For a man a single pod (16kg) is a little on the light side unless you are doing lots of reps -I like to keep my kb workout at 100rep, it's quick and an easy number to remember. For swings I,like to use the 2 pod KB and then the 1.25/1.5's for snatches and cleans. You can also use the 2pod for farmers walks and TGUs. This assumes you have multiple KBs if not the 1pod is your best bet to start with and you'll know when it's time for heavier weights.

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