9 best kettlebells for building strength and fitness at home, tested by our expert

Competition kettlebells are a cut above the rest. They’re uniform in size, whatever their weight, so you won’t find the handle too small or the bell too wide when performing swings. They also have a durable steel construction, and they are colour-coded depending on the load, which is helpful.

This Wolverson one is a prime example. The standardised shape felt great for exercises like cleans, snatches and overhead presses, nestling nicely into a front rack position, and the bell itself felt bulletproof.

The retro Wolverson branding makes it look about as cool as a kettlebell can, and there are weight options from 4kg to 32kg to suit a wide variety of lifters.

While I firmly believe kettlebells represent immense value for money, the initial investment can sometimes sting. At £29.99 for a 12kg weight, this Decathlon is a steal from the get-go.

You don’t have to buy a 12kg one – there are weight options from 4kg to 24kg, with each featuring a rubber base to protect your floors and dampen any sounds on the ground, which flat-dwellers’ downstairs neighbours might appreciate.

The wide, rectangular handle can easily be gripped with both hands, and the weight felt nicely distributed for explosive exercises like snatches. The handle proved to be a little wide for smaller bodies when performing exercises like swings, where you need to fit the weight between your thighs, but that was my only cause for concern.

I’ve owned my BLK BOX cast iron kettlebell for years, and I don’t think I’ll ever have to buy another one. It’s survived umpteen house moves, home workouts and even spells spent in a damp shed, all with negligible signs of wear and tear.

The shape is great for any kettlebell exercise, the powder coated handle offers solid grip and small colour-coded bands around the handle let you know the weight you’re lifting.

I like a traditional kettlebell, so I was a tad sceptical when Centr decided to reinvent the wheel with its angular Hyrox entry.

But when the company sent me a pair of its 24kg bells to try, I was happy to find the unconventional shape still fitted around my body just fine for staples such as double kettlebell cleans, front squats and goblet squats – only snatches felt slightly more cumbersome.

Like competition kettlebells, these free weights are uniform in size, and the build screams premium. The metal handles feel fantastic for farmer’s carries – à la HYROX – and there was barely a scuff on the weights after a series of intense workouts.

It is also a carbon copy of the kettlebell you will use during a HYROX race, if you’re really looking to fine-tune your final preparations for your next event. However, it is a steep price to pay for the authentic HYROX experience.

This kettlebell’s neoprene cover can protect both the bell and your floors, as well as dampening the noise when you dump it down – handy if you have wooden floors, or want to stay on speaking terms with a downstairs neighbour.

It didn’t leave any scuffs or dents in my home during testing, and the wide handle meant I could grip it comfortably for two-handed exercises like swings. The neoprene casing felt fairly robust too, while the cast iron innards are clearly built to last.

Lighter weight options manage to maintain the generous handle size fairly well, although the significantly smaller bells don’t fit brilliantly in a front rack position. But this was my only minor grumble.

This classic cast iron kettlebell is built to stand the test of time, with solid ergonomics and a reasonable price tag if you can catch it in an Argos sale too. The metal bell may mark vinyl or wooden floors if you don’t use it with an exercise mat, but beyond that I had no complaints about its performance.

The handle offered good grip and plenty of room for double-handed exercises, and the shape was well-suited to swings and snatches as well as standard strength-boosting moves like bent-over rows.

I tend to opt for a matte finish rather than the glossy one Pro Fitness has plumped for, but that’s just a case of personal preference.

This is a neat kettlebell set which can be useful for beginners or those looking to perform accessory exercises at home.

Accessory exercises are moves supplementary to the main lifts in your workout plan. They are often used to build robustness in a joint or target smaller muscle groups which may be underemphasised during straight strength-boosting exercises. Examples include include the kettlebell halo and bottoms-up kettlebell press, both intended to build strength and stability around the shoulder joint.

Given this set’s selection of lighter weight options, it is a good fit for beginners or those looking to supplement their gym workouts with a few at-home exercises. They are plastic but well made with a textured finish for improved grip, and the stand is a neat touch too.

However, if you want to use them for the meat and drink of your workouts – squats, swings and the like – you will soon find yourself needing a heavier kettlebell to provide a sufficient challenge.

This diminutive kettlebell only comes in 4kg, 6kg and 8kg weight options, so it’s not one for those who like lifting heavy. But if you’re after a lighter kettlebell for introducing yourself to kettlebell training, it does a lot right.

The cast iron body is robust, and it has a dipped vinyl coating to prevent the kettlebell scuffing or marking hard floors. The handle is surprisingly wide for a lighter weight, allowing me to easily hold it with both hands, and the small body makes it easy to store away.

The weights aren’t uniform in size like a competition kettlebell, so the small bells feel a bit awkward in a front rack position. But it worked well for exercises where I was only holding it by the horns, such as the goblet squat.

This smart cookie packs six kettlebells into one compact package. The exterior is hollow, weighing roughly 5.5kg, then the interior houses a stack of 3kg weights which can be attached or unattached at the touch of a button on its docking tray. This means you can choose a load of 5.5kg, 8.5kg, 11kg, 13.5kg, 16.5kg or 19kg to suit the exercise you’re doing.

I found this was a good fit for standard resistance training exercises like rows and deadlifts, where I was holding the kettlebell by its handles. However, the large, long shape proved to be a bit cumbersome for dynamic moves like cleans and swings, as well as anything involving the front rack position like an overhead press.

The kettlebell launched for £249.99, in tandem with an app capable of tracking your reps and providing follow-along workouts. But, with the demise of the app, you can now pick the product up at Amazon for a fraction of this original price – it still functions just fine as an adjustable kettlebell.