I start by asking Brendan if he has ever deadlifted weight with a hip hinge. He wasn’t comfortable with the hip hinge deadlift so I first teach him the hip hinge with bodyweight and then a few reps with a light weight. This is just to get the movement of the hip hinge to stick. I then proceed to explain how the shoulders are not involved in the kettlebell swing as a prime mover.
Some of the common mistakes that a beginner makes with the kettlebell swing are:
- Shoulder raising
- Following the kettlebell
- Bobbing of the kettlebell at the end of the backswing
To prevent the shoulder raise, I cue more speed (power) from the legs and I explain how a drooping kettlebell is a sign of a shoulder raise. I break the backswing down into three steps, one is to remain in extension and I cue drop drop drop or wait wait wait, two is to hinge, and three is to insert the weight through the leg and direct it to the back. This one covers both the following and bobbing of the kettlebell.
Brendan ended up swinging the kettlebell with a good and safe enough form to continue swinging on his own and work on perfecting the hip hinge swing. It can’t be expected to execute a perfect swing within one day, let alone one hour.
The cues, progressions, and techniques are taken from our online product Kettlebell Fundamentals, which is available as a book, video, online course, and online kettlebell certification. If you want to learn the all-important fundamentals of kettlebell training for your own progression or to teach others as a trainer, then you can’t go past the online courses.
If you enjoy the content of the video, I hope you will help out by sharing the video with others on social media, and also feel free to embed the video on your website with a link to our website www.cavemantraining.com.
If you’re on a journey to keep learning about the kettlebell and make it an exciting part of your training, then come and join us in our private online group in which we release new kettlebell workouts each week that can be completed in your own time and from any location as long as you have internet access. Each session comes with a detailed explanation of how to perform the exercises, alternatives and progressions so that each workout can be adjusted to suit anyone, follow-along warm-up, workout, cooldown, and much more.
Of course, there are many more cues and corrections that can be provided as all described in kettlebell swing books like The Quick and Concise Kettlebell Swing Guide and Master The Basic Kettlebell Swing.
