Kettlebell swings

Johnnyhpipe

Hi,

I'm genuinely curious as to the point of swinging a kettlebell. I see this becoming more and more common in the gym every morning and it appears that gravity/momentum are doing 90% of the work. Am i missing out on a fantastic exercise or is this just pointless??

Mr. CooL ICE

There are loads of kettlebell exercises available, but I've only ever done kettlebell swings myself. If I'm looking to do some extra glute work at the end of a squat/deadlift session, they're a nice way of getting an extra burn there. Yes, momentum does come into play, but if done right, you fire the hips forward and let your arms remain limp. Arms shouldn't be doing the lifting.

I've spoken with trainers who run fitness/bootcamp style classes and they find them great for getting women to do resistance work. Many of these women are 100% convinced they'll turn into Arnie overnight if they touch a weight so kettlebell exercises are a way of 'tricking' them into doing weight training.

SarahMollie

if you're doing it properly, the momentum element is mostly just to keep it going in the right direction, but the power is coming from your glutes.

I've done KB swings with various trainers over the past few years but have only recently actually gotten the hang of it properly, as my latest trainer is so focused on technique. With her, I've gone from hating the exercise and flailing around with 8kg bells, to really mastering the hip action and I now swing 14/16kg regularly and can swing up to 20kg if I'm doing low reps.

According to my trainer they're excellent for overall conditioning.

caviardreams

Would second the above comments, but also would add they are probably the exercise that is done most incorrectly most often in the gym.

So many people do a squat front raise kinda hybrid.

whippet

I did kettlebells for a couple of years with a StongFirst certified trainer and I do cringe a bit when I see people swinging the bells in the gym with a type of hybrid squat swing motion.

a two handed swing should be with a hip-pop type motion and the bell will travel with momentum to the top of the swing (just below the chest. At the top of the swing your cheeks should be so tight that you can hold a €20 note between them.

I still use a heavy bell for warmup for heavy deadlift and squat days .. sets of 5 with a 42kg bell to get the hips and glutes in to action.

The turkish get up, single handed swings, cleans and presses with the bells are also great accessory work.

I would even use a 24kg bell for my own type of cardio .. 5 snatches left and 5 snatches right on the minute every minute for 10 minutes ... its a bit of a lung buster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cVT3ee9mgU

Zillah

Johnnyhpipe wrote: »

Hi,

I'm genuinely curious as to the point of swinging a kettlebell. I see this becoming more and more common in the gym every morning and it appears that gravity/momentum are doing 90% of the work. Am i missing out on a fantastic exercise or is this just pointless??

I've always thought the exact same thing when I see people doing their hip thrusting upy-down swing (that's the technical name). Really just looks like light/moderate cardio and little else.

Alf Veedersane

It's all about the hip hinge.

Most KB swings you see in gyms are butchered.

LuckyLloyd

There's no point vilifying any exercise on the basis of it not being beneficial when performed incorrectly imo. The Deadlift incorrectly performed for high load overtime could end someone's training for good, but we wouldn't label the Deadlift as pointless.

Assuming Swings are performed correctly, they are a great addition to training for most people. An exercise that relies on your ability to fire the glutes and pop the hips quickly can only be a good supplement to comparatively slower heavier movements like Pulls or Squats (to be fast, move fast, etc). At the top of the swing you're using your upper back and scapular region to stabilise the weight - another thing most people can benefit from cheap volume. Depending on how they are implemented, they can be great for conditioning if space is limited.

Mellor

Johnnyhpipe wrote: »

it appears that gravity/momentum are doing 90% of the work.

Gravity only goes in one direction. Momentum can't create movement/energy, only maintain the energy you put in. So all of the force lifting the kettlebell from the bottom to the top comes from the user - even if it appears otherwise.

It's a great movement, that people routine butcher.
Sometimes people will do better reps with a slightly heavier KB due to the extra resistance.

Mars Bar

The gym I used to go to used to use them as a quad exercise but the gym I go to now uses them as a hamstring and glute exercise. I always feel the afters of it the following day!

SmallTeapot

I go to a KB class once a week (going for the last 20 weeks or so...) and do definitely see the benefit of the swings.

I run and find my legs have become much more powerful and sculpted (:pac:).....similar effect to when I used to go on the rowing machine a couple of times a week. (Aside from swings, we also do loads of other KB movements alongside bodyweight drills which has really strengthened my core and upper arms).

The swing activates the posterior chain the most - the arms just finish off the motion akin to rowing (your arms still get some benefit, however, just not as much as cleaning and pressing).

Good form is crucial for swings. If you squat instead of keeping the knees 'loose' on commencing the swing, you won't maximize the power output and could risk damaging the lower back, as you'll be compensating. The idea is to place the 2 hands evenly on the bell handle, head looking forward, shoulders upright not hunched over, push the hips back as far as they can go (using a competition standard bell, you actually might tip your arse with the bell, depending on how far back you can push those hips), then on the upswing motion reaching approx chest height, pop the hips, push the weight firmly through your heels and lock the knees.... the latter is crucial, as you could end up over-extending your hips and push the bell up too high. As mentioned above, you can maximize resistance by upping the weight. The video Whippet posted above looks pretty spot on. It's a pretty quick movement.

For HIIT, I can tell you from experience that 8-10 sets of 20 second two-hand swings (especially with the max weight you can handle) with 5 second breaks between sets will knock the stuffing out of anyone

Variations include one hand swing, alternating swing, American swing. There's actually a fair few videos on youtube on KB swings by 'instructors' which have dire form......avoid at all costs the Joe Wick's KB swing videos, his form isn't the best.

(Darebee KB Movement Diagram)

Zillah

Mellor wrote: »

Gravity only goes in one direction. Momentum can't create movement/energy, only maintain the energy you put in. So all of the force lifting the kettlebell from the bottom to the top comes from the user - even if it appears otherwise.

I don't know much about kettlebells specifically, but I think you're missing the point. You can cheat your form by carrying energy from one rep to another. All of the force for the first rep comes from your muscles, sure, but you can move in such a way that 90% of the energy from rep 1 is recycled into rep 2. That applies to a lot of exercises.

Alf Veedersane

Zillah wrote: »

I don't know much about kettlebells specifically, but I think you're missing the point. You can cheat your form by carrying energy from one rep to another. All of the force for the first rep comes from your muscles, sure, but you can move in such a way that 90% of the energy from rep 1 is recycled into rep 2. That applies to a lot of exercises.

But doing an exercise incorrectly doesn't invalidate the exercise.

Taking it back to the OP, the movement is fine and is useful in a lot of instances. It becomes far less useful if you do it incorrectly. Like a lot of exercises, as you said.

Zillah

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

But doing an exercise incorrectly doesn't invalidate the exercise.

And like I said I'm not attacking kettlebells, I don't know much about them; but just because gravity and momentum don't magically create energy doesn't mean you don't have an energy-efficient/time-inefficient exercise that recycles energy from one rep to another.

Like bouncy deadlifts

CIARAN_BOYLE

Like a lot of exercises but more so than most it's an exercise where it's easy to cheat that is to say that it's easy to do it in such a way that you can do high reps and keep going without putting in fresh energy. When we'll done it's a helpfully exercise.

Did it for the first time in a few months tonight because of this thread and spent some time thinking about the exercise as I was doing it.

It's a version of a deadlift that conserves momentum. This means you need to do more reps. The bonus is that you are in constant motion. This means your heart rate is higher so it fits more with taking a resistance cardio approach to your work out.

Mellor

Zillah wrote: »

I don't know much about kettlebells specifically, but I think you're missing the point. You can cheat your form by carrying energy from one rep to another. All of the force for the first rep comes from your muscles, sure, but you can move in such a way that 90% of the energy from rep 1 is recycled into rep 2. That applies to a lot of exercises.

A pendulum will conserve energy as it swings freely, but a KB swings (to a proper height) can't do the same as it hits your hips on the way back. Some energy can be recycled, but 90%, not a hope.
As proof of that, try a v.heavy swing, 48kg or what ever max effort is. There will be some carry over, but you won't be putting energy in on the first rep and letting it swing.

And regardless, There's nothing wrong with efficient movements. I find it a bit odd that this is criticised. Most lifts have carry over from eccentric to concentric (except deadlifts). It's called the stretch reflex, using it isn't cheating. You don't use it to put in less effort, you use it to lift more weight. A good example would be Utilising the stretch reflex in a deep high bar squat verses a paused squat. It's not wrong or time wasting to rebound squat reps rather than pause them.