If you grab a book or do a web search for muscle building kettlebell programs, you'll be flooded with a bunch of options.

There are 3 common themes with these "hypertrophy kettlebell" programs:

1. They're periodized like a powerlifting or Olympic lifting program might be.

2. They rarely prescribe more than 5 reps in a given set.

3. They focus on only 1-3 exercises.

These are all problematic.

First off – hypertrophy training doesn't need to be periodized.

Hypertrophy simply means building more muscle. To do this, we need to train the muscle hard and push close to failure. If you only have lighter weights available, you'll need to do more volume via more reps and/or sets to force the breakdown of muscle. If you have only heavy weights, you won't require as many reps or sets to create a similar adaptation because you'll be able to reach muscular fatigue more quickly.

I'm not going to say one is better than the other. Most likely a bit of both is ideal. But it will really just depend on the weights you have available.

But I want to stress this: periodizing your hypertrophy training is foolish. No evidence supports such a theory. The reason most kettlebell coaches do this is because most kettlebell schools are inspired by strength or endurance performance training. Both of which have an acclimation phase and a peaking phase to prepare for a specific performance on a specific date.

Doing this in a hypertrophy block – regardless of the equipment you use – would be wasteful because there are weeks at a time where the lifter isn't training the muscles very hard.

This leads to the next problem – doing 5 reps or less.

Kettlebells are like dumbbells. They are not barbells that can easily be micro loaded. You should take advantage of the big gaps between kettlebell (and dumbbell) weights and use volume ramping – double progression over a broad rep range.

Hypertrophy occurs in the 5-30 rep range, but seems most effective in the 5-20 rep range. I generally recommend building strength in the 5-15 rep range for hypertrophy. I think it's perfect for kettlebell training. Take a weight you can squeeze out 5 reps for a given exercise and stick with that weight until you're doing 12 or 15 reps per set. You'll get phenomenal bang for your buck from just 1 pair of kettlebells using this practice. The same would go for dumbbell training.

I also like this broad double progression range because it allows us to explore different rep schemes within the general hypertrophy rep range. As you get stronger, your program changes without any exercise or set alterations – just working with different reps.

This broad rep range also encourages working close to failure on every set.

If I instruct a client to do 3 sets with a given weight, while taking each set as close to failure as they are safely able, I often observe something similar to the following:

Set 1: 11 reps

Set 2: 9 reps

Set 3: 6 reps

You see how the "performance" decreases in the successive sets?

That's what naturally happens when you treat each set like it's the only set you're doing today.

This proves that we are training the muscles hard enough and approaching failure on every set with the same weight.

This is why 3x5 or 5x5 or 3x3 or 3x8 programs are poor hypertrophy templates.

If you're able to achieve the same rep for all sets, odds are that the weight is not very challenging during your early sets.

Next – I say this all the time but it's worth repeating – kettlebells are not barbells. Stop limiting yourself and your clients to 5 rep sets. Start with a weight that's difficult to achieve just 3-5 reps with – great. But don't just continue to do 5 reps with that weight while increasing sets when you could do just 2-3 sets while increasing the reps.

Again, in order to achieve hypertrophy, you must take the muscle fairly close to failure (generally within 0-3 reps). I don't care to hear you drone on about how you started out doing just 3 sets of 5 with 2x20kg kettlebells, but now you're able to do 7 sets of 5 reps with the same weight and within the same time frame. Sure, that's progressive overload, but you're clearly using a weight that isn't challenging for 5 reps anymore. If you had more kettlebell selections I'd understand the option of sticking with the 3 sets of 5 BUT while increasing the weight.

But, alas, kettlebells usually jump up in 4-8 kilogram iterations. If using double kettlebells, that's 8-16 kilograms. This is why kettlebell training is not well-suited for specific rep progressions – like increasing weight for 5 reps every few weeks – because even if I can do 10 reps with 2x20kg bells doesn't mean I'll be able to get even 5 reps with 2x24kg bells.

It only makes sense to increase reps....a lot over a long period of time before increasing weight.

If you increase reps, you won't have to worry about increasing sets. Focus instead on working very hard in each set and pushing those reps higher over time, with the same weight. Simply adding sets is silly and inefficient. That's the definition of junk volume – more working sets that don't actually stimulate any additional muscle growth.

Hypertrophy programming really shouldn't be complicated. A template works just fine. I think coaches often think they need to make a fancy, complex looking (but unproductive) multi-phase training programs to justify their position.

Your results and your clients' results are what justifies your title and income as a coach. Not how confusing your plans look on paper.

Some kettlebell hypertrophy programs are pretty good about ramping reps. This is good. The problem with these programs is that they're usually minimalist in terms of exercise selection.

You will not build a substantially muscular looking body doing just overhead press and front squats; or just swings and Turkish getups. Trust me. I've gone through bouts where I tried getting jacked doing just 2-3 exercises, because deep down I love pressing things over head and deadlifting. But even 2 exercises that recruit a lot of muscle mass are not enough to effectively build a muscular physique.

Hypertrophy programming is synonymous with body building. If you want to look aesthetic or like a body builder, you have to train each muscle group directly. Don't expect to get pecs without horizontal pressing. Don't expect to build a back with just kettlebell ballistics like snatches and cleans. Those are good accessory muscle builders, but you'll need some rows and/or pullups to go along with it. Don't leave out direct calf and arm training either.

To summarize:

1. Use a broad rep range (like 5-12, 6-15, even 10-20 works).

2. Focus on increasing reps per set rather than increasing the number of sets.

3. Do 2-3 hard sets, close to failure.

4. Use multiple exercises to ensure you're hitting each muscle directly and effectively to maximize muscle growth.

5. Focus on slow, grind lifts, like squats, lunges, Romanian deadlift variations, bench presses or pushups, pullups, rows, overhead presses, bicep curls, and tricep extensions. Use the fast, ballistic lifts – like swings and snatches – as supplemental work.

6. Add weight when you're able to do multiple sets of 12 or 15 reps (depending on what weight selections you have available).

7. Keep it simple, balanced, and focus on progressively overloading over time.

8. Avoid overly minimalist kettlebell programs like the plague. These are programs that promise strength and muscle gains by only doing 1-3 exercises and calling that a program.

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