I’m increasingly enjoying seeing people using kettlebells instead of dumbbells, weight machines, or barbells in the gym. They give you a lot of freedom and range of motion during workouts and add spice and explosive power to strength and conditioning exercises.
Whether you’re using a set of the best kettlebells for kettlebell flow routines, cardio, or conditioning, kettlebells are a lot of fun to use and provide plenty of opportunities to build strength and learn new movement patterns.
Below, I’ve put together a five-move upper-body kettlebell routine that you can do anywhere. Designed to target your back and biceps without any pull-ups or barbell work in sight, you can still build muscle and sculpt without them.
What is the 5-move kettlebell workout to build back and biceps muscles?
To help you get started, I’ve programmed five moves that will work your back and biceps with a single kettlebell. There are instructions for each exercise, and it’s worth practicing the technique before adding them to your routine to get the most out of your workout and avoid injury.
1. Gorilla Row
Like many rowing movements, the Gorilla Row works the lats, trapezius, rhomboids, posterior deltoids, and biceps. The exercise’s unique leg position also activates the lower body. By bending forward at the hips and lowering your chest parallel to the floor, you also activate your abdominal muscles, hip flexors, lower back, and hamstrings.
How to: 3 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions on each side
- Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart.
- Hold a kettlebell in each hand using a neutral grip (palms facing each other)
- Bend forward at the hips and send your butt back, maintaining a slight bend in your knees.
- Start with the kettlebells near the front of your legs and engage your core and glutes
- Row your right arm back, pushing your elbow toward your right hip
- Pause, then lower your arm and repeat on your left side
- Keep your chest parallel to the floor and your back flat as you alternate sides.
2. One-arm kettlebell clean
I love unilateral work; it gives you the opportunity to work on muscle imbalances or weaker areas to help strengthen both sides of the body more equally. Unilateral exercises also rely on core engagement to stabilize the body when loading on one side.
Kettlebell cleans target a wide range of muscle groups and are technically more of a total-body exercise, not just your butt. You’ll strengthen your back, chest, glutes, hips, hamstrings, triceps, biceps, deltoids, and core.
How to: 3 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions on each side
- Start with a kettlebell between your feet and position your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Grasp the kettlebell over your hand and hinge forward at the hips with a slight bend in the knees.
- Engage your heart
- Pull the bell up into the front rack position, as if you were zipping up a jacket
- Push your hips forward, extend your legs and squeeze your glutes as the kettlebell moves upward.
- The bell should stay close to your body and rotate on your forearm and upper arm without hitting your wrist or rotating
- Keep your back straight, your elbow close to your ribs and your thumb close to your collarbone.
- Pause, then reverse the movement back to the floor and switch sides.
- To increase your range of motion, try lifting each repetition off the floor from a stop position.
3. Alternating kettlebell rowing
Again, alternating rows rely on unilateral training, teaching the body better balance, coordination, and stability while focusing on strengthening one side of the body at a time.
The neutral grip targets the mid and upper back as well as the posterior deltoids, as well as the biceps, forearms, and lats through the pulling motion. You should feel a strong engagement in the mid back and shoulders during the row variation.
How to: 3 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions on each side
- Stand holding your kettlebells and place your feet hip-width apart.
- Lean your hips forward and send your butt back
- Keep your back flat and your core engaged. Your chest should be almost parallel to the floor.
- Hold your kettlebells close to your body with palms facing each other using a neutral grip
- Row your right elbow toward your right hip, pause, then lower and repeat on the left side
- Continue alternating sides, keeping your hips square.
4. Offset Kettlebell Deadlifts
The deadlift targets the posterior chain, including the back, glutes, and hamstrings, as well as the hip flexors, abs, arms, and shoulders. Like the clean, it’s a more total-body movement than you might think.
You can load more maximally with the barbell deadlift, however, using kettlebells allows you to work both sides of the body together without one stronger side taking over, which is why I like to add kettlebells to deadlifts when working with free weights.
In this case we hit the lower body, namely the hamstrings, glutes and hips, a little harder using an offset stance.
How to: 3 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions on each side
- Place a kettlebell on each side of your body
- Place your feet hip-width apart, then step your right foot back, roughly aligning your right toes with your left heel. Rest on the sole of your right foot
- Gently bend your knees, send your butt back and lean forward at the hips.
- Maintain a flat back and neutral spine and strengthen your core by pulling your shoulders back and down.
- Grasp a kettlebell in each hand using a neutral grip (palms facing each other)
- Push up to stand, lifting the kettlebells
- With control, lower the weights back to the floor, pause, then raise again, extending your hips as you stand.
- Change sides.
5. Kettlebell Pulls
Pullovers can uniquely target the pectoralis major (pecs) while also engaging the deltoids, lats, teres major, core, and triceps. Many trainers teach keeping your back flat against the bench at all times.
I allow for a slight elevation to accommodate individual anatomy, as long as the core is engaged, the upper and mid-back are supported, and you avoid arching the spine due to too much weight or limited upper body flexibility. Keep your wrists and forearms strong throughout the exercise and avoid flaring your elbows.
In the video above, we’re using a dumbbell, but we’re simply replacing it with a kettlebell. To increase upper body and shoulder engagement, press your hands into the bell, as if you’re trying to crush it between your hands.
How to: 3 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions on each side
- Lie on your back against a workout bench and place your feet on the floor or bench.
- Make sure your head and hips are supported
- Hold a kettlebell by the bell or horns using both hands
- Extend your arms across your chest, elbows slightly bent and pointing up rather than outward.
- Tighten your stomach and shoulders, then begin to lower the weight by controlling it behind your head. Avoid letting your lower back lift or arch excessively.
- Pause, then return the weight forward to the starting position.
Benefits of this kettlebell back and biceps workout
Pull-ups are considered the ultimate test of bodyweight strength training, but you don’t “need” to include them in your back and biceps workouts, even though it’s a great goal to aim for.
When building your back and biceps muscles, progressively overload your muscles by adding weight, increasing volume, or both, and include a mix of compound and isolation exercises to keep you mentally and physically challenged in the gym.
I love that one set of kettlebells and just five exercises can help build muscle strength and target multiple major muscle groups. The routine is simple, effective, and efficient without requiring a lot of equipment.
Additionally, kettlebell training can increase overall range of motion, balance, coordination, and stability, which is why I prefer to use free weights over gym machines during workouts. The added benefit of kettlebell training is that you’ll improve forearm strength and grip, and you can program strength, cardio, muscle growth, or power exercises.
Your back and biceps recruit together during pulling movements, much in the same way your chest and triceps do. So while isolation exercises (think bicep curls) are great for complementing resistance training, you’ll still be working your biceps using the exercises above.
Strengthening your back isn’t just about working the V-shaped back muscles, it’s also about targeting the muscles responsible for posture, stabilization, and protection of your spine, like your core, erector spinae (the muscles that hug your spine), and rotator cuff (the muscles that stabilize your shoulder). In fact, it’s also about being functional.
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