Omaha Elite Kettlebell: The Importance of the Kettlebell Swing

In the RKC school of strength, the hardstyle kettlebell swing is known as the center of the RKC Universe. If you are training with an RKC one thing you are gauranteed to do is a lot of swings. What do I mean by a lot?

Every day we do... swings.
Sometimes we warmup with swings.
We almost always finish with swings or a variation of the swing.
Once a month or so we do a 30-minute swing workout that adds up to around 640 reps.
Yesterday for example our group class finished with the followed sets and reps of kettlebell swings:
10 , 10, 12, 12, 14, 14, 16, 16, 18, 18, 20, 20, 20, 20, 18, 18, 16, 16, 14, 14, 12, 12, 10, 10.
The timer was set to beep every 30 seconds. The goal was to complete one set for every beep. Men were encouraged to use 24kg/53lbs and women 16kg/35lbs. That's 360 swings in 12 minutes. Not too shabby.

You get the idea.

The Hardstyle Kettlebell Swing teaches you how to brace with your glutes and abs, use an explosive hip hinge, forges a strong grip, develops crazy endurance and burns fat. Done properly it improves posture by strengthen the muscles of the entire back. All explosive hip driven movements benefit from the swing: Jumping, kicking, running, deadlifting,

Today I had the opportunity to learn the deadlift from a competitive powerlifter, although I am not yet lifting competitive numbers my form and grip was dead on... without ever practicing the barbell deadlift. During my lesson I was able deadlift 315 from both a conventional and sumo stance without major difficulty. Of course Mike, the powerlifter, was doing 405 for reps at a bodyweight of 140... so I'm aware I've got some work to do, but form wise I was good. The hip hinge in the deadlift and the kettlebell swing are identical, lot's of reps with the swing made the transition to the deadlift a breeze.

While reviewing assistance exercises we took turns doing isometric holds with 225... I held on the longest at least the recommended 35 seconds or more each time without much effort then bottom up pressed the 70lb kettlebell showing that I still had grip strength left over. I credit my grip strength to the Kettlebell swing.

Enough about me...
There's Kelly who has lost over 120lbs since joining our Kettlebell classes [she's now one of our team of instructors ;) and a STRONG lady. Janae who has lost 15lbs and ran a half marathon with no significant soreness while her friends were either injured or sore for weeks. Jonathan who improved his vertical 7 inches, Nate who dunked for the first time in 10 years, Julie who has lost over 20lbs and on, and on, and on. All from performing an inordinate amount of swings and variations of the swing.

Want to improve your deadlift?... do swings.
Want to improve your grip strength?... do swings.
Want to improve your vertical jump?... do swings.
Want to loose fat?... do swings.
Want to improve endurance?... do swings.
Want to learn how to snatch?... do swings.

Anything worth doing is doing right. So, before you run down to walmart to buy a 5lb kettlebell consider this

My 12 -15 year clients are swinging the 16kg 35lb kettlebell.
20-something Janae swings two 24kg/53lb kettlebells for 10 reps.
30-something Me can perform sets of 10 one-handed swings with the 48kg/106lb kettlebell.
40-something Beth regularly swings the 32kg/70lb kettlebell with ease.
50-something Dave swings the 70lb kettlebell with ease.
A 65 year old female client was performing sets of 10-20 swings with the 12kg/26lb kettlebell on her first day.

Here's a video of 12 yr old swinging a 25lb kettlebell

To learn the swing correctly requires that the kettlebell is heavy enough to provide feedback when you are doing something wrong. However, swinging incorrectly with a heavy kettlebell will lead to injury.

To learn how to perform the swing safely and effectively I recommend contacting us for group lessons, private lessons, bootcamps or workshops.

If you are looking for instructional DVDs on learning the kettlebell swing I recommend one of the following excellent resources