Kettlebell Cleans versus Swings

[Skroll]

Double cleans > swings

 

[Steve Freides]

Is there any downsides to replacing swings with cleans?

There is upside and there is downside, depending on your goals.

The clean requires you to dial-in the amount of force you need - that can be a good thing. OTOH, I see a lot more bad cleans than I do bad swings, which you could see as a good thing or a bad thing for the clean. It's also a comment on the fact that I don't teach the clean as well as I could, something I am working on and will continue to work on. One could say I need to clean up my teaching of the kettlebell clean.

My biggest complaint with kettlebell cleans is people going heavy and using a shoulder shrug. My preference, as a teacher, is to focus on using hip drive and no shrug when cleaning kettlebells, and switching to a barbell if you need to shrug.

That said, and in the interest of true confessions , I have done kettlebell cleans heavy and with a shrug when I wanted to do front squats with a pair of heavy-for-me kettlebells - not a great choice, IMO, but at least it was one clean and multiple front squats. I avoid cleans for reps with weights that require a shrug.

But then again, a dead clean or hang clean almost requires a shrug - I generally don't teach those to my students except to mention them and try them once or twice, rarely if ever to return to them for my general population students.

-S-

 

[Nate]

My wife says she finds it attractive when she see's men clean around the house. Yet, oddly when I bring the KB into the living room when she's there.... nothing. So.....?

Not discussing 1 vs 2 arm, but otherwise differences:
Swing - horizontal projection of force, most glute/ham/lat vs others, constant scap retraction / external rotation, greatest anti-forward rotation resisting pull
Clean - more vertical, bicep/forearm flexion, anti-rear rotation bracing absorbing at top, slower cadence
Snatch - most explosive vertical, more quad involvement, more trap/delt activation, overhead bracing

What am I missing?

 

[Cobra]

I think they can provide similar benefits; depends on your end-goal, of course. Something about the longer, forward projecting force of a swing, however, feels different to me. The planking that needs to occur prevents you from being pulled forward, while the clean feels more about absorbing the impact. How these subtle differences plays out in outcome, though, I'm not sure about.

 

[Brett Jones]

@Nate 's post is where I was headed.

I would not replace swings—and I would add to Nate's list that the swing has a much greater eccentric load in the hinge vs. the more vertical action of the clean.

The answer is both not either/or IMO.