Lockdown Training Tips - Kettlebell Swings

Kettlebells are another excellent piece of equipment for home training during lockdown. If you were lucky enough to get your hands on one in this crazy equipment market you may well find yourself doing a lot of Kettlebell Swings in your training.

Here's some top tips to get the most out of them!

Focus on pushing your hips back

This helps ensure you execute the movement properly and load up the hamstrings when doing it.

A good tip we often use is to imagine there is a wall a short distance behind you and you are pushing your hips back to meet it.

It's a hinge not a squat

This ties in nicely to the previous point on focusing on pushing your hips back. A Kettlebell Swing is a hinge movement and the implication of this is that we want the muscles of the posterior chain to be doing the work, in particular the hamstrings and glutes.

In order for this to be the case we need to avoid letting the knees travel forward and turning the exercise into some kind of hybrid Squat.

Again, put the focus on pushing the hips back and think of the knees as unlocking as you do so but not travelling forward and bending.

Braced core and neutral back

Bracing your core and keeping your back neutral are an important components of executing Kettelbell Swings safely and effectively.

To properly brace your core think of doing the following in quick succession:

🔹Take a deep breath into your stomach.

🔹Tense your stomach as if you are about to be punched in it.

🔹Expand your sides.

Get more help working towards your goals

If you have found these tips helpful and would like further guidance on how to go about training towards your goals, take a look at our Online Personal Training page and drop us a message!