Why is this important?
Great question. We ARE just talking about swinging a hunk of iron. Why is how someone transitions into more complex swing variations important? In the whole scope of things, it’s not. Likely, there are 99 other things I need to worry more about than this. BUT, when we consider it as more than just swinging a hunk of iron, those 99 other things just took a back seat. Allow me to explain.
I became known as the force plate guy” after doing some research on swinging kettlebells. At that point in time (2009), there wasn’t a lot of data on swinging kettlebells outside of Russia, so I was able to get out in front of what was about to come in the lines of research. What we looked at – and when I say “we” I mean Pavel asked the questions, and I provided answers – was total force production. Essentially, with a kettlebell that weights 28% of your body weight, you can generate about double your body weight in forces. That is A LOT. Those are loads that usually are only seen generated by those that dedicate a lot of time and resources to getting stronger. But, now ANYONE that has learned to swing a kettlebell correctly has taken a giant leap forward in their training – this one of the reason that when people begin training with kettlebells they see such drastic results in a short amount of time.
But, I was focused on the wrong thing. We missed something…we missed one of the other important things hidden in the swing. We were focused on the up and down portion of the swing – where the power comes from. What we overlooked were the front/back forces that are present in a swing. (we did look at it, but we didn’t realize the implication at the time)
These forces don’t exist ANYWHERE else in training.
These forces are unique to kettlebell swings.
Why is this important? Once the vertical projection of the bodies Center of Mass (CoM) falls outside of the Base of Support (BoS) we have to adjust our BoS to prevent falling. Fall can be a problem. But, when you are hanging on to a moving anchor (the kettlebell), we can leverage -literally- where our CoM is in regards to our BoS. We get a forward lean outside of our BoS at the bottom of our swing, and a backward lean outside our BoS at the top of the swing. With a bell that is 28% of our body weight, we can get a forward lean that leads to 30% of our weight being outside our BoS at the bottom of our swing and a backward lean that leads to 10% of our weight being outside our BoS at the top of the swing.
We essentially are creating an environment that leads to a lot of Neural Stimulation.
We could say the same thing about leaning back on a TRX or a set of Rings and doing rows, but with a kettlebell swing, we are cycling back and forth beyond our BoS very dynamically and rhythmically.
So, WHAT!
If your only fitness goal is washboard abs and looking good, then you are right – this is a giant waste of your time; get back to your training. But, if you are training athletes (or you are an athlete), you need to pause for just a moment. Athletes are constantly having to dynamically adjust their BoS in regards to their CoM, and many times their CoM falls outside their base of support. However, they typically are generating enough forces to be able to maintain and control this environment without falling – it’s called running and changing direction.
You can see in the above, the goalie begins equally balanced between each foot but as he is reacting his upper body has to move outside of his left foot in order to react to the ball. We often train this with agility drills, reaction drills, and various styles of sled pushes. All great – but where did we begin to allow the CNS to adapt and respond to these large weight shifts? We didn’t. We made a literal jump to doing things stationary then doing things where our BoS changes. We never transitioned. Now, think of those people that struggle with body control on their foot ladder drills…
Getting Athletic with Kettlebell Swings
This progression from the vanilla kettlebell swing to a transitional swing is training the CNS to experience and control this anterior/posterior weight shift first and then a medial/lateral weight shift on a Static BoS first. It is the thread that connects what hasn’t been connected before. This weeks swing progression builds off of the 2-Arm, 2-KB swing we progressed to last week. Last week we left off with an offset loaded swing – a big bell in one hand and a small ball in the other. Why? This began to create a small amount of torque in the body that we were forced to control while staying as symmetrical as possible – symmetrical feet and symmetrical arms that are loaded asymmetrically. Remember, to create asymmetry we MUST first have symmetry to break.
This week we begin with the 2-arm, 2-KB swing with the same sized bells because we are going to create torque and a weight shift in how we swing, so we are reigning in some of the wiggly parts initially. Here is this weeks progression:
- 2-Arm, 2-KB symmetrically loaded deadlift
- 2-Arm, 2-KB symmetrically loaded swing
- 2-Arm, 2-KB symmetrically loaded, offset BoS Deadlift
- 2-Arm, 2-KB symmetrically loaded, offset BoS Swing
We are now beginning to add to the complexity of that front/back weight shift that is inherent to all swings and incorporating a medial/lateral weight shift for the CNS to work out and get comfortable with. We are accomplishing this by moving our trunk over one leg at the bottom of the swing by moving one arm outside of the leg while keeping one are between the legs. Nothing else changes; the top of the swing is our same symmetrical finish archetype. The bottom of the swing is now a hybrid archetype; it is an asymmetrical deadlift archetype (asymmetrical squat 2).
Before we can change our BoS we need to first make sure we can control the anterior/lateral weight shift at the bottom as well as the medial/posterior weight shift at the top of the swing. Once we get this strategy worked out, moving into our actual transitional swing is cake – and actually the good cake, not Nana’s 50-year-old fruitcake. We are talking chocolate cake with white icing. And Sprinkles!
In Conclusion
Take whatever bell you are comfortable doing your vanilla swings with, and grab 2 equal sized bells that equal the same weight: 24 kg = two 12kg bells; 16kg = two 8kg bells. Then get warmed up – whatever you need. Finally, get into the above progression. BUT get ready – that anterior/lateral weight shift at the bottom of the swing will be unique (and you will likely very much appreciate your glutes tomorrow…).
Get good at these, and make sure each side feels the same. Next week we actually will DO a single leg swing…but not like you think.
