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You might or might not have seen seen a Facebook post form someone else doing the rounds which asked the question “What is wrong with this Kettlebell Swing?!”, after watching all the responses I felt compelled to clear something up that provides a huge mis information in the kettlebell training world.
“A swing is not a squat”
You probably hear this all the time, and it’s total bull… Have you any idea how many kettlebell swing variations there are? Quick reveal: there is not just the Russian Swing AKA Conventional Swing or Two-arm Swing, there is also the ugly American Swing and many many more.
I mean no disrespect to the original poster that prompted me to once again revisit this topic, the poster of the video has great form and seems to be a great kettlebell trainer. But … I can’t agree with the answer provided by the poster, unfortunately he did not agree with my view as he deleted my reply, so I felt compelled to write my own response on Cavemantraining.com and this is it!
If the questions would have been “What is wrong with this hip hinge style kettlebell swing” or “What is wrong with this conventional swing“, then I would have agreed with the majority of answers. But I don’t agree with the majority of answers and neither with the answer provided by the poster. Which is:
#BOOM! If you guessed that the bell is WAYY too low (making this a squat) you are right on the money!
This is the gif that was posted together with the same question I posed to you.
Did you know that there is a Turkish Getup (TGU) squat style? There is, and there is nothing wrong with it. The fact is, the TGU lunge style is the most common one taught, so when someone sees a TGU squat style it’s like “That’s not a TGU! That’s wrong.” the fact is, it’s not wrong and neither is the squat style swing, the hip hinge style is the most common one taught and rightfully so should be taught first, but the squat style is equally good when done right. In the above case it’s done right as well as in the video I posted.
The Answer
The short answer is, there is nothing wrong with the Kettlebell Swing Squat Style that I posted. It’s a common misconception that when you’re squatting and swinging it’s wrong, but it’s not, unless:
- you’re asked to do the hip hinge style
- using your shoulders to raise the kettlebell
- using your back to lift the kettlebell
- the technique is incorrect
- it’s hurting/dangerous
- it’s not working towards your goals
A lot of people think that squat style goes paired with a shoulder raise, whether it’s a shoulder raise or not, the fact is, if a shoulder raise is used rather than momentum, you would see the kettlebell droop at the top rather than it being an extension of the arms.
Why is there nothing wrong with this type of swing?
Because it simply puts the focus from the posterior chain on to the anterior chain muscles, the quads in particular and less stress on the core muscles due to the more upright position.
I have written about all of this ages ago, read it if you want more info. Otherwise, share the info and keep swinging! Keep an open mind and stay educated peeps.
Definition of Swing: move or cause to move back and forth while suspended or on an axis.
Perfect swing!
How could this turn into the perfect swing? I could have used double the weight, but I wanted a blue bell as it goes well with the blue shirt and sky! The light bell caused the weight to go up higher and I tried to stop it around chest height which causes a little bobbing at the top of the swing. So I guess in effect you could say that the choice of weight is wrong.
Kettlebell Swing
I also understand that THE most popular/common swing has received the shortened name of Kettlebell Swing, so whenever someone refers to Kettlebell Swing it assumed to be the Swing Hip Hinge Style. Same applies to Kettlebell Clean, it’s automatically assumed it’s the swing style, even though there are many variations like hang, dead, diagonal etc. Lets take this even further, same with the CrossFit Snatch, it’s automatically assumed it’s the Squat Snatch, Jerk = Split Jerk, Burpee = Tricep Push Up Jump Burpee and so on.
