The Kettlebell Swing has been called by some the best single exercise you can do. Now I don’t know about that for sure (there are a lot of great fat burning exercises). I love doing swings and do them regularly. But I don’t know that there is any one exercise I would claim to be the best single exercise there is. To get total body conditioning, fat loss, lean muscle gains and added strength and endurance get the kettlebell swing into your workouts.
I do know for a fact and from experience that the swing is a great total body fat burning exercise.
Benefits of the Kettlebell Swing
• Develops explosive power and strength in the legs
• Improves lower back endurance and strength
• Improves core endurance and strength
• High reps improve cardio fitness and lactate tolerance
• High rep swings are an effective fat burning exercise.
The kettlebell swing although mainly a posterior chain exercise works almost every part of your body.
1) Set a kettlebell in front of you. Push back with your butt and bend your knees to get into the starting position..
2) Make sure that your back is flat and look straight ahead. Swing the kettlebell between your legs forcefully as if you are passing a football to someone behind you.
3) Quickly reverse the direction and drive though with your hips explosively taking the kettlebell straight out.
4) Remember that the swing is primarily a posterior chain exercise and that is where all of the power is generated from.
The most important aspect of the lift is the hip thrust. As you bring the kettlebell up to upper chest level, you are not using your back or your arms to help the kettlebell up, all you should be using is your hips.
Think of you arms as ropes and all they are doing is hanging on to the kettle bell as your hips thrust the bell up.
When you hip thrust your whole core of your body needs to be flexed and tight. This will give you more explosion in the lift.
When the bell comes down, you want to be in the same position as when you started the lift.
Check out this video demo of the swing from Lauren Brooks
What Not To Do when Doing The Kettlebell Swing. Here’s a short list:
•Simply picking the kettlebell up, versus setting up in the “hike” position at the bottom.
•Not pulling back aggressively towards the groin, both at the start of a set and within repetitions.
•Failure to keep the chest up and back flat.
•Not finishing “tall.” At the top/finish position, think about extending the hips and knees simultaneously. This is preferable to a bowed position where the hips are extended but is also using a lot of low back extension to drive the movement as well.
•Too much tension throughout. Think about staying tight at the top and bottom, and focus on relaxing in between.
•Failure to “tame the arc.” Many beginners are way too “loose” with the arc of the kettlebell. Instead, focus on shortening the arc and keeping it tight to your body both at the top and bottom positions.
This is obviously just a quick and non-exhaustive list, but hopefully it gets you thinking about your technique.
There you go want to burn more fat? rev up your Cardio? get Stronger? Get The Kettlebell Swing into your workouts. The single best exercise again I don’t know but as fat burning exercises go another great choice.
