Like any item, there are high quality and low quality kettlebells. We work hard to make all of our kettlebells really high quality. The reason we choose to focus on high quality equipment is because we know that the quality of a kettlebell can actually affect not only an individual workout, but your overall fitness goals. If you do not have a piece of equipment you trust or enjoy working with If it will affect your ability to workout correctly and you will end up not using it over time or will simply be unable to because of the physical deterioration of you or the bell.

As mentioned above, kettlebell can actually break depending on the construction. It is very important to look for kettlebells with lifetime warranties in case anything ever happens to the bell you can get it replaced. This should be mentioned in the kettlebell description on any website.

One of the biggest differences in kettlebell quality is the smoothness of the casting. All kettlebells come out of their molds with imperfections in the metal. A seam is on the underside of the handle and it keeps the handle from being smooth and cylindrical in your hand, if a bell has a seam there is more of a point or lump on the underside of the handle which is extremely uncomfortable and painful during workouts. This can be hard to tell looking at product images at the web, but if you have ever picked one up at the gym with a seam you can tell the difference. The best thing to do is read the reviews of the product and look at general kettlebell review sites on the web to see feedback on brands. A burr is another imperfection in the metal. Default to reviews as well for these but these you should be able to tell more if a website has detailed product images you can zoom in on and look at imperfections in the cast. The ideal bell should have a perfectly smooth body which is not to be confused with a smooth paint. A good textured or grippy paint on a smooth cast is ideal.

Competition kettlebells are all the same size and dimensions regardless of weight. This creates a uniform feelings and training experience as you move between different weights.

Generally speaking, everything mentioned above is important for competition kettlebells as well with a few exceptions. It is important that the bells have a Lifetime Warranty, single piece cast, engraved logos as well as seamless and burr free casting for all the same reasons mentioned. Paint is less important on competition kettlebells because the handle should always be bare steel in order to hold chalk and not be as tough on the hands. Competition kettlebells are designed for high repetition workouts getting into the high tens and hundreds of reps and a bare steel handle is easier on the handles during tons of reps. In competitive kettlebell lifting the bells bang together a lot so there is not a focus on the durability of the paint.

There are two ways to make competiton kettlebells. Most competition style kettlebells in the United States including our Steel Standard Kettlebells are a steel shell and then have fillers tightly packed to achieve the desired weight while maintaining the same size and dimensions regardless of weight. This helps keep the manufacturing costs down and those savings can be passed on to the buyer. The cost is able to be kept down because it is the same amount of steel in every bell and more fillers to gain the weight. In these types of bells, the weight is distributed throughout the entire bell.

The other way to manufacture competition kettlebells is cast as a solid piece of steel. This is how our Competition Kettlebells are made. In order to maintain the same size and dimension regardless of the weight, the steel is poured into the handle and the top of the bell. This creates a unique feeling of balance as most of the weight is in the top of the bell so it can sit in the rack and overhead position more comfortably. You do not have the feeling of the weight pulling you down like you do in bells with weight throughout the bell. You can identify this make of a kettlebell because they should have an opening in the bottom so you can actually see inside and see the steel.

We have published before to help you determine which type of kettlebell would work best for you. You can read about that here as well as our Kettlebell Kings Community page which covers an number of frequently asked kettlebell questions like 'Which Weight Should I Train With?" and various workout programs you can use depending on your goals. If you are considering competitive kettlebell lifting you definitely need a competition style kettlebell but they are also great for high rep workouts involving snatches, jerks and clean and jerks.