I’ve talked about the awesomeness of the swing before here: http://irontamerblog.com/the-month-of-the-swing/
Here are few more thoughts based on a question NKB member Will Gant asked recently.
Why is the swing so effective?
I have mentioned it before, but it is worth repeating. Alan Calvert, author of the book Super Strength (published in 1924), said the following about the kettlebell swing: “The best exercise for strengthening the back and legs and for teaching them to work together. It takes considerable effort to master it, but it is worth all the trouble because it is one of the fundamentals of super strength. Here are a few of the things you will gain from this exercise: You will learn to instinctively keep your back flat when making a great exertion; you will get a much firmer grip on the ground with your feet; you will learn how to ‘time’ moving a heavy object; you will increase the gripping power of the hands and increase development of the front part of the shoulder muscles.”
A dramatic amount of work can be done safely, effectively and short period of time. A 16kg swung for 200 reps equals 7200lbs moved. A relatively new trainee can do this. Obviously more weight, more total reps or a combination in both increases the workload. There aren’t very many other activities that allow this kind of output. Doing that amount of work, especially if the rest periods are short has a tremendous effect on both strength and endurance. The swing is an all in one strength/cardio/metabolic superstar.
The techniques we teach in the RKC for generating tension allows the person swinging to increase or decrease the amount of force being generated. Master RKC Mark Reifkind refers to this as a “Force magnifier”. In one force plate study we saw that the weight of the kb at the point where it changes directions on the backswing was several times greater than the actual weight of the kettlebell. Think of dropping the kettlebell vs. setting it on the ground. There is more force as a result of the movement. Because of this, our 16kg/7200lb example increases based on this virtual force.
The swing teaches the body to work as a single interconnected and coordinated unit and helps you learn the skill of distributing a heavy workload across the entire body.
Combined with good eating habits, swings are an excellent tool for fatloss. In fact, I have not found anything better than swings (and their first cousin, snatches) for body composition changes. Ask the folks at Nashville Kettlebell.
Better movement, more strength, better body composition. Let’s swing.
2 Comments
December 23rd, 2011 at 2:05 pm
I’ve been swinging under the Tutelage of The Tamer for only 3 months. Here are some observations from an amateur (me):
- the insistence on a flat back results in injury-free training. I’ve had various degrees of back pain for years. The only training I ever got on avoiding back injury was “lift with your legs”. This is a whole ‘nuther level of thinking. Strengthen the back. Make the back flexible. Make the back stable. Form an unshakable habit of flattening your back before adressing any weight you may encounter. You can exert hard and without fear.
- the insistence on “packing” the shoulders. Our exertion-free lives cause the musculature around our shoulder blades to atrophy. But the “injury resistent” position for our shoulder joint during exertions is rearward – pulled back and down by these very same muscles. Mine sucked, especially on my left side. Hardstyle swing methodology instantly goes to work rebuilding those muscles. Initially, your shoulders will get pulled forward. But focus on the technique – the skill of the movement – and suddenly you find yourself developing stronger, more stable, more injury resistent shoulders. And another good habit of packing the shoulders before addressing any weight you may encounter.
- “It’s all easy til it gets heavy”. Master RKC Mark Reifkind said that I believe. As you go up in weight or your shoulders become strong enough to do one-handed swings, an interesting thing happens: you start having trouble holding on to the bell. Your grip weakness becomes evident. But it is also forced to get stronger and to have enduring strength. Neat.
- Why are my biceps getting big? I did no curls, seated, dumbbell, upright, or otherwise. Yet, there they are. If you subconsciously cringe at the thought of hyper-extending your elbow during one-handed swings, you’ll defend that elbow. Guess what you use…biceps. Mine keep poking me in the ear as I put my shirt on.
- My Dads hips haven’t moved properly in decades. When mine started hurting, I drew a line in the sand on the other side of which was Dave Whitley, the RKC, and Nashville Kettlebell. Swings work your long-neglected hips. Hard. Explosively. Repeatedly. They stretch the muscles. They train the muscles to take over from the abs. And the flexibility drills (hello, Mr. Frog, you evil bastard) have restored pain-free flexibility and a pile of strength to my hips. I’m no longer afraid of the pain-laden, semi-mobile future they seemed to have in store for me. I can move.
- The glutes….biggest muscle group in our bodies. We sit on ours. Swings fire them against an accelerating mass, forcing it to slow, stop, reverse and accelerate in the opposite direction in about 2 seconds per rep. If a 16kg bell is traveling for about a second on the downswing, it’s going about 9.8 meters/second at the bottom. That’s just shy of 22 miles an hour. Think of it as a big sack of dog food travelling at school zone speed being stopped and reversed a couple hundred times in a session….by your butt. It will get stronger; it will get tighter; you will find other things for it to do once it’s strong.
Throw all that (and more) into one exercise. One.
Too long. But I’m enthused. Because in a short time, I’m stronger, leaner, and pain-free.
December 25th, 2011 at 2:48 pm
I love kettle bell training because the benefits are limitless. Kettle bell training brings a cardiovascular aspect to training, as mentioned above – it’s great for increasing strength in the lowers back and legs, but I believe it is at the essence of functional training. Ask 1,000 different people, and you’ll get 1,000 different answers on “What is functional training?” My definition is training the body to move as on integrated system that have a direct carryover into our activities of daily living (ADL’s). Kettle bells do all that and more…. they’re portable, breaks monotony of a stale workout, bursts through plateaus, and what I believe to be the most important benefit of all – it builds speed and power.
Traditional resistance training slows an athlete down. Think about it – if one is in the gym doing countless sets of bench press at 300 lbs, they’re typically moving fairly slow because they’re lifting heavy weights. Kettle bell movements are quick and explosive movements which equate to faster times on the track or playing field.