Kettlebell Swing

How to do the kettlebell swing

1. 1

   Set the kettlebell on the floor a short step in front of your toes and stand with your feet about shoulder width apart.

2. 2

   Push your hips back, keep your back long and grab the handle with both hands, tilting the bell toward you.

3. 3

   Brace your midsection, then hike the bell back high between your thighs as if passing a ball back between your legs.

4. 4

   Drive your hips forward and stand up hard, squeezing your glutes, so the bell floats out to about chest height.

5. 5

   Let the bell fall on its own; wait until your forearms almost touch your hips, then hinge and guide it back between your legs.

6. 6

   After the last rep, hike the bell back once more and set it down on the floor in front of you.

Muscles worked by the kettlebell swing

The glutes and hamstrings drive the swing: they straighten your hips out of the deep hinge and throw the bell forward. In a study that measured muscle activity and spine loads, the glutes reached about 80 percent of a maximal contraction and the lower back extensors about 50 percent with a 16 kg bell, switching on and off in quick pulses. Your lower back and midsection hold the trunk rigid while the hips move, and your forearms keep hold of the handle.

Common kettlebell swing mistakes

• Squatting the bell up

  When your knees travel forward and your hips sink low, the thighs take over and the bell ends up being lifted by your shoulders. Push your hips back and keep your shins close to vertical.

• Lifting the bell with your arms

  Raising the bell with your shoulders steals the work from your hips. Treat your arms as ropes: the hip snap moves the bell, your hands only steer it.

• Rounding your back at the bottom

  A swing loads your spine quickly in both directions. Keep your back long as the bell passes between your legs and hike it high toward your hips, not down by your knees.

• Leaning back at the top

  Throwing your shoulders behind your hips bends the lower back instead of finishing the rep with the glutes. Stand tall at the top: ribs down, glutes tight, knees straight.

• Hinging too early

  If you fold forward before the bell drops, it pulls you off balance and lands in your lower back. Stay tall until your forearms almost meet your hips, then hinge.

How Muscla coaches the kettlebell swing

• Pick a bell that floats to the same height on every rep. Muscla's first suggestion for a man new to training is about 0.2 times body weight, rounded down to your bells: 16 kg at 80 kg body weight.
• End each set with about two good reps left, three if you are new to training. Stop when the bell no longer rises as high.
• Rest 2 minutes between sets when you train for strength and 90 seconds for every other goal. Muscla adds two ramp sets only when the swing is the first compound lift of your day.
• When every set reaches the top of your rep range, move up one bell size, usually 4 kg or 10 lb: 16 kg becomes 20 kg. Until then, add a rep.
• After the last set, Muscla asks “How heavy was that?” Light adds weight, Good keeps the normal progression, Heavy holds it, At the limit holds it or takes off one step.

Kettlebell swing sets, reps and rest

The kettlebell swing counts as a compound hip hinge in Muscla. A training day holds only one exercise per movement pattern, so swings never share a day with deadlifts or Romanian deadlifts. With the comeback goal, hip hinges stay at 10 reps or fewer.

Kettlebell swing alternatives

1. Barbell Romanian Deadlift→
2. Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift→
3. Barbell Deadlift→
4. Lever deadlift
5. Cable deadlift
6. Dumbbell Single Leg Deadlift→
7. Band stiff leg deadlift
8. Band pull through
9. Machine Back Extension→
10. Barbell Squat→

Kettlebell swing questions