How to do the Kettlebell Farmer Hold
Step by step
- Set a heavy kettlebell on the floor just outside each foot and stand tall between them.
- Push your hips back, bend your knees, and grip both handles with your chest up and back flat.
- Drive through your feet to stand up tall, bells hanging at your sides, core braced.
- Pull your shoulders down and back and squeeze the handles hard.
- Hold for the set time breathing steadily, then hinge at the hips with a flat back to set the bells down.
The thing people get wrong
Most farmer-hold injuries happen on the pick-up and the put-down, not the hold - hinge at the hips with a flat back at both ends.
Coaching cue
Hold the bells still at your sides without letting them swing or rest against your legs.
Stay safe
Set the bells down before your grip fails so they do not drop on your feet.
Make it easier or harder
- Harder: Walk with the bells for distance instead of standing still.
Muscles worked
- Primary: Forearms, Traps
- Secondary: Core, Upper Back
Daily Coach builds this into a real weekly plan. It picks the exercises for your equipment and experience, swaps around injuries you tell it about, and tracks what you actually lifted.