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Kettlebell 2H/1H swing critique

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Nickwba

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Greetings,

I have recently been implementing 1H swings into my training, I was wondering if anyone could take the time to watch/critique my form. In the video I am performing mostly 2H swings but transition into 1 handers midway through the set.

Any issues to be worked on (for my one or two handers) would be grand.



Thanks a lot,

Nick
 
Very squatty, more so, I think, than in your previous thread.

On the down swing, knees break before hips and both break too early in anticipation of the bell.

Hips barely move back at all. Look at your set up position before you start the first rep. THAT's a good hinge position (I think I made this same comment on your previous thread). That should be the bottom position of your swing. Use the ironing board-looking thing in the background as reference. See how much further back your hips are in your set up than during your set. See how your hips don't move back much throughout each rep?

Watch the video in slow motion and stop it at the bottom of a rep. Then start it again and see what your first movement is as you initiate the up swing. Your hips move almost straight UP. The movement should be hips back/hips forward (hinge), not hips down/hips up (squat).

Spend some time with the touch the wall drill, KB deadlift and goat belly swing to get that hinge patterned. You already have the static position because you have it in your set up, but you have to pattern it dynamically so you can maintain it as you add power and velocity.

Hope this helps.
 
Thanks for the advice Steve.

I can see what you mean about breaking at the hips/knees a tad early.

I was wondering if you could provide me with any visual representation of what you mean about the hip movement in the setup vs. subsequent reps? Surely it is impossible to achieve the same hinge depth during swing reps as it is during the setup due to the relative heights of the bell? (just as a deadlift would lend itself to a greater hinge, as the bar starts on the floor)

For example:



Using the kettlebells behind the guy's butt, his hips are never as far back during swings as they are in the setup.



Also if you fast forward to 1:15 in this second video, again it looks as though the hinge never reaches the same depth as during setup throughout the set.

Additionally, I am unsure how to move my hips forward without moving them upwards too, surely this is anatomically not possible?

Finally after sets and training, all of my fatigue is felt in the hamstrings/glutes as oppose to the quads, which I took to be an indicator of hinging rather than more quad-dominant squatting. Furthermore I feel a great stretch in my hamstrings at the bottom of reps.

Any clarification would be immensely helpful. I don't want this to be taken as disregarding your advice so I hope it isn't taken that way, I am just struggling to understand some of the concepts you have put forth.

I really appreciate the help and feedback.

Nick
 
Hey Nick,
You are right, most people will not get their hips back quite as far in their reps as in their set up. However, you still want to get as much depth as possible, much more than you are getting. Emulating your set up position during your reps is more of a cue than a strictly literal instruction.

The height of the bell in the swing is not really a factor since the deepest hinge is when the bell is on the back swing. When it's at its lowest, the lifter is relatively upright so the bell has plenty of clearance, unlike in a DL where the bar or KB goes straight up and down.

However, as the bell gets heavier, the hinge will be shallower. It's just necessary to maintain balance (see Brett Jones's article about the center of mass in the swing). You will also notice some backward inclination of the body at the top of a heavy swing (not to be confused with leaning back; the entire body is inclined in a straight line, without the spine hyperextending).

The hips will certainly move up and down in the swing. However, the power comes from the horizontal movement, which I observe you are lacking.
 
Hi Nick,

your knees bend too much - slight knee bend only.

you drop the bell down through your knees - you should hike the bell back and up toward your butt

your swing is more of a ballistic squat - the swing is not a squat it is a hip hinge.

There are great you tubes from Dan John and Doc Cheng showing proper swing mechanics - good luck.
 
Thanks for the advice so far both of you.

I've since been working on my hinge. If you could have a look at some of my kettlebell deadlifts I've been practicing to groove my hinge pattern that would be appreciated, just to check whether I'm on the right track with my hinging before reapplying it to my swing :)



Also after working hard on my hinging I've felt a stretch/fatigue in my hamstrings and glutes like never before so the hinging advice has been spot on, I certainly wasn't hinging hard enough before!

Finally Steve could you clarify what a 'goat belly swing' is please? I'm unfamiliar with the term, cheers. Also if either of you happen to know of any SFG instructors or classes or anything in the Yorkshire UK area that would be awesome as I can't seem to find any.

Don't want to sound like a broken record but again I appreciate the help, it's great to have such a helpful online community to assist people's training!
 
Nick,
A goat belly swing is a slow/grinding hinge pattern with a weight hugged to the chest. "Bulgarian goat belly swing" is a term made up by Dan John, who more or less invented it (as much as anyone can "invent" a drill like this).

Here's a link to an article Dan wrote about hinge patterning and the swing in general, where he talks about the goat belly swing.

The Metabolic Swing | T Nation

If you google "dan john goat belly swing" you will get a lot of hits.

The hinge video above looks good as far as the bottom position and how your hips and knees extend together as you stand up. The DL shouldn't necessarily be so quick, but I understand you are trying to get a feel for how it will translate to the hip drive of the swing.

However, on the descent, you also want your hips and knees to start and finish together, instead of doing a straight-legged hip fold and then bending the knees afterward.
 
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What an excellent, clear, easy to follow tutorial - thanks for posting this oldie-but-goodie, Brett.

-S-
 
Thanks for the material.

Working on my hinge now and will get back to you with a form check in due course!

Cheers,

Nick
 
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