The first exercise that you'll ever learn with kettlebells is the swing. It's very important and imperative that you perfect this technique more than any of them because a) almost all other kettlebell exercises are based on this one, and b) it will teach you the basic principles of ANY movement from weightlifting through martial arts to sprinting. It looks so simple yet it's very complex.
If you are not learning from an RKC / SFG, my first advice would be to find one. You will know that your trainer is good if they give you smaller or larger corrections all the time. Nobody's technique is perfect. Maybe Pavel's, but even he found things to change on his swing in the past years.
The Principles
They are actually more important then the technique: if you know the principles, you can learn any technique much quicker.
- hip hinge: learn to reach for things on the floor on a way that doesn't hurt your back or knees
- packed shoulders: use with ANY weight-lifting or pull-ups / chin-ups, protects your shoulders
- full body tension: use your muscles to protect your joints, make all your muscles work together to make you stronger
- fast and loose: switch between tension and relaxation quickly
- long spine: protect your back, keep a good posture
- breathing: makes you stronger, helps full body tension
- eye position: where you look has a great influence on how you move
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| Not too bad, she's leaning back a bit, some 'feedback' on the abs will help. This is the highest we swing in RKC |
You should also correct yourself. My advice would be is: pay attention to one feature at a time, do 10 swings and then start paying attention to the next feature. In the list below, I'll write down what are the things to keep in mind when swinging. It is a LOT, but after a lot of swings it will come naturally. There are correction drills for each and every feature, a HKC / RKC can help you with these.
Don't get scared off from the list below, I only wrote all this down to show you: why am I sticking to the idea that you need a HKC / RKC / SFG instructor to learn it. Do yourself a favour: be very picky about who you are learning from, you have one body after all and the parts are non-replaceable.
The things you need to pay attention to
(the order in my list is from the ground up)
- foot:
- heels stay on the ground,
- grab the floor with your toes,
- toes point forward or slightly out
- shins: stay vertical or near-vertical all the time
- knees:
- track the toes,
- never come further forward that the toes in the bottom position (no squatting),
- are completely straight in the top position,
- kneecaps are pulled up in the top position
- thighs:
- in the bottom position you should feel a stretch in your hamstrings (the back of the thighs),
- in the top position they are completely tense
- glutes:
- drive the movement, like a big jump,
- in the top position they are completely tense (try to break a walnut between your buttcheeks)
- torso:
- loooooong spine (separate the crown of your heat from your tailbone),
- in the top position completely straight, do not bend back,
- abs very tight in the top position (brace for a punch),
- proud chest in both the bottom and top positions
- shoulders: always packed (try to break the handle of the bell, this will engage your lats)
- arms:
- loose, all the time, you are merely using them to hold the bell, but you don't do any lifting motion at all,
- at the bottom of the swing your hands reach behind you and high up (try to hike pass the bell)
- head: neck relaxed, look at the horizon all the time
- breathing: shallow, biomechanical match, breathe in your stomach
- overall: a very explosive motion, like a punch, full body tension in the top position