Kettlebell How to make swings less boring ...

[Eric Wilson]

I'm ok with boring, but I'm not the only person involved.

My daughter is 13, and wants to be stronger in order to be faster for sprinting in the track season in the spring. She is fairly strong already, she can perform a standing back tuck, for example. She has deadlifted 155 at 120 lbs. (In first deadlifting session ever, stopped at this weight rather than seeking true max)

She typically does workouts that she finds on pinterest, get sweaty routines, using both bodyweight and the kettlebells and dumbbells that we own. She delights in the variety, and she does this for fun, I do not require it.

She recently asked me for an actual program that would help her make better progress.

My first thought was to have her do the swings part of S&S, two handed for simplicity. I figured that if she could get to swinging the 24kg 100 times, that would mean that her hinge would be stronger. And she would add plenty of other stuff for variety, she has the time. (I'm not going to have my kids do TGU -- we've had one ER trip related to that, not worth the risk given that I won't be able to be present)

Her immediate reaction to a program of 10 sets of 10 swings was that it was way too boring. I could tell her to suck it up, and that this boring routine will make her strong. But maybe there is a middle path? Maybe there is a way to meet her halfway -- giving her more of a structure, without it seeming totally dull?

So my question is: if you were going to try to improve a female client's strength (lower body particularly) and it seemed beneficial to make the program seem more interesting, how would you modify the swings protocol?

I will include deadlifts one day a week, but we need to keep the weight and reps low until we are more confident in form.

One more thing -- of course, sprinters need to sprint, and she will do that as weather permits.

 

[pet']

Hello,

@Eric Wilson
Would she be interested in the Humane Burpee ?

Humane Burpee

The longer I work in the weightroom, the smarter I try to be about time. The clock, the stopwatch and the cellular phone might be omnipresent in every facility today, but wasting time is still a big issue. To deal with time, and time wasting, we all have our tricks. Between sets of lifting...

danjohn.net

Kind regards,

Pet'

 

[wespom9]

@Eric Wilson can remind us what equipment you have available? I know you're a regular and have probably posted elsewhere but it will help to have here

@pet' LOL beat me to it by 3 seconds

 

[marvinthemartian]

Check out Dan John. He was a D1 thrower, HS track and S&C coach and has been part of the modern KB scene Pavel started for a long time. He now works for a competing org so no idea if links are OK. But he and his material is easy to find online.

Just a couple workout ideas from one of his articles about KB beginner workouts that involve lots of swings:

Repeat for 15 minutes:
Swings for 20 seconds
push-ups: 6 reps
Rest: 30 seconds
each workout, increase push-ups by one rep.
----
At the top of the minute:
20 swings, 10 push-ups, rest the remainder of the minute
20 swings, 9 push-ups, rest
... and so on down to 20 swings, 1 push-up
if you want to work out for 15 minutes, start with 20 swings and 15 push-ups. Next time you do the workout, do 21 swings at the top of each minute.
---
20 swings
Gather yourself
10 push-ups
Note: Instead of time, add sets
---
20 swings
20 push-ups
20 swings
15 push-ups
20 swings
10 push-ups
20 swings
5 push-ups
20 swings
(100 swings, 50 pushups, 0 fluff)
---
20 swings
8-10 push-ups
30 second plank
1 minute various hip stretches
Repeat for 20 minutes
---
"Humane Burpee"
15 swings
5 goblet squats
5 push-ups
15 swings
4 goblet squats
4 push-ups
15 swings
3 goblet squats
3 push-ups
15 swings
2 goblet squats
2 push-ups
15 swings
1 goblet squat
1 push-up
To make it harder, just increase the goblet squat and push-up reps to ten. 10-8-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 gives you 55 total reps, plenty of work for a single day, and in many cases too much.
---
"Slurpees"
10 or 15 swings
5 goblet squats
10 mountain climbers (count a rep every time the left foot hits the ground)
Let the goblet squats descend (5-4-3-2-1) on each consecutive set to give you a total of 50-75 swings, 15 goblet squats and a lot of heart pounding.
---
"Hornees"
10 or 15 swings
5 goblet squats
Horn walk for an appropriate distance.
Again, let the goblet squats descend (5-4-3-2-1)
---
"Bearpees":
10 or 15 swings
5 goblet squats
Bear crawl
Again, descend with the goblet squats (5-4-3-2-1).
---
"Sparhawk"
8 goblet squats, then march away with the kettlebell in the left hand for about 60 feet (the length of the gym is best)
7 goblet squats, then march back to the starting location with the kettlebell in the right hand
6 goblet squats, left hand suitcase walk
5 goblet squats, right hand walk
4 goblet squats, left hand walk
3 goblet squats, right hand walk
2 goblet squats, left hand walk
1 goblet squat, finished
---
CookED Drill variation:
Left hand waiter walk until nearing loss of integrity
10 swings
Left hand rack walk until nearing loss of integrity
10 swings
Left hand suitcase carry until nearing loss of integrity
10 swings
Repeat with the right hand
Sixty swings only!!!
Sure, do it again or even three times, if you wish!

 

[Eric Wilson]

@Eric Wilson can remind us what equipment you have available? I know you're a regular and have probably posted elsewhere but it will help to have here

@pet' LOL beat me to it by 3 seconds

- kettlebells, in pairs, 8kg, 12kg, 16kg, 20kg, 24kg
- dumbells, pairs of 10 lb, 20lb
- pull up bar
- barbell and plates (no bench or squat rack -- and I don't want my kids benching or squatting a barbell without a real coach anyway)

Things on the horizon (purchased, but won't enter the basement gym until Christmas)
- 8lb and 10lb medicine balls (found them super cheap used, couldn't pass them up, should be fun but I have no idea for what)
- EZ curl bar (this was my daughter's request, in addition to curls, she sees it as convenient for shoulder press. 45lb bar not so convenient for kids that way. For whatever reason, she doesn't like to press kettlebells -- I haven't worried about it, she has strong arms for a girl.)

 

[Eric Wilson]

I thought about the Humane Burpee, and @marvinthemartian 's suggestions are great, I guess that part of my question is how to make a cohesive program out of these things. I guess I can just come up with a five day rotation that would get her swinging a lot.

 

[rwleonard]

If her goal is sprint speed, why not Barry Ross's template? Deadlifts for two or three reps, two or three sets, two or three times per week. Each set is chased down with plyos in Barry's work, but a set of 8 or so shadow swings should make a good substitute. It's not super entertaining, but it is short, so she can play the rest of the session.

 

[Brett Jones]

Eric
Did she actually try the 10x10 swings?

 

[wespom9]

You got a ton of stuff. Your daughter sounds strong and is 13 years old. Anything that mixes in some pushes, pulls, hinges, squats, carries etc. is going to be ok. Swings are great. 100 is not a necessity. Find joy in technical mastery and let the next few years of puberty, consistency and fun help her improve. Just my opinion.

 

[Anna C]

For kettlebell examples, I would recommend her to follow Login • Instagram @_coach_karen_

Lots of great quick workout examples... simple, effective, just enough variety to be not boring.

 

[Eric Wilson]

Eric
Did she actually try the 10x10 swings?

No, she didn't. The idea of doing that repeatedly was overwhelming. I'm thinking I might suggest 10x10 on one or two days a week, and things like the humane burpee and other variations to keep it interesting other days.

 

[silveraw]

Well you could always take the long route.
Step 1: get her hooked on kung fu movies.
Step 2: get her hooked on Bruce Lee movies
Step 3: get her hooked on the Tao of Jeet Kune Do.
Step 4: get her hooked on the idea of mastery of the basics.
Step 5: get her to view the 10x10 swings as practicing mastery of the basics like Bruce Lee did with his martial arts.
Step 6: ???
Step 7: profit.

 

[John Grahill]

.....teach her how to snatch???

 

[Eric Wilson]

.....teach her how to snatch???

It's funny. My older boys (16, 14) have shown little interest in kettlebells or strength training. My 12 year old boy has found kettlebells interesting, and can now double clean the 16kg bells, and snatch the 12kg bell. (He learned it easier than I did, not surprisingly.) Going to have him do ROP at 12kg -- I think he'll be amazed at what boring consistency with a program can do for you.

But my 13yo girl -- the most interested in strength training of the bunch -- strongly prefers barbells or dumbbells, and would resist the idea of learning a move that is specific to the kettlebell. I think in her mind kettlebells are "Dad's weird thing" and that normal people get stronger with "traditional" equipment.

So pretty sure she would have no patience for learning the kettlebell snatch.

OTOH, if we have access to a coach and appropriate equipment for the olympic lifts and the power clean, she would be totally into that. But no way I'm teaching barbell ballistics.

 

[Kozushi]

Hmmm. I don't know how swinging kettlebells could be boring! There is a thrill in throwing the thing out every time and keeping the form.
If something seems "boring" to me it's actually too hard, in which case I make it a bit lighter and then it's magically not boring any longer.
1 hand swings might be better than 2 hand swings for a lot of reasons, too, right?
Things aren't boring when they are effective and you know they're effective.

 

[John DeStefano]

It is hard to sell kids on 10x10 or anything so straight forward. I think the randomness of using dice in a program could work. Unless her goal is Junior Nationals or something, I think in this situation it should be less about strictly following the Party line and more about getting a child interested and motivated. Liberally coat the "main dish" with lots of "spice", so to speak - so randomness, competition, specialized variety, etc.

 

[marvinthemartian]

It's funny. My older boys (16, 14) have shown little interest in kettlebells or strength training. My 12 year old boy has found kettlebells interesting, and can now double clean the 16kg bells, and snatch the 12kg bell. (He learned it easier than I did, not surprisingly.) Going to have him do ROP at 12kg -- I think he'll be amazed at what boring consistency with a program can do for you.

But my 13yo girl -- the most interested in strength training of the bunch -- strongly prefers barbells or dumbbells, and would resist the idea of learning a move that is specific to the kettlebell. I think in her mind kettlebells are "Dad's weird thing" and that normal people get stronger with "traditional" equipment.

So pretty sure she would have no patience for learning the kettlebell snatch.

OTOH, if we have access to a coach and appropriate equipment for the olympic lifts and the power clean, she would be totally into that. But no way I'm teaching barbell ballistics.

You could try sugar coating KBs by showing her that swings are a great way to learn the hip hinge that is also the basis for barbell exercises like deadlifts, cleans and snatches that are used by track athletes all over the world. Maybe something like: if she can use the 16kg KB (or whatever is sensible for a 13 year old girl) for two handed swings safely she will have much easier time doing hang cleans and power cleans with the barbell. Same thing with goblet squats and KB front squats as preparation for barbell front and back squats.

 

[Pasibrzuch]

Here are two cents from a teacher of ESL working with teenagers and a social worker in numerous youth centers:
You need to take a pedagogical decision: should you cater to this need and make the process joyful or create the environment where she learns how to sustain boredom. It's not about one being better than another, more about favoring one pedagogy over another.
Personally, I'm a proponent of developing student's autonomy. I would exactly tell her what I wrote above: she can carry out this process in one of these two ways, or alternate it from session to session.
If she chooses "joyful variety", I would suggest her sticking with this swings and 1-3 sensible exercises and using dice/playing cards or another tool capable of randomization of the training session parameters (exercise, volume, intensity, frequency). Note that in this way she could learn the basics of programming (e.g. delta 20 principle) and basic training terminology. If it were complicated and she needed help - even better, you're up for some quality time with your daughter. Here is an idea with a deck of cards from Levi Markwardt:
If she frowns upon the 'boring strength', just challenge her to do only one session like this per week for 2 months or so. You can mention that such training develops not only physical but also mental toughness, but beware of turning it into a talk on how teenagers lack mental toughness nowadays - most likely it would be counter-effective.

Hope that helps.

 

[WhatWouldHulkDo]

@Eric Wilson , since you say your daughter wants to be a sprinter... I would suggest (perhaps heretically), maybe 10x10 swings really isn't what would benefit her most anyway. I'd personally be looking at the front and back squat, particularly if she's already fond of the barbell. Those are staples for sprinters. Sprinters are normally also trained on Olympic ballistic lifts (barbell clean & snatch) to develop max power - typically in sets of 5, not 10. But those are highly technical lifts, so a KB swing is certainly a good alternative at this age - just don't have to do 10x10. 5x5, even 3x5 is probably good enough - just pick a weight where she can express max power in every rep, not just bob up and down like a drinking bird. The selling point should be developing power, not getting sweaty.

There may be more wisdom in 13-year-old girls that we think. She's not a goal-less trainee who just needs to check a box to feel good, she had a real goal.

My own personal experience - my 13-year-old daughter is a softball pitcher, and I've been trying to encourage her to start training outside of skill practice. I made up a program for her based around a few simple tenets:

• Don't get hurt - some mobility & preventative work to address aches & pains she's had over the years
• Max strength - just 3 things, KB swings, bodyweight rows, and lunges
• Endurance - LED running to build aerobic capacity

And after all the thought that dear old Dad put in to it... she did it for 3 weeks, then decided she'd rather just stare at her phone in her free time and stopped. ? Unfortunately she hasn't really developed a "killer instinct" yet that drives her to do more, she just likes to play. If your daughter has some instinct to improve, by all means tailor the program to her instinct, not the other way around.

 

[barrak]

I second the squats instead of swings. She'll get all the endurance training with the track squad, so she doesn't need this benefit from the 10x10 swings. It's strength and proper body mechanics that you can help her best with, to keep her healthy and safe. So low volume heavy squats and deadlifts to get stronger without bulking

In particular, have her do lots of jumps and look out for any tendency of knee-foot mis-alignment, or foot pronation.