Kettlebell Swing Technique Tips
After yesterdays Kettlebell Swing Technique post
John Scott Stevens (RKC) was good enough to critique my swing technique and post some pointers and corrective actions.
John can be found at
OmahaKettlebell.blogspot.com
There is a lot to work on here, but hopefully this should serve as a great resource for sound technical kettlebell swinging
The RKC Hardstyle swing is about maximum tension at the top, projection of force forward and explosive, crisp hip drive.
AS your hardstyle swing technique improves you will not be able to perform as many reps as each rep will become harder and you will be generating muscular tension at the top and bottom of each rep. The result is a more brutal and efficient workout. You will get better results from less reps. Less will become more.
Kettlebell Swing Technique Points
Do not let your shoulder come out at the top of the swing.
Retract your shoulder (suck it in) especially at the top of the swing (activate the lats).
Do not let the one arm swing pull the working side forward.
Stay tight and keep your chest squared parallel to the facing wall. This activates the obliques.
Do not drive your knees forward.
Keep your shins vertical and drive back with your hips. This is safer on your knees and lower back.
Do not swing too high. The hardstyle swing is about projection of force forward, not upward.
Imagine your hip drive throwing the kettlebell forward toward the facing wall, not up toward the ceiling.
By swinging too high you are forcing yourself to lean back and extend your lower back.
Keep your knees locked at the top of the swing.
At the top of the swing your body should form two straight lines. One vertical line from your feet to the top of your head and one straight line from your shoulders to the kettlebell.
Keep tension in your abs and glutes at the top of the swing.
Build maximum tension at the top as if you are trying to freeze the kettlebell at the top of swing.
Do not be passive and let gravity pull the kettlebell downward for you.
Aggressively hike pass the kettlebell backward on the downswing.
This will force you to perform the next rep against a kettlebell that has been accelerated faster than gravity would allow.
Kettlebell Workouts
Crossfit Equipment Package
1 hour ago
The swing can be performed several different ways. Two of these ways are the Hard Style and the Soft Style. The main difference between hard and soft style is in the expression of the form. The hard style is explosive and is can be very exhausting very quickly. Think of this as a punch where you tense your body at the last second of the punch and transfer the power of your tension from your core out to the end of your punch. In the hard style you inhale as you swing down and exhale at the top of the swing. This breathing pattern adds to the explosive power at the top of the swing. In the soft style you are trying to do as many repetitions as you can, possibly hundreds of reps at a time. To do this, you change the way you breath as you do not want to generate the same explosive power. For the soft style you exhale on the down swing and inhale at the top of the swing. This is called matched breathing where you naturally exhale when your lungs are compressed and inhale on the expansion of the lung. All the other things are the same as the hard style except you do not create tension at the top of each swing. This will allow you to perform hundreds of repetitions at a time. The soft style is used in the competitive Girevoy sport of kettlebell lifting. For our own practice we lean toward the hard style because we enjoy the explosive power generated by tension throughout the body. We practice the soft style from time to time as well as other ways to perform with the kettlebell...
Ya mate - Hot Pondgas.
great advice and thanks for the link! :-)
Rob,
I hope you don't mind. I appreciate your taking the time to explore and post about the hard style enough that my 12/20 posting is actually just a reference and link to yours. Thank you for soliciting and sharing this point of view in depth.
If for whatever reason you'd rather me not use the link to your posting in mine, I'll be more than happy to remove it.
Jt
Jt sorry Never replied to you, no problem my friend glad someone wrote this for us all it's good stuff
Happy New year