Weights and Measures
When you are buying your first (or fiftieth) kettlebell, you are going to notice something. There are different ways of measuring your kettlebell's weight. Traditionally, kettlebells have used an increment called a "pood." Let's face it, that sounds funny to the english-speaking world. It can also seem restrictive in practice because one pood is approximately 35 pounds. Poods are used in Russia and also in Crossfit communities. In the US, kettlebells will most likely be measured in pounds. Most other places in the world, Kilograms will be the measure. Unlike many other types of equipment, standardization doesn't seem to apply with the kettlebell. If you are looking to get serious about having the kettlebell in your life, you are going to want to be familiar with some different weights. Enter the charts!
Unfortunately, the different units of measurement don't translate all too well. 1 kg is 2.2 lbs. 1 pood is 16.38 kg. To avoid too much rounding and because when kettlebells are labelled their makers have to decide which units to use, Here are three charts for your reference. Each chart will specifiy whether the kilo, pood, or pound comes first.
| Pound First |
| Pounds |
Kilos |
Poods |
| 5 |
2.3 |
0.14 |
| 10 |
4.55 |
0.28 |
| 15 |
6.8 |
0.42 |
| 20 |
9.1 |
0.55 |
| 25 |
11.4 |
0.69 |
| 30 |
13.6 |
0.83 |
| 35 |
15.9 |
0.97 |
| 40 |
18.2 |
1.11 |
| 45 |
20.5 |
1.25 |
| 50 |
22.7 |
1.39 |
| Kilo First |
| Kilos |
Poods |
Pounds |
| 4 |
0.24 |
8.8 |
| 8 |
0.49 |
17.6 |
| 12 |
0.73 |
26.5 |
| 16 |
0.98 |
35.3 |
| 20 |
1.22 |
44.1 |
| 24 |
1.47 |
52.9 |
| 28 |
1.71 |
61.7 |
| 32 |
1.95 |
64.8 |
| Pood First |
| Poods |
Pounds |
Kilos |
| 0.5 |
18.1 |
8.2 |
| 1 |
36.1 |
16.4 |
| 1.5 |
54.2 |
24.6 |
| 2 |
72.2 |
32.8 |