Kettlebell Gorilla Swings

In my quest to gather all kettlebell exercises in one list I came across the Gorilla Swing, see video below 15:20 mark.

Then someone asked about it the other day and I realized that I actually didn’t know and had forgotten about it. So I looked it up again. Then I tried it. And I did not like it, it’s easy with a 4kg kettlebell, but if you take anything heavier and try to stop it with your body you just create bobbing, which creates friction, which in turn rips your hands.

So, what I did was play with it a bit and modified it.

In the bottom squat position, you’re looking ahead and try to squat as deep as possible. In the top position, you remain in the hip hinge (hip flexion). The more you want to work your flexibility, the more you keep those legs straight, i.e. straight legged hip hinge.

It takes some coordination, especially control of where you’re looking. The movement is completely opposite of what you would do in a conventional kettlebell swing, here the kettlebell is low on the out phase and high on the up phase.

The reason I mentioned that these are for low reps, like in the 8 to 14 range, is because tension remains on the hamstrings throughout each rep, this will quickly cause fatigue and affect form. Tension is also on the quads as the knees never really lockout during the rep (unless you’re super flexible). I consider this an intermediate to advanced movement.

If you want all different types of kettlebell exercises in one place on your phone, check out our kettlebell exercise app which links to all videos. We also have a workout timer and kettlebell workouts app.

Leave a Comment

Shopping Basket
Total
6
Share