Background The effectiveness of exercise in kidney transplant recipients is not well established. We, therefore, performed a systematic review of the effects of exercise training in kidney transplantation recipients. Methods We searched two electronic databases for articles up to April 2017. Inclusion criteria were as follows: randomized controlled trial and kidney transplant recipients aged 18 years or older. The main outcomes were allograft function (estimated glomerular filtration rate, eGFR), exercise tolerance (VO2 peak), and quality of life (QOL). Results After screening of 1303 references in PubMed and Ichushi, six randomized control trials were analyzed. For kidney transplant recipients, supervised exercise training was shown to significantly improve VO2 peak [mean difference 2.42; 95% confidence interval (95%CI) 0.22–4.63] and QOL (mean difference 7.23; 95%CI 0.94–13.52). However, exercise training did not improve allograft kidney function (mean difference 6.22; 95%CI − 13.00 to 25.44). No reporting bias was observed in any of the outcomes. There were no reports including patient survival rates and the harm associated with exercise training. Conclusions Exercise training for kidney transplant recipients significantly improved exercise tolerability and QOL, but a significant improvement was not obtained with respect to allograft kidney function. Evaluation of patient survival rates and the harm associated with exercise training has not been reported, therefore, future studies are needed to resolve these issues.