The London Kettlebell Club, Chessington: First Session Free

The London Kettlebell Club runs three small-group kettlebell classes a week in the back room of St Mary's Centre, Church Lane, Chessington KT9 2DR, and your first session costs nothing. After that a Tuesday or Thursday class is £10 and the long Sunday session is £15, paid as you go with no contract. Coaches Jose and Alexia built the club for people over 40 who want real strength without a big-box gym.

The story is refreshingly local. Jose and Alexia started training with kettlebells in Chessington in 2019, drawn by how much strength one simple iron bell can build. They began sharing sessions with neighbours, those neighbours brought friends, and people from other boroughs followed. By 2023 it had become a regular club with its own timetable. The site still describes it as small and friendly, and that is exactly how it feels when you walk in.

Alexia is a CIMSPA-registered personal trainer and fitness instructor, and she also takes one-to-one clients outside the group classes. Jose coaches alongside her on the floor. Their slogan, printed across the homepage, is "We train to keep training", which sums up the approach: technique first, sensible loading, and enough variety that a 55-year-old with a stiff back and a 42-year-old runner can share the same hour without either getting hurt.

Each weekly slot has its own character. Tuesday runs from 18:30 to 19:30 and is a women-only class, billed as the 1% Extra Class, which started on 7 April 2026. Thursday is the mixed evening session, 19:00 to 20:15, a 75-minute block that leaves room for warm-up, skill work and a proper finisher. Both cost £10 on a pay-as-you-go basis, which makes the women-only hour an easy, low-risk way to try the club midweek after work.

Sunday is the session regulars rave about. It runs from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm, a full two hours for £15, and one member review on the site says the longer format lets you slow down and actually polish technique rather than rushing through reps. If you are learning the clean, the press or the Turkish get-up, Sunday is where you will make the most progress, because the coaches have time to stop and correct each lift.

The club's teaching starts with three building blocks it writes about on its own blog: the hinge, the squat and full arm extension. Everything else is layered on top of those patterns. Expect swings, goblet squats, carries and presses, mixed with bodyweight mobility work. Beginners get a lighter bell and step-by-step coaching, while experienced lifters are handed heavier kit, so a single class can hold very different levels at once.

The room itself is the back room of St Mary's Centre, which the coaches describe as a private, quiet space with top-quality mats. The club's own line is "No big gym vibes. No judgment", and with no rows of machines there is no queue for a rack. You do not need to bring equipment either: bells of every size are supplied. Bring trainers with a flat sole, a water bottle and a towel, and arrive a few minutes early on your first visit so you have time to mention any old injuries before the warm-up starts.

Member stories on the club's homepage give a clear picture of the regulars. There is a man in his fifties who wanted strength without returning to a busy gym and now notices better balance and stamina. There is a woman who trained through her second trimester with every exercise adapted, and another member who used the sessions to prepare for HYROX. Most people, the coaches note, had never touched a kettlebell before joining.

The unwritten rule is that you work at your own level and nobody comments on the weight in your hand. Coaches check form constantly and push you a little, not a lot. Honest verdict: if you want a high-intensity sweat session with loud music and a leaderboard, this is not your place, and a city HIIT studio will suit you better. If you want to learn to lift well and keep doing it at 70, it is ideal.

The price list is short and published in full. Pay-as-you-go is £10 for the 60-minute Tuesday class, £10 for the 75-minute Thursday class and £15 for the 120-minute Sunday class. Packs save £5: four Tuesday or Thursday sessions cost £35 and five cost £45, while four Sunday sessions cost £55 and five cost £70. There is no joining fee and no contract, so you can stop and restart whenever life gets busy.

To claim the free first session, use the Book a trial session link on londonkettlebellclub.com, whose homepage also lists all three weekly class slots, or email londonkettlebellclub@gmail.com. You can also phone 07883 205830. Because classes are deliberately small, it is worth booking rather than turning up cold, particularly for Sunday mornings. If the group is full, Alexia offers personal training as an alternative, and that is the better route if you are coming back from an injury and want individual attention.

Parking is free on site, which is rare for any London fitness class and a big reason locals drive over from Kingston, Surbiton and Tolworth. By train, Chessington North and Chessington South stations, at the end of the South Western Railway branch from London Waterloo, are both under a kilometre from Church Lane. The walk from either takes roughly ten minutes through quiet residential streets.

After a Sunday session you will be hungry, and the club leaves you in a green corner of the borough. St Mary the Virgin, Chessington's parish church, stands on the same lane, and its churchyard makes a calm spot for a cool-down walk. Further south, Chessington World of Adventures sits on Leatherhead Road, about a kilometre and a half away, so a family can split the morning: one parent lifts while the other heads to the rides, then everyone meets for lunch.

Address: St Mary's Centre, Church Lane, Chessington, London KT9 2DR, in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. Classes: Tuesday 18:30 to 19:30 (women only), Thursday 19:00 to 20:15, Sunday 10:30 am to 12:30 pm. Prices: first session free, then £10 Tuesday or Thursday and £15 Sunday, with packs from £35. Phone 07883 205830 or email the club. Free parking on site. Equipment provided; no experience needed.