SingleBell: Kettlebell Workout

One kettlebell. A clock to time you. A chalkboard that says what a set is. Not for beginners: it reminds, it doesn't teach. Learn the lifts, then come back. Try ABC, Q&D

SingleBell is a kettlebell practice app for people who train with a single kettlebell and would rather not think about their phone once the set starts. It reminds, it doesn't teach: learn the lifts, then come back.

TODAY'S PRACTICE One card each morning: a short warm-up, the day's lift — one-arm swings, the snatch or the clean & press, whichever you have practised least recently — then the same few lifts at every practice: a press, a row, a squat, a plank and a carry, each with its own rest: at least forty swings or snatches every practice (a Clean & Press Day swings after its presses), the presses in sets of two to five, the row and the squat in tens. It needs one bell you can press at least twice a side. Run it at your own pace, striking each set as you finish it, or timed, on the clock. Tap Light, Right or Heavy when you finish: two light days at a step move the next practice on a step, Right keeps it, Heavy steps it back, and Heavy at the first step deals a shorter day. With one bell, the bell is the ceiling: when the top step stays light, the card asks whether a heavier bell is to hand. From the third week the squat becomes a lunge and the carry changes hold. Short is the same day at fewer sets, never under forty swings or snatches. The day is dealt once and holds until midnight; the week beside the date shows what it has had, and a tap opens the practice calendar.

KETTLEBELL CLASSICS Six protocols people already run, at the top of Today, each adjustable before you start: Swings & Get-Ups; Swings and Power Push-Ups; Hand-to-Hand Swings; Clean & Press and Squats; Swings, Squats & Push-Ups; Clean & Press Ladder. Every card opens a chalkboard first — the practice written on slate, each move beside its picture, its timing stated, a warm-up first if you want it. Nothing starts by accident.

MAKE YOUR OWN The Builder: blocks of moves in the order you chalk them, each run at your own pace, on one clock for the whole block (Tabata, EMOM, AMRAP), or with each move on its own clock as stations — and the same practice runs at your own pace or timed. Shuffle deals the day's shape around another lift. The Intervals Timer: work and rest in rounds, rounds in sets, read back to you in one sentence. Short mobility sessions for the days in between. Save what is worth repeating.

EVERY MOVE, DRAWN Every move has its own figure and a sheet one tap away: four cues, the mistakes to watch for, and how the board counts it.

A ROOM YOU CAN READ FROM THE FLOOR Huge digits. The whole room changes colour with the phase — green for work, blue for rest — so you know where you are with the text blurred out. Beeps that cut through music and keep playing when the screen locks, a voice that names each block if you want it, a clock that survives a phone call or the app being closed. Turn the phone on its side and the room turns with it. The finish happens where the practice was: put the bell down, say how it felt — and if a stray tap finished it, Undo is right there.

THE PRACTICE OFF THE SCREEN The running practice is on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, with Pause and the room's own next step. Pair an Apple Watch and the same card is in your Smart Stack, with nothing to install on the watch. Two home-screen widgets show today's practice and the week. Say "Start today's practice in SingleBell" or "Start swings and get-ups in SingleBell" to Siri, or put either on the Action Button. Mirror the phone to a TV and the clock gets a room drawn for that screen.

NOTHING LEAVES THE PHONE No account. No sign-in. No analytics. No network code at all — the app cannot send anything anywhere. It remembers your settings, the practices you save, every practice you finish and the days you practised, all on your phone, all gone with the app.

Requires iOS 18. The Smart Stack card needs a paired Apple Watch on watchOS 11.

Train within your ability, and stop if a rep feels wrong.