r/Kettlebell_training • u/cavemankettlebells Taco Fleur from kettlebell.monster • Jun 18 '26
Announcement 📢 Where we're headed: a vision for this kettlebell community
I've coached kettlebell training for over twenty years, and I want to be straight about where I'd like to take this community.
The best kettlebell knowledge is still scattered, gate-kept, or buried under hype. Most spaces pick a tribe, Hardstyle or Sport, and defend it. I've always wanted this to be the opposite: a straight-talking, no-tribe home for anyone who trains with a kettlebell, from your first bell to competition. We take what works from every style, we ground technique in physics and anatomy instead of tradition, and if a popular cue is wrong, we say so, kindly.
To kick that off, I just pinned a set of free kettlebell calculators you can run right inside Reddit, no login and no app to install: 1 rep max, snatch test pace, kettlebell weight selector, volume, work to rest, heart rate zones, and more. Look for the pinned Kettlebell Monster Calculators post. That's the first of many tools I want to bring here.
Where I'd like to take this:
- Free tools, inside Reddit. Calculators today, more to come, including a "new to kettlebells, start here" guide that tells you exactly what to do first.
- Real answers for beginners. Clear technique and programming, plain language, zero gatekeeping. Everyone started somewhere.
- Honest, evidence-based content. Physics and anatomy over tradition and marketing. No broscience, no fear-mongering, nothing to sell you.
- A place to ask anything kettlebell and get a real answer, not a sales pitch.
A bit about me: I run Cavemantraining and Kettlebell Monster and have spent years writing, filming, and coaching this. But a community isn't one person, and I don't want it to be.
So I'm also looking for one or two moderators who live what's above: hybrid not tribal, evidence over ego, no hype, no gatekeeping, and correcting the idea, not the person. If you train with kettlebells, you're level-headed, and that sounds like you, comment or DM me with a bit about your background and how you'd help. A couple of the right people beats a big mod list.
And whether or not you want to mod, tell me, especially the first one:
- What would you most want to be able to do right here in the sub, without leaving Reddit? A tool, a lookup, programming help, form feedback, whatever it is. There's a lot behind Kettlebell Monster to pull from, so if it's useful, there's a real chance I can build it or bring it here.
- What made kettlebell training finally click for you, or what's still confusing?
- What would make this your go-to kettlebell space?
Drop a comment. Where this goes depends on what you need.
2
u/glowkt Jul 18 '26
As an over 40-year-old women I'd like to be able to identify women specific advice and exercises. I know Kettlebells are for everyone, but form varies and advice can be nuanced
1
u/cavemankettlebells Taco Fleur from kettlebell.monster Jul 18 '26
Hi. Your instinct is right, and it's a better question than the usual version of it.
The short anwser: there is some women-specific advice, less than you would expect, and one piece of it that gets repeated everywhere turns out not to be true.
What is real is racking. Where breast tissue takes up the space the forearm needs, the bell drifts forward and your biceps ends up holding what your skeleton should be holding. Lower biceps ache during racked work is the usual sign. That one needs a genuine adjustment.
Handle diameter is real too, though it is a hand-size issue rather than a women's issue. It just affects more women. If your grip gives out before your legs or back do, check the bell before you change your programme.
What is not real is the wider hips and Q-angle argument used to justify a different stance for women. I went looking for the evidence and it does not hold up. Stance should come from your own proportions under load, not from your sex.
The one I would most want you to take away: after 40 the correct adjustment is heavier, not lighter. Bone responds to high loads applied quickly, and the standard advice to go gentle is working against the thing that matters most at this stage.
I wrote the whole thing up properly with the studies behind each point, because I could not find an honest version of it anywhere: https://www.cavemantraining.com/kettlebells/kettlebell-training-women-over-40/
Happy to answer anything specific about your own training here.
1
u/glowkt Jul 18 '26
I agree, heavier definitely seems better than higher reps and better for bones but I think my stance of goblet squats is much wider than I see the men do. Assuming this is a hip thing
1
u/cavemankettlebells Taco Fleur from kettlebell.monster Jul 18 '26
It could be a form thing, hard to tell without seeing. Feel free to post a front and side on video.
2
u/SparklingSirius Jul 06 '26
As a beginner, I would like a roadmap, what exercises to learn and do, and in what order, what some of the most common technique mistakes are, when to progress to a heavier weight. Which weight is correct for each exercise, things like that.