The Kettlebell Swing
It all begins here
The Kettlebell Swing is the foundation for most of the kettlebell workouts. It works your legs, shoulders, core, back, glutes, and activates the strongest joint in your body – the hip. This basic movement can help you build muscle, torch calories, establish a strong base and foundation, improve your posture, fortify your core, and increase your power output. One of the best things about this exercise is the fact that because of all the movement and fast-paced action involved, it takes your mind off the effort you have to put in. Usually you don’t realize how hard you have been working until after a few sets in – making this a no-brainer for fat burning regimes.
Summary
Base for most kettlebell workouts. Works a ton of muscles including your legs, core, glutes, shoulders and forearms, and helps reverse the negative effects of sitting for a long time. It’s also very fun to do.
Key Points
Movement
You begin with your back almost parallel to the floor and the kettlebell held by the handle (horns) almost as if you are ready to hike a football as shown in circle #1. Make sure your knees always have a slight bend and your lower leg (calves) are straight as shown in circle #2. Also make sure that your neck is straight and your head is in alignment. Try and make sure that there is no pressure in your neck at all times.
Make sure that there is full hip extension at the hip shown in circle #4, which will make the exercise that much more effective. Additionally, you have to keep your shoulder blades back and neck straight the entire time. You keep your arms straight (never bent) and raise to parallel with the floor as in circle #5 (or in the american swing version above your head).
Muscles Worked
The Kettlebell Swing works a ton of little and big muscles – this is apperant from how tired you can get after doing many of these. Below are the highlights of the main muscles worked.
Primary
Secondary
Conclusion & How to incorporate
The Kettlebell Swing is an exercise that can offer a lot to anyone looking to add a fast-paced component that helps strengthen the hip muscles, leg, and core either to help undo many of the side effects of sitting for a long time, or to just take their fitness to the next level. While this is a fairly basic exercise within the kettlebell world, it always has a place within a good kettlebell workout. Incorporate the Kettlebell Swing as a main central exercise after warm-ups for beginner kettlebell workouts, or after warm-ups to bridge the gap to more difficult & complex kettlebell exercises for more advanced kettlebell workouts.
Similar Exercises
We encourage you to check out these other kettlebell exercises if you have not done so already.
