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Kettlebell Interesting situation with lower back

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Eryk

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Hi!Yesterday, I had little interesting situation with my lower back..in the very begginning of my journey with kettlebells I f**kd up my technique on the swings.(5 days ago) My lower back started to hurt(little but noticeably)..but yesterday I did swings with good technique and my pain dissapeared! LOL Its magic :O
How?
Btw. Is there any exercise that i can do instead of swings? Of course I would do that exercise together with other kettlebellworkouts.
 
@Eryk welcome to the StrongFirst forum.

Please see an SFG to work on your swing form. If you are healthy, swings shouldn't bother your back.

In lieu of that, you may video yourself performing swings, post it somewhere like YouTube, and post a link here to your video for feedback from members of the forum.

-S-
 
I think that my technique is good, for now of course! But anyway I will upload the video.

Btw. What exercises instead of swings(I want to some variety and I wonder if some types of squats will be good
)can you recommend?
 
Hi @Eryk , many of us here enjoy Simple and Sinister, if you are just beginning with kettlebells it might be a good place to start. It basically includes goblet squats, swings and turkish get ups, plus a few more moves for preparation and stretches.

There are a few videos of a full Simple and Sinister sessions here at the forum, if you are interested and can find the links for you to check them out.
 
I wouldn't be trying to replace the swing at all.... it's the meat and potatoes of KB training. But I would drop it if you have anymore back pain at least until you can get a form check. Once your form is good then I would be thinking in terms of "what can I do in addition to the swing." Then you have many options but I would highly recommend TGU's as in the Simple & Sinister program. Once you establish a good base with those 2 moves you can mix it up more.
 
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I want to reiterate that if you replace the swing, you lose out on the clean, one arm swing, push press, snatch and I am sure more than I listed.
 
I think that my technique is good,

I had a similar situation with my lower back. After seing a sfg (finally) he pointed out my flaws and now situation solved :)

btw it was in the backswing. kept knees too straight and hiked the bell back too far, resulted in rounding the back and thus taking a load its not supposed to have.

Good swings make the lower back very resilient. and you will love the exercise for it.
 
Okay, so I will go to sfg instructors, I want to do this perfectly. But before that, I will upload(on Friday or Saturday) my video here, maybe my technique is good seeing that my back hurt less since yesterday's swings.(I really thought that my back would hurt more after these swings, but something interesting happened :p)

BTW.
Is there any exercise(which is done slowly) that will cause raw strength of back? Swings are pretty fast, explosive.. Despite all of what I wrote here(I will propably care about technique of swings but, but, but.. :D ), I am more interested in slow exercises like get-up(excellent move :D) or squats etc. and I'm looking for exercise plan with only slow movements. I know that swings are basics etc. of KB, but there are exercises unrelated to them so I'm asking right now about all of this.

100 percent sure that there is somewhere(XD) some training plan without swings and exercises like swings. :D IT MUST BE POSSIBLE! XD
 
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@Eryk
Welcome to SF. There are many exercises and possible variations. And, yes it is possible to get fit and strong without swings. But like the others have said... if you have no medical contraindications, and you are executing the form correctly, then swings should not hurt your back. On the contrary they should strengthen it. See an SFG to validate your technique. If you still have issues it might warrant having an FMS, or seek a medical opinion.
Additionally you haven't mentioned what you are training for. That is what should dictate the type of exercises a person should be doing.
Again, welcome
 
Kettlebell deadlift, one legged deadlift, suitcase deadlift.
Goblet squat pretty much covers your squat.
 
I think the swing is the kettlebell exercise so I would be very hesitant to switch it to something else.

There are plenty of exercises to help you strengthen your back, or rather your midsection in general. I'm not saying that this is the issue in your case, but often people with back aches look in the wrong direction and would be better to train their abdominals than their back. The abs and the back are a unit, and if either one is weak, the back will hurt.

When it comes to the exercise selection, there is the squat and the deadlift. Those two can be done with a lot of weight. Then one can do bodyweight movements like hanging leg raises, bridges and planks. The TGU is a great classic kettlebell exercise that will improve your midsection well.
 
Thank you all!
I decided to train bodyweight exercises with getups/deadlift(two weeks getups, two weeks deadlift - three trainings per week) + exercises for abs from Pavel's books + clap trainig for my forearms and grip.

My back hurts very little and rarely so.. I think that everything will be fine. After 2 days of trying to do pistols, I do one on the left leg and three on right leg etc. So Everything is okay :D

Greetings from Poland gentlemen!
 
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