Exercise library

How to do the One-Arm Overhead Kettlebell Squats

A expert compound exercise using kettlebell, working the quadriceps.

Primary musclesQuadriceps
Secondary musclesCalves, Glutes, Hamstrings, Shoulders
EquipmentKettlebell
LevelExpert
TypeCompound
ForcePush

Steps

  1. Clean and press a kettlebell with one arm. Clean the kettlebell to your shoulder by extending through the legs and hips as you pull the kettlebell towards your shoulder. Rotate your wrist as you do so. Press the weight overhead by extending through the elbow.This will be your starting position.
  2. Looking straight ahead and keeping a kettlebell locked out above you, flex the knees and hips and lower your torso between your legs, keeping your head and chest up.
  3. Pause at the bottom position for a second before rising back to the top, driving through the heels of your feet.

Tracking it in OneRep

Add the one-arm overhead kettlebell squats to a routine and your previous weight and reps sit beside every set, so the decision to add load is made by what is already on the screen rather than by memory. Exercise history and volume trends are one tap away, and logging works offline for the gyms where signal does not reach.

Because OneRep tracks food on the same timeline, a stall on this lift can be read against what you were actually eating that month — which is the difference between a programming problem and an eating one. More on that in tracking progressive overload without a spreadsheet.

Where the instructions come from

The steps above come from free-exercise-db, a public-domain exercise dataset. They are general guidance, not coaching for your body: if a movement hurts, stop and get someone qualified to look at it.