The swing
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The swing is the most basic exercise in kettlebell training.
It comes into play every single time you lift a bell off the floor, rack or un-rack the bell, or execute a kettlebell snatch.
The swing is a compound lift, meaning a lift that stresses two or more body parts at once.
The swing share similar elements to the vertical jump and sprinting.
When swinging, there is a synergy between muscle groups of the legs and back. This means knee, hip and back extension happens in the same exact sequence you would use in any jumping movement.
You are actually developing strength in a sequence that the brain can immediately apply to similar movements. This kind of functional movement is essential to athletic success and injury prevention.
What’s more, the swing is worked at high reps, grooving a path in the neuromuscular system, reinforcing motor skill development, and challenging your muscular and cardio-vascular system at the same time.
The eccentric loading phase of a back swing builds hamstring strength.
Studies show that improved hamstring strength can help reduce knee injuries in athletes up to 25%.
In itself, the swing is a great complement exercise to re-balance leg strength in athletes that might be quad dominant.
If trained as an assistance movement for snatches, I’d recommend swings for timed sets with only 1 hand switch, with your usual weight. You will also benefit of throwing in sets of heavy swings in your training.
If the goal is purely hamstring conditioning for athletes, you can go heavy and switch hands as many times as needed.
Swings can be done 2 hands or 1 hand. When using 1 hand, you can also use 1 kettlebell in each hand.
The height to which you lift the bell depends on how much power you generate from your hips. Remember that the arms are just holding on to the bell and accompanying the movement.
Up to shoulder level is common for assistance work, while overhead is commonly see in juggling choreographies, or to really push your pulse high.
It is a fantastic exercise because the possible variations are numerous.
In the top position of the movement, knees and hips are fully extended. Make sure to engage your gluteus muscles by pushing your pelvis forward.
For the proper breathing technique, read the article: Breathing and Kettlebells swings.
There are 2 techniques to choose from to execute a swing. The basic technique and the more advanced GS swing.
The basic swing
This is the most commonly seen type of swing.
I'll describe here the 2 hand variation.
Place the kettlebell in between your feet. Grab loosely with 2 hand, palms facing down, thumbs covering the index fingers. Pull your shoulder blades back together. Push back with your butt and bend your knees to get into the starting position, which looks like a quarter squat. Make sure that your back is flat and you are looking straight ahead. Pull the bell off the floor and forcefully extend your legs, hips and back. The trajectory of the body is quite linear, you should explode up as if you were jumping for height.
Your body should be fully extended with the hips pushed forward, the kettlebell in line with your arms. When first starting, it is fine to only swing the bell to waist or shoulder level.
For a fraction of second, the bell becomes weightless, just before it is about to fall down.
On the way down, get ready to counteract the force of the bell which will want to pull you forward. Let your body follow the bell by pushing your hips back and bending your knees, going back to your starting position.
Remember that the center of gravity of the bell is in front of your hands, and that a free falling bell can generate forces over 4 times its weight, depending on the height and speed at which it is falling!
As soon as your arms contact your body, it is time to reverse the movement and repeat the sequence, so that the swinging movement is not interrupted. Use as much explosive power as possible.
The GS Swing
In kettlebell sport, swings are done differently from what is mostly seen on the internet .
First of all, the bell is always placed in front of the feet on the ground before one starts, so that it swings back straight away when you start. For beginners, this eliminates the need to swing the bell a few times to get it moving to shoulder height.
The handle is rotated (and held through the drill) 45 degrees towards the center line of the body. Grab it thumb facing down. The space between the thumb and index finger fully comes against the corner of the handle. Finally, the thumb comes to wrap around the index finger. (You should develop calluses at the base of each finger, not just the last 3.)
There is more to the GS swing than a simplistic linear up and down motion of the hips, as done in a basic swing.
Proper GS swing technique benefits from the pendulum effect on both side of the swing. This means there are 2 spots where the bell is weightless on every rep: one in front of the body and one behind, on the back swing phase. To effectively accomplish this, you have to use a double flexion/ extension on every rep.
This lets you achieve more reps with less effort, or move a heavier weight with ease.
If you closely observe kettlebell athletes, you’ll notice their backs round a little during the back swing. This can only be safely done when is no load on the back, which is what happens when you use the double flexion/ extension technique.
As the bell is swinging back, your knees extend for a second time, allowing the bell to go further back than with a simple swing. The momentum takes the bell to a spot where it is weightless before it starts falling and swinging forward again.
The benefits are that you can better load your hamstrings, generate more momentum from the hips, train for longer sets, and give you lower back a fraction of rest on every back swing.
The many variations of the swing provide challenging drills and are the foundation of juggling competitions.
A great way to finish your training session is to go outside and play with those variations. Do not hesitate to pick a lighter bell and be creative. Your timing and hand to eye coordination can only improve with practice!
GS style 1 arm swing video
Pay attention to the double extention of the hips and how easy and smooth the move looks.
Here is a video of a basic 1 arm swing
If you pay attention, you’ll notice his back is staying nearly vertical through the entire exercise. The trajectory of the bell is really short, braking to a stop just behind his knees. Look at the bell on the back swing, it is rotating upward in his hand because his grip is parallel to the floor and he’s stopping the momentum instead of allowing it to go back as far a possible. A light rotation of the wrist, holding the handle at 45 degrees facing downwards, would fix this problem.
In conclusion
As long as you keep in mind what you want to achieve, there is no wrong or right way between those 2 techniques. They are 2 separate techniques.
The GS style is designed to be the most efficient move, as competitions last 10 minutes without setting the bells down. This style of swing lets you generate maximum power with minimum effort.
Remember to pick a weight that is right for you when learning a new exercise, and make sure the power always come from the hips, not the arms.
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