{"id":2815,"date":"2017-01-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/kettlebell-swing\/"},"modified":"2022-10-19T16:35:58","modified_gmt":"2022-10-19T14:35:58","slug":"kettlebell-swing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/personal-fitness-training-blog\/kettlebell-swing\/","title":{"rendered":"The foundational kettlebell movement: the swing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0swing is the movement that all kettlebell training is based on.\u00a0 There\u2019s a reason for this \u2013 says master kettlebell coach, <a href=\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/learn\/the-kettlebell-swing-why-its-the-perfect-exercise\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Andrew Read<\/a>. The swing \u2013 says Read \u2013 puts very little stress on one\u2019s lower back\u00a0so\u00a0 making it a great exercise for people (who have lower back problems) to do. He also says that injury owing to overloading during the swing is quite low so if you\u2019re too enthusiastic and try to lift more weights than is actually good for you, because the swing is dynamic in nature you won\u2019t hurt yourself.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What muscles does the swing recruit?<br \/>\n<\/strong><br \/>\nDuring the kettlebell swing, you\u2019ll use the following muscles:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Hamstrings,<\/li>\n<li>Glutes,<\/li>\n<li>Lower back,<\/li>\n<li>Spinal erectors,<\/li>\n<li>Upper back postural muscles, and<\/li>\n<li>Forearm flexors<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>How to perform the swing<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Stand up straight with your feet shoulder-width apart. Hold the kettlebell \u2013 in both hands &#8211; about<br \/>\n20 cm in front of you with your arms straight. Don\u2019t lock your elbows. This is your starting position.<\/li>\n<li>Inhale and pull the kettlebell quickly between your legs. Ensure that tension is loaded\u00a0 onto your glutes, hamstrings and lower back.<\/li>\n<li>Next, thrust your hips forward \u2013 by contracting your glutes \u2013 so that the kettlebell swings forward. While performing this movement, powerfully exhale. Your arms aren\u2019t involved in this movement \u2013 the force comes from the hips.<\/li>\n<li>The kettlebell should reach shoulder height and dangle there momentarily before making its way back to between your legs.<\/li>\n<li>On the kettlebell\u2019s downward swing, load tension on your <a href=\"http:\/\/risetoit.co.za\/posterior-chain-strength\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">posterior chain <\/a>\u2013 in other words muscles such as your glutes, hamstrings and lower back &#8211; and repeat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bXtKpQGa2Og\" width=\"560\" height=\"314\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Watchpoints<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are a number of points that you need to keep in mind when you perform the swing so that you can perform this exercise safely.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Don\u2019t hyperextend<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you feel \u2013 during the movement \u2013 unnecessary tension in your hip flexors, you\u2019re leaning back too far. This will put a lot of unnecessary stress on your body.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Watch your form<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If your feel that your legs are becoming bowed or your back is getting rounded during the movement, this means that you\u2019re fatiguing during the exercise and the weight you\u2019re lifting is too heavy. Opt for a lighter kettlebell so that you can correct your form.<\/p>\n<p>To ensure that you don\u2019t fatigue quickly, make sure that your spine stays in neutral. In other words, make sure that your spine stays in its natural form and don\u2019t put any added pressure on it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Shoulders must be packed<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Your shoulders must be tight \u2013 in other words, not relaxed \u2013 so that you can support the weight of the kettlebell during this movement.<\/p>\n<p>There are loads more exercises that can be done with kettlebells and \u2013 as they burn upwards of<br \/>\n200 calories per workout\u00a0 &#8211;\u00a0 we challenge you to find an excuse not to incorporate these beauties into your fitness regime.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/course\/group-exercise-courses\/kettle-bell-certificate\/\">Sign up for <\/a>Trifocus Fitness Academy\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/course\/group-exercise-courses\/kettle-bell-certificate\/\">Kettlebell Course <\/a>and receive the full benefit of what being a kettlebell instructor entails.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Vk2-fzHVCL4\" width=\"560\" height=\"314\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0swing is the movement that all kettlebell training is based on.\u00a0 There\u2019s a reason for this \u2013 says master kettlebell coach, Andrew Read. The swing \u2013 says Read \u2013 puts very little stress on one\u2019s lower back\u00a0so\u00a0 making it a great exercise for people (who have lower back problems) to do. He also says that&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2116],"tags":[880,881,194,98,198,37,376,882,292,444,883,143,884,809,885,80,337,763,886,887,259,888,186,889,45,202,46],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2815"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2815\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trifocusfitnessacademy.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}