Twixmas. Betwixtmas. The Dead Week. Whatever you call the stretch between Boxing Day and New Year's Eve, it has a shape everyone recognises. You wake up unsure of the day. The fridge is a museum of foil-wrapped things. The gym is either closed or full of people who signed up on the 27th. And somewhere in the back of your mind, the January plan is forming, the one that starts "properly" on the 2nd. Here is the honest case for not waiting. A single adjustable kettlebell, sat by the sofa, is the best piece of home gym kit for this exact week, and at €99 it is the cheapest serious thing in the BrainGain range.

The numbers behind the dead week are not flattering. A University of Birmingham and Loughborough trial published in The BMJ in 2018 tracked 272 adults over Christmas. The control group gained weight. The group that kept weighing themselves and stayed a little active finished 0.49 kg lighter than the control group. The same press release put Christmas Day intake at up to 6,000 calories for one person, three times the daily guideline, and noted it takes 21 minutes of running to burn off a single mince pie. Half a kilo does not sound like much. Stacked over ten Christmases, it is a stone you never asked for.

You do not need a full home gym to change that. You need something you will pick up on the 28th without changing into gym kit, something that covers the whole body in fifteen minutes, and something that will still matter when the 2027 training plan kicks in. That is the brief, and the adjustable kettlebell fits it better than anything else on our shelves.

Why a kettlebell, and why this week

Dumbbells are the better long-term investment. We have said that in every guide on this site and we are not about to change our minds. But the dead week has three constraints that dumbbells handle worse than a kettlebell. First, motivation is low, so the kit has to work in your socks, in the living room, in the ten minutes before the next film. A kettlebell swing, a goblet squat and a few halos is a complete session, and it happens on a rug. Second, the food is heavy and the movement is missing. Swings are the closest thing home training has to cardio without a machine, and they hit the hamstrings and back that a week of sofa time switches off. Third, budget. The presents are paid for. €99 is the kind of number that does not need a family meeting.

The BrainGain kettlebell does one more thing a cast-iron bell cannot. It moves. Turn the handle and the shell locks in a different number of plates, from 4 kg for a warm-up halo to 18 kg for two-hand swings. That range is the difference between a bell that suits one person and a bell that suits everyone in the house, which matters when your sister-in-law wants a go on the 29th. If you want the mechanical detail, our guide to the best adjustable dumbbell and kettlebell set covers how the two products fit together.

One rule for that week, and it is the rule that makes the BMJ result work: do something small every day, not something big on one day. Ten swings every time the kettle boils will beat a 90-minute session on the 30th that leaves you sore on New Year's Eve.

What €99 gets you against the alternatives

The obvious comparison is a set of fixed kettlebells. Buying 8, 12 and 16 kg cast-iron bells from a general sports retailer typically runs somewhere between €90 and €160 for the three, and you still have nothing at 4, 6, 10, 14 or 18 kg. You also have three lumps of iron to store, which in a flat means a corner of the hallway. The other comparison is a branded adjustable kettlebell from a big American name. Those usually land north of €200 in Europe once shipping is counted and often cap out at around 18 kg anyway.

The Pennywise Pundit on the 24 kg and 40 kg pairs, the natural next step after the kettlebell. Independent channel.

If the kettlebell gets used every day between Christmas and New Year, the 24 kg SmartBells are the obvious next buy. T3 reviewed the BrainGain 24 kg adjustable dumbbell in June 2026 and gave it a T3 Recommends award, calling the dial "far more practical than traditional plate-loaded alternatives".

Ranked: the Twixmas kit list, from €99 upward

Four buys, in the order we would make them. Each one links to the live product page so you can check the price today rather than trust ours.

ThePowerPlant shows the dial on the 40 kg SmartBells.

The kit you use on the 28th of December is worth more than the kit you buy on the 2nd of January.

A fifteen-minute Twixmas session that needs one kettlebell and a rug

Nobody needs a programme for this week. They need a default. Here is ours, and it works at any of the seven settings.

1. Halos, 10 each direction at 4 to 8 kg. Wakes up the shoulders after a day in an armchair.
2. Goblet squats, 12 reps at 10 to 14 kg. Slow on the way down, hold the bottom for a breath.
3. Two-hand swings, 15 reps at 14 to 18 kg. Hips do the work, arms are ropes.
4. Single-arm rows, 10 each side at 12 to 16 kg, hand on the sofa arm.
5. Rest 60 seconds. Repeat three times. Turn the handle between moves, not between rounds.

Done daily, that is roughly an hour and a quarter of real work across the dead week, which is more than most people manage in the whole of January. If you are new to swings, our beginner's guide covers hinge technique before you load it.

Where the kettlebell stops being enough

We would be selling you short if we pretended one bell does everything. At 18 kg the two-hand swing gets easy for most men within a couple of months, and goblet squats stop being a strength exercise at around the same point. That is the moment to add dumbbells rather than a heavier bell, because dumbbells cover pressing, curling and lunging patterns a kettlebell never does well. The SmartBells 40 kg at €449 are the natural next step, with 17 settings from 5 to 40 kg per hand, and for anyone who already knows they want fine 1.5 kg increments the Pro 23.5 kg at €469 is the model an independent lab scored 95 out of 100. If you train with a partner, our couples guide explains why two kettlebells and one dumbbell set is usually the smarter order.

The other honest limit is floor protection. Swings do not touch the ground, but a dropped bell on laminate leaves a mark. A rubber mat costs less than the damage, and it is the one accessory we would add before anything else on this list.

What 73 real owners told us

Earlier this year BrainGain surveyed 73 verified EU customers about how they actually use their kit. Most train three or more times a week, which is the opposite of the "gathers dust by February" story. A large majority said the price was justified in hindsight. The two worries that nearly stopped people buying were warranty and seller trust, which is why we keep pointing at the 36-month warranty and the independent SaferBuy test rather than our own copy. For a €99 purchase in a week when your judgement is mostly cheese, those are the two numbers that matter.

The verdict

Buy the kettlebell before Christmas, not after. Leave it by the sofa. Use it on the 27th, in your socks, for fifteen minutes, and again on the 28th. It is €99, it goes from 4 to 18 kg with a turn of the handle, and it carries the same 36-month warranty as the €700 dumbbells. When January comes and the plan gets serious, add the SmartBells 24 kg or step straight to the 40 kg, and the kettlebell keeps its job as the warm-up and the conditioning tool. If you are buying for someone else, our gifts under €300 guide ranks it alongside the dumbbells. The dead week does not need a resolution. It needs one object and a rug.

Frequently Asked Questions

36-month warranty on every BrainGain product in the EU store. Prices checked 22 September 2026.

This article is for general information and is not medical advice. Prices checked on eu.braingain.fit on 22 September 2026 and may vary by delivery country.