Ten Tips for your Kettlebell Swing!
With our Kettlebell Swing Seminar, and our 1600 Swing Challenge to benefit the Alzheimer’s Association, we spent a lot of last month focusing on technique tips… We thought we’d do a quick recap of 10 swing technique reminders for optimal safety, strength and power:
1. In your set up, make sure your shoulders are packed and your spine is in neutral. You don’t want to have the bell too far in front of you and your shoulders unpacked.
2. Make sure your neck is in neutral or slightly extended in the backswing, and totally neutral at the top of the swing. Your focal point for your set up and backswing should be several feet out in front of you on the low horizon, and eye level at the top.
3. Keep your whole foot connected to the ground at all times. Don’t allow your foot to roll to the outside edge and try to keep your toes down. Usually a slight turn out of the foot works better than totally straight ahead. Check out this video.
4. Keep your arms high in the backswing. Your forearms should touch the very tops of your inner thighs and your upper arms should make contact with your ribs. Don’t let the handle get below your knees.
5. At the top of the swing, make sure you are joint stacked and in a tight plank position. Don’t lean back or let your knees bend.
6. For the most efficient and powerful swings, the movement should be a hip hinge that sends your hips back, rather than a squat that takes your hips down. Watch a video here!
7. Keep your elbows straight throughout the entire exercise for optimal safety of the elbow joint. Check out this video.
8. Make sure your hips are generating the power, and that you are not lifting with the arms. Out of the backswing, it should be the hips that move first, not the arms. Here’s a video!
9. Don’t let your knees shoot forward out of the backswing. Try to keep your shins as vertical as possible, with your knees stacked over your ankles. Watch a video here!
10. Have FUN!! The swing is one of the most exciting and effective exercises for strength building, fat burning and power development… so enjoy those swings!!
Strength, love and happy swinging!