An adjustable, competition-style kettlebell is one of the best purchases you can make for your home gym. Heck, if you don’t have any other equipment, a quality adjustable kettlebell can be your home gym. And lately, Kettlebell Kings has been in the habit of offering its 12 to 32 kilogram adjustable kettlebell (26 to 70 pounds) at a steep discount. Today, this $300 kettlebell is $199.
I first learned about this deal during an earlier price drop, when the r/kettlebell forum at Reddit was reeling from the news that it was $99(!!!!) It's otherwise unheard-of to get a good adjustable kettlebell at that price. Over the past year it's had brief stints at $111 and $200. All of these prices are nuts for a high-quality bell that is normally three hundred smackers.
Conveniently, the recurring sales mean that redditors have purchased the bells and then posted follow-ups detailing the state of the bells and their experiences with customer service. Most are uneventful, like this guy who was happily lifting his pair of Walmart bells as soon as they arrived. One customer got a botched delivery and a defective bell, but was able to easily return it to a store and got a $15 gift card for their trouble. Some bells arrived with cosmetic issues, like rust on the handle, which are unlikely to be a major issue in use, since it's normal to sand the handles anyway and kettlebells get banged around during training. Others showed up in mint condition.
I’d say a typical, non-sale price for the good adjustables is about $300, but the makers know that people are waiting for those deep discounts, so it’s not uncommon to see sale prices around $250, which is a pretty solid buy. My rule is that if you see one for under $200, it’s worth snapping up. Not to be outdone, Titan is also currently offering their 12 to 32 kilogram kettlebell at $192.
Kettlebell Kings lists a price of $389.99 for their 12 to 32 kg adjustable, but even on their own website it’s on sale for $300. This is the same bell—on paper, anyway—as the Walmart sale. Redditors have speculated that they're sending lower-quality bells to Walmart purchasers, but it's unclear whether that is actually true.
Bells of Steel has a 12 to 20.5 kilogram adjustable for $249.99, which in my opinion would be a fine price if it went up to 32 kilos, but seems pretty steep as it is. (Bells of Steel also has a 6 to 12 kg adjustable for $149.99, which is actually pretty great if you want lighter bells for kids, juggling, or lightweight exercises. It can be hard to find competition bells in those smaller sizes, and if you’re working in smaller sizes you’ll want small increments between them.)
The best adjustable kettlebells are what’s known as competition style. For a non-adjustable bell, I would say that either hardstyle or competition style are fine. (More on the differences between those here.) But when it comes to adjustables, the only ones I’ve seen that are worth buying are competition style.
Competition-style kettlebells are all the same size (similar to a bowling ball), no matter their weight. This allows competitors in kettlebell sport to refine their technique without having to change everything when they switch from one weight to another in training. Competition bells have smooth, bare metal handles, which you may want to hit with a bit of sandpaper to fine-tune their texture. (You want them grippy, but not rough.) It’s common, but not required, to coat the handles in chalk.
When it comes to adjustables, you want competition style because the little weight plates are loaded inside of the bell, with the outside maintaining its smooth and comfortable shape no matter whether the inside is empty, full, or somewhere in between.
Other styles of adjustables tend to change their shape and size as you add and remove plates, often featuring edges and awkward angles that can dig into your arms or bang your wrists even with good technique. They’ll pinch your arm hair between the plates. And for some reason, they all try to be clever with their design, always ending up with something that is pretty much impossible to clean, press, or snatch comfortably.
I’m going to say this without hesitation, but I say it with love: the Powerblock one sucks. The Bowflex one sucks. This Yes4All one sucks and this other, completely different Yes4All one also sucks (differently). Those handles that you can fit a dumbbell into? They’re somehow even worse. And on the rare occasions you can find a smooth-ish shaped adjustable that might be okay to actually use, it’s $170 for 30 pounds, or something equally overpriced. Save your pennies and/or bide your time until you can buy a good competition-style adjustable.
