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Kettlebell Form check kettlebell swing 16kg

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TobiasNeuffer

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Hi there!
I have recently incorporated the kettlebell swing into my workout, but I am not quite sure if i do it right. Am I hinging deep enough? Is my back safe? I would really appreciate it if you could comment on my form!
Thanks for your great work.
Tobias

 
Hi!
The timing seems to be a bit odd - too knee dominant/ squatty. imho!
shins vertical, more explosive hips, do not work with the knees.
avoid forward head posture, pack your shoulders, more plank-like and tighter core without tilting your pelvic too much.
again: just my two cents
 
Hi @TobiasNeuffer, welcome to the forum!

It looks like you're trying to push the kettlebell directly with the hips on the upswing. This throws the timing off and is less effective. Just focus on your body's movements -- from tight hinge to tight plank, and the kettlebell will do it's thing correctly.

Kettlebell deadlifts really help find the correct hinge and plank positions and teach your body to move well between the two. Do you have a copy of S&S? It goes in depth on this subject.
 
Hi!
The timing seems to be a bit odd - too knee dominant/ squatty. imho!
shins vertical, more explosive hips, do not work with the knees.
avoid forward head posture, pack your shoulders, more plank-like and tighter core without tilting your pelvic too much.
again: just my two cents
Thank you very much for your feedback, Elli. This helps me a lot. I just don't quite understand how I can stop working with my knees. Don't I need to bend and straighten them during the Transaktionskosten from hinge to plank?
 
Hi @TobiasNeuffer, welcome to the forum!

It looks like you're trying to push the kettlebell directly with the hips on the upswing. This throws the timing off and is less effective. Just focus on your body's movements -- from tight hinge to tight plank, and the kettlebell will do it's thing correctly.

Kettlebell deadlifts really help find the correct hinge and plank positions and teach your body to move well between the two. Do you have a copy of S&S? It goes in depth on this subject.
Hi Anna, thanks for your help. Yes, I have a copy of S&S. But I guess I have to re-read the chapter about the swing. I find it surprisingly hard to pay attention to all the details while swinging the bell. My main problem is the endposition of the hinge. At what point exactly should I explode?
 
But I guess I have to re-read the chapter about the swing.

Reread the chapter on the deadlift first. Every point is fundamental to the swing.

what point exactly should I explode?

It's really important to have the hinge and plank positions nailed down before adding explosiveness.

Can you practice and then upload a video of your kettlebell deadlift? You can use 16kg, but 24 or heavier would be better.

But to answer your question, when you're in the hinge and the hamstrings are stretched like a bow and loaded, and the kettlebell has finished moving backwards, then you reverse its momentum by moving your body explosively to the standing plank position, the same way you do when you jump.
 
Thank you very much for your feedback, Elli. This helps me a lot. I just don't quite understand how I can stop working with my knees. Don't I need to bend and straighten them during the Transaktionskosten from hinge to plank?
it helps me to think 'hips first', before straightening the knees.
 
Thank you very much for your feedback, Elli. This helps me a lot. I just don't quite understand how I can stop working with my knees. Don't I need to bend and straighten them during the Transaktionskosten from hinge to plank?
And of course "Transaktionskosten" is supposed to mean "transition". That was my german auto-correction kicking in;)
 
Reread the chapter on the deadlift first. Every point is fundamental to the swing.



It's really important to have the hinge and plank positions nailed down before adding explosiveness.

Can you practice and then upload a video of your kettlebell deadlift? You can use 16kg, but 24 or heavier would be better.

But to answer your question, when you're in the hinge and the hamstrings are stretched like a bow and loaded, and the kettlebell has finished moving backwards, then you reverse its momentum by moving your body explosively to the standing plank position, the same way you do when you jump.
Hi Anna! Thank you again for your valuable advice. I reread the chapter about the deadlift which was indeed very helpful and I practiced the deadlift. Here is my video.
 


That looks great! Solid movement, you've incorporated all the major points. Nice work.

Focus on getting really tight at the top as you come into the standing plank position -- quads tight, glutes tight, abs braced for a punch, shoulders actively pulled down and armpits tight, chest up. This "feed-forward tension" has a purpose - it's more than is necessary to complete the movement (so it may seem counterintuitive; i.e. why do I want to make it harder than it is? why work harder than necessary?), but the practice of tension will help bring power to and effectiveness to your swings, especially as the weight gets heavier.
 
Thank you again Anna! I might have underestimated the complexity of the movement when I started. So guess I'll go step by step from now on: I'll practice deadlifts for a while until I can execute them correctly without thinking about it and then move on to the next steps in the book. I'll post my shiny new swing in a couple of weeks for review again, if I may. Greetings from Berlin!
 
That looks great! Solid movement, you've incorporated all the major points. Nice work.

Focus on getting really tight at the top as you come into the standing plank position -- quads tight, glutes tight, abs braced for a punch, shoulders actively pulled down and armpits tight, chest up. This "feed-forward tension" has a purpose - it's more than is necessary to complete the movement (so it may seem counterintuitive; i.e. why do I want to make it harder than it is? why work harder than necessary?), but the practice of tension will help bring power to and effectiveness to your swings, especially as the weight gets heavier.
I have one last question though. I just realized that I can execute the deadlift with much less flexion in my knees (l have long arms and flexible hamstrings). That way I feel much more tension in my hamstrings. Should I go for minimal knee flexion and maximal hamstrings tension (I have always been Kind of confused about that).
 
I have one last question though. I just realized that I can execute the deadlift with much less flexion in my knees (l have long arms and flexible hamstrings). That way I feel much more tension in my hamstrings. Should I go for minimal knee flexion and maximal hamstrings tension (I have always been Kind of confused about that).

Generally, yes. Tension in the hamstrings is good. Just don't get so straight-legged that your shoulders are no longer above your hips. Also, make sure to keep tension in your lats to keep the weight from swinging out. Pavel even suggests to "swim" the kettelbell back to land between or behind your heels at the bottom of the kettlebell deadlift. This helps get the feeling of tension in the lats.

You'll probably have more questions.... Keep 'em coming!
 
Generally, yes. Tension in the hamstrings is good. Just don't get so straight-legged that your shoulders are no longer above your hips. Also, make sure to keep tension in your lats to keep the weight from swinging out. Pavel even suggests to "swim" the kettelbell back to land between or behind your heels at the bottom of the kettlebell deadlift. This helps get the feeling of tension in the lats.

You'll probably have more questions.... Keep 'em coming!

So, here I am with more questions. I practiced a bit more and had a session with a certified instructor. I hope that my swing looks better now. I concentrated on keeping the shins vertical. But I am still not quite sure about the required amount of knee flexion. That's why I am posting two videos, one with more and one with less flexion. I expect both to be wrong;)



 
Looking good! The second one is better. You could even have more knee flexion than that.

There's a slight timing adjustment you could make that will change the feel of the swing. Currently you are pushing the forearms and bell directly with your hips on the upswing, a common mistake. Instead, try to feel the tension on your arms in the backswing, and feel the upswing as the movement of your shoulders up and back as a pull and launch of the bell, like a trebuchet. In this way your inner thighs might not contact your forearms at all. They might, and that is fine. But the power of the swing is indirect. Let me know if that makes sense. If not, I will try to find another way to explain it.

Complements on the rooting of your feet to the floor -- excellent! And your back looks great, and shoulders nicely packed.
 
Thanks for your reply, Anna. I will have to try that out, but I think I know what your talking about. "In this way your inner thighs might not contact your forearms at all". Does this refer to both upswing and backswing? Because right now my strategy to engage my lats consists of pressing my arms against my body on the backswing ("swim back the kettlebell").
By the way, I just discovered that you're in Pavel's book. How cool is that!
 
"In this way your inner thighs might not contact your forearms at all". Does this refer to both upswing and backswing?

Referring more to the upswing. Contact IS something you want in the backswing. On the upswing you'll feel it at the start, but you don't want to prolong it.

I see the kettlebell flip up in the backswing to a 9:00 position in your video instead 8:00 as shown below. See if you can feel the loading of the backswing with the kettlebell settling in at 8:00. This will help find a deeper hinge and more effective upswing.

From this article: The SFG Clock—A Guide for the Swing, Clean and Snatch | StrongFirst

1584531586705.png

It is possible to do the whole swing with no contact, and I find this is a useful exercise sometimes to play with swing timing -- to take a light kettlebell and swing it with absolutely no contact at all between forearms and inner thighs. Experiment with the timing, see what works and what hinders the movement. It will smooth right out, much like towel swings force you to do. Think about what is actually making the kettlebell move as you do it. No contact does however tend to make the kettlebell be lower than we generally want in the backswing, so I don't think it's something to stick to... but it can help with finding that good upswing timing and reduce the flipping around of the bell.

"By the way, I just discovered that you're in Pavel's book. How cool is that!

Thank you! Yes, quite an honor to be in S&S 2.0!
 
I tried it out and I think I unterstand what you mean by feeling "the upswing as the movement of your shoulders" and not pushing the bell directly with my hips. This is very helpful. But for the moment I am unable to prevent the bell from flipping to 9 'o clock...
 
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