The word ultimate gets thrown around a lot when used in conjunction with kettlebells. Many trainers claim to have developed the best kettlebell workout. While many of these workouts are effective at building muscle or burning fat, which one reigns supreme is a matter of opinion. Well, until now!
Test Your Endurance With Kettlebell Khaos
The ultimate kettlebell workout, also referred to as Kettlebell Khaos, is a 3-round super kettlebell workout created by Funk Roberts. Who is he? Funk is the owner of Funk Roberts Fitness, FunkMMA, and most recently Over40Shred.com. As the name implies, Funk’s latest fitness program is aimed towards men in their 40’s and beyond. It’s this program that features the aptly named Kettlebell Khaos.
The video that Mr. Roberts put together for this super workout is amazing not just for the exercises displayed, but also the overall presentation. There are a lot of monologues, especially in the beginning, but all the information is helpful in learning how beneficial this workout is to your body.
Each round is previewed with a rundown of the exercises contained within that round. You’ll see these exercises strung together briefly, picture-in-picture style, as Funk breaks them down one by one. It’s certainly one of the most professional-looking kettlebell workout videos we’ve come across.
Breaking Down The Kettlebell Khaos Workout
A lot of thought and planning most likely went into this workout. Right down to the timing and reps of each set to the decreasing number of exercises featured as each round is progressed. This program makes for an excellent challenge for men in their prime, let alone those who are over 40!
Round 1 – 6 exercises
This 10-minute round has you completing 5 reps for each exercise with no rest in between. Known as a complex, the lack of rest forces your body to continually strain muscles and keep your heart rate elevated. These exercises are all single-handed and should be performed on one side of the body in succession before switching to the other side.
- Kettlebell Push Up
- Kettlebell Row
- Kettlebell Deadlift
- Kettlebell Clean
- Kettlebell Racked Squat
- Kettlebell Press
Round 2 – 5 exercises
Now that the most difficult part is behind you, Funk allows you to have a little bit of a breather in between each exercise. He recommends that each one is performed for 40 seconds and then followed by 20 seconds of rest. Two of these exercises are actually comprised of two individual kettlebell moves. We’ve highlighted those ones in bold as we think they deserve some special attention.
- Kettlebell Snatch
- Kettlebell Goblet Squat and Reverse Lunge
- Kettlebell Alternating Single Arm Swings
- Kettlebell Cross Body Clean
- Kettlebell Swing to Squat
Round 3 – 2 exercises
The final round is not nearly as difficult as the previous two in terms of physical exertion. However, you’ll need to stay sharp and focused for counting reps as you alternate between each exercise. Described as an ascending and descending ladder format, it’ll literally keep you on your toes.
- 1 Kettlebell Swing, 7 Burpees
- 2 Kettlebell Swings, 6 Burpees
- 3 Kettlebell Swings, 5 Burpees
- 4 Kettlebell Swings, 4 Burpees
- 5 Kettlebell Swings, 3 Burpees
- 6 Kettlebell Swings, 2 Burpees
- 7 Kettlebell Swings, 1 Burpee
Total Time Required For This Workout
This workout is 15 minutes longer than the 20-minute sessions we recommend every day. 35 minutes total seems like a very long time with how intense this particular kettlebell workout can be. The good news is that Funk suggests you only need to do this workout 3 times a week. The speed and number of exercises should prevent it from becoming boring and stale. We suspect those 35 minutes will elapse pretty quickly once you get started!
The energy of Funk Roberts in this video matches the intensity. He is certainly on our radar for any future kettlebell workouts that we hope to share with you. While his workouts are very well designed, you may need a little help getting “in the zone”. We recommended checking out ONNIT Alpha Brain . This supplement that’s getting rave reviews aids in memory, focus, and concentration without the crash. Over 1 million bottles sold and used by Joe Rogan regularly to improve his performance.
Thanks so much for posting!
My pleasure! I get a lot of visitors to this page who enjoy this workout very much!
This is a great workout. Have been conducting this workout 2-3 times per week. At first I struggled but I have improved. I take about a 1 minute break between rounds.
Thanks for the feedback. This is definitely one of the more popular workouts that I’ve discussed on the site. I’m thinking about reaching out to Funk for an interview and perhaps get some more tips and advice on kettlebell workouts.
Why in the first section are mentioned 7 excercises where finally are 6 on the list?
Thanks for catching this. Surprised no one caught it earlier. Looks like it was a typo on my end. I’ve updated the article.
Hi thanks for the article. I see the intro 7 minute promo but is there an actual 35 minute work along video?
To the best of my knowledge, there isn’t a work along video for this particular workout of Funk’s. I will say that I’ve been participating in Cavemantraining’s full-length workout videos and they cover cardio, strength, endurance and more. Check out the videos here: https://www.youtube.com/user/executiveresults/videos anything that says LIVE is a workout you can follow along to. My favorite kettlebell trainer by far!
Sorry to be dense,. In Round 2 (Tabata) there is only one round as far as I can tell. How do you then alternate as he says to ‘the other arm in round 2″? Do you step through Round 2 twice?
That’s correct. For round 2 you do the 5 exercises in two sets. Each set should take you about 5 minutes making that round 10 minutes total. So do the exercises completely on one side first and on the next go round use your other arm.
Why do you think this workout is 35 minutes long?
Did you ever do it?
10 10 5.. its more like 25 minutes. even if you add some extra brakes in between its not longer than 30 minutes..
The first round is 10 minutes.
The second round is 10 minutes.
The ladder-round in the end, takes like 5 to 10 minutes.
Hey Stephan,
Thanks for your feedback. The 35-minute duration is what Funk states that it shouldn’t take you any longer than that in the video. You’re right about the ladder part being the variable. I wrote this article a couple of years ago when I was a lot heavier. For older and out of shape guys 10 minutes seems to be the average for completing the ladder portion. Now that I’m fit, I can move a lot more quickly from vertical to horizontal exercises and cut that time in half. You add an additional 5 minutes for breaks in between and that’s where I believe the 35 minutes came from.
If you’re looking for a challenge you should try CTCF 100 challenge (100 burpees & 200 dead snatches), one of the workouts I love to hate. Great for cardio and endurance, those burpees eventually become tiresome!
Hi Ryan, wow!
Love your answer. Thanks a lot for suggesting this other super intense workout. I’ll give it a try I guess. Yeah and I somehow completely blended out, that for starters it can take longer. Luckily it seems I’m still somewhat in shape 😀 Wish you a great day Sir! thanks for putting this content up!
No problem! I think my goal is to still inspire people who don’t go to the gym to try kettlebells for a variety of fitness goals. Sometimes I have to catch myself when writing and realize that not everyone is at the same level. Usually, higher rep counts, heavier weights, and longer sessions make kettlebell workouts scale nicely.
I’ve been doing it this way to get to 35ish min mark…
Round 1 10 minutes each side
Rd 2 is 2rds of the Tabata @ approx 5min ea
Rd 3 ladder 5-10 min