Gain Strength and Build Muscle With This 15-Minute Kettlebell Leg Workout

Building lower-body muscle at home doesn't have to cost thousands of dollars or take up your entire garage: You can just grab a kettlebell.

"It takes up less space than a pair of shoes. It's affordable. It's versatile. Yes, it's just a tool. But it's a damn good one," says kettlebell-loving trainer Steven Head, CSCS, author of ‌Not Another Fitness Book‌. "Anything you can do with dumbbells, you can do with a kettlebell — and that's not so much true in reverse."

That's because the unique shape of a kettlebell makes it an ideal tool for exercises like cleans, snatches and its most famous move, the kettlebell swing.

The single-handle, ball design also allows for balance and stability challenges that separate KBs from dumbbells, Head says: Holding the kettlebell with the ball pointing up and the handle on the bottom allows for exercises like the bottoms-up press, which adds a shoulder stability challenge that differs from a dumbbell.

Kettlebells can also build serious strength: In an August 2020 study in the ‌Journal of Human Kinetics‌, experienced ballet dancers gained more explosive power for their jumps using kettlebells than those performing traditional ballet jumping training. Perhaps more surprising: The dancers improved their balance more with the KBs, too.

Build the same kind of strength with this 15-minute workout kettlebell leg from Head. The moves aren't as technical as swings and snatches, so you can try them at home without a trainer or coach on hand, and feel safe — and strong — with a home gym setup that's smaller than a carry-on suitcase.

This workout consists of five kettlebell moves and only takes 15 minutes. But the way to use those 15 minutes depends on your goals, Head says. If you're aiming to build muscle and some strength while increasing your conditioning, you'll want to do more work and less rest.

If your main goal is to get stronger, you'll want to find a heavier kettlebell and incorporate more rest. Research has shown that longer rest periods result in greater strength gains overall: In an April 2018 review published in ‌Sports Medicine‌, scientists concluded that rest periods longer than one minute were better for strength gains — and for heavier loads, rest periods over two minutes were even better. To keep this workout short, the longer rest period will be 70 seconds.

• ‌For endurance and building muscle:‌ Perform each exercise for 20 seconds, then rest for 40 seconds and move to the next exercise. Perform 3 rounds in this way.
• ‌For maximizing strength:‌ Perform each exercise for 20 seconds, then rest for 70 seconds. Repeat for another set, then move to the next exercise: Do 2 sets of 20 seconds each, resting 70 seconds between sets and exercises.

For both options, think of the 15 minutes as a workout "block." Try to do at least three blocks per week, resting at least 24 hours between blocks for strength if you're just starting out. Aim for as many blocks as possible during the week: If you can do two in a row on one day, great! If you can do four, five or six during the week, that's great, too.

Each week, try to do more repetitions during the work portions of your exercises, do more blocks during the week or step up to the more advanced versions of each exercise, where applicable.

The key to a good step-up is pushing with the raised leg, not the one on the ground, and staying upright instead of leaning forward. Holding the kettlebell in the goblet position will help keep you from leaning forward. If you're cheating with your back leg, try a lower step.