Article's purpose is to investigate the influence of kettlebell training on the formation of physical readiness of future officers who are the specialists in physical training and sports of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other structures of the security and defense sector to training and professional combat activities during training at a higher military educational institution. Methodology. Cadets of 1-4 courses (n=40) of the Educational and Scientific Institute of Physical Culture and Sports and Health Technologies of the Ivan Chernyakhovsky National University of Defense of Ukraine took part in the research. Two groups were formed: experimental (EG, n=20), whose cadets were engaged in kettlebell lifting during the sport and mass work and control (CG, n=20), whose cadets were engaged in physical training according to the current system in higher education. Research methods: theoretical analysis of literature sources, pedagogical observation, pedagogical testing, methods of mathematical statistics. The scientific novelty of the obtained results lies in the practical verification of the effectiveness of kettlebell lifting training on the formation of physical readiness for training and professional combat activities of future officers who are the specialists in physical training and sports of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other structures of the security and defense sector.. Conclusions. According to the results of the study the level of physical readiness of future specialists in physical training and sports at the end of the experiment is marked as high, which will allow them to fully perform training, and in the long run, professional combat tasks. The level of development of physical qualities in future officers who were engaged in kettlebell lifting, at the end of the study is significantly higher than in those who were engaged in physical training in accordance with current guidelines in the Armed Forces during sports and mass work. The most pronounced influence from kettlebell exercises was found on the development of power qualities and the functional capabilities of the future officers.