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Kettlebell Swing Form Check

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Ap0c

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All, I've detailed some of my S&S journey in this thread. It was clear that I should get my form checked before the discussion before making any serious changes, so I made a few videos.

1st Video: I'm swinging a kettlebell kings adjustable bell, loaded to 16 kg, in one hand. I show 3 left hand and 1 right (you are viewing me in the mirror here, so my arms look reversed of what I just described).



2nd Video: Swinging the 16kg bell with both hands.



3rd Video: Swinging the 20kg bell with both hands.



My own analysis of the situation:

(1) From this angle, it looks like there is a significant amount of bend in the elbow, particularly for 2H swings. I notice I cannot hold my hands together with perfectly straight elbow and bring them to my groin without either bending the elbow or unpacking the shoulder. The reason is that my upper arms run into my rib cage. I take this to mean that if my elbow bend is excessive, I actually need to start hinging once my upper arms intercept my rib cage so as to prevent the elbow bend. I actually try to correct this in later sets throughout each video with little apparent effect. Furthermore, when I force my elbows very straight, it feels like it takes away from the structure and makes the swing less powerful. Being too tight causes me weird tensions in the back that I think are related to hyperextension injuries. Same thing with packing the shoulder too hard.

(2) It looks like I could stand a little taller, though I'm being very intentional to slam my feet straight through the ground. Not sure what to do here other than just do it better.

(3) I notice if I really swing the 16 as hard as I can, it will fly way above chest level and go about to my forehead. Does this suggest that I should move onto the 20, assuming the rest of my form looks safe? Maybe the 16 would be well suited to shadow swings?

(4) I think my hinge looks good in terms of back neutrality. Please take careful note of this, because I have a history of back injuries that I think are related to hyperextension mostly. I would love to know if my hinge actually looks injurious. The one note I have about this is that it feels very snappy when I come out of it, but doesn't look that snappy in the video. Weird.

Anyways, thanks any and all for whatever input!
 
@Ap0c Looks pretty good!

I agree with @Steve Freides that working on a really good full extension of hips and knees -- standing tall when you come into the standing plank position -- is the most obvious thing that is needed.

Other than that, I think it look good. Nice and snappy, hinge looks good (and back safe, yes), definitely good with 20kg or even heavier with 2H swings. Somehow your right arm (left - mirror?) appears to be more bent than the other arm. Not sure how you did that :) Anyway it's not bad, nothing to worry about, though you might get several good effects (including further arm straightening) from trying to project power forward -- i.e. imagine you want to throw the kettlebell as far as you can out in front of you if you were to let go of it with each swing.

You could probably delay your hinge a bit more also. That's something that swing practitioners pretty much always have to work on.

Anyway nice swings, hope that helps!
 
Thanks for the responses! Happy to know I have a pretty good grasp on it, and looking forward to implementing some improvements.

@Anna C after much puzzling, I think the variable arm length is an optical illusion from the camera angle. I am displaying a bit of internal rotation at the shoulders, which from this funny diagonal angle coincidentally hides the bend in one arm and somehow makes the other look very bent. If I pause as I pass into the hinge, I can see they are about the same and not as extreme as I thought. Regardless, some amount of straightening is probably better, so I'll try and shoot that bell forward like you say.
 
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Think you need to be as straight as possible from the foot up to the head. That includes the knees and the hips
 
I second what my colleagues have mentioned about locking the knees and standing tall on each rep. Please do the following knee lock experiment to understand the importance. It will take less than 10 seconds. Stand with your knees locked fully straight and glutes contracted as hard as you can so you can see how much your glutes contract. Hold the position and tension for 3-5 seconds. If you fully locked your knees you'll have noticed the glutes are firing on all cylinders. This is essential to a good kettlebell ballistic. Now stand with your knees just slightly unlocked and try to get the same amount of glute contraction. You will immediately notice how much of that glute power you lose.

Every rep:
  1. knees fully locked (pull your kneecaps up to your hips)
  2. glutes firing on all cylinders (I should break my foot if I kick you in the butt)
  3. abs braced (I should break my hand if I punch you in the stomach)
  4. pull the top of your head up to the ceiling (no chicken necking)
Hope this helps!
 
John Spezzano said:
I second what my colleagues have mentioned about locking the knees and standing tall on each rep. Please do the following knee lock experiment to understand the importance. It will take less than 10 seconds. Stand with your knees locked fully straight and glutes contracted as hard as you can so you can see how much your glutes contract. Hold the position and tension for 3-5 seconds. If you fully locked your knees you'll have noticed the glutes are firing on all cylinders. This is essential to a good kettlebell ballistic. Now stand with your knees just slightly unlocked and try to get the same amount of glute contraction. You will immediately notice how much of that glute power you lose.

Every rep:
  1. knees fully locked (pull your kneecaps up to your hips)
  2. glutes firing on all cylinders (I should break my foot if I kick you in the butt)
  3. abs braced (I should break my hand if I punch you in the stomach)
  4. pull the top of your head up to the ceiling (no chicken necking)
Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
Thanks! I love experiments like this.
 
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