PAT SWING THIEF FULL

This takes a tremendous amount of stopping power to hit that sweet spot and put on the brakes at exactly the right moment without taxing your back and shoulder muscles at their end range of their motion. To begin with, in the American Swing, you are essentially explosively throwing a heavy metal cannonball over your head while holding on to the handle. There are also quite a few dangers to consider with this movement and this is why it doesnвЂ™t make sense for 90% of people out there.

PAT SWING THIEF FULL

So why are we concerned with a full extension of the shoulders here? Common Problems with Going вЂAmericanвЂ™ Once again, what is the point of a kettlebell swing? To strengthen the glutes and hamstrings and increase the power of the hip drive. It was considered a full expression of the movement, achieving full range of motion of the shoulders. The American Swing made sense for one reason вЂ“ competition! In the CrossFit games, it was easy to measure a rep being completed if the arms passed the ears. If it is, you are either trying to lift the kettlebell with your shoulders (why?), or if all of the power is being generated from your hips, you are ready for a heavier kettlebells (congratulations!). Whether performing a single arm or two handed kettlebell swing, the kettlebell height should generally not far exceed the height of the shoulders. In Russia the kettlebell swing is used as a warm up and preparatory movement for other more advanced techniques like the clean and jerk or snatch. As kettlebell guru Shawn Mozen вЂ“ Episode 8 of the HRD2KILL Podcast, the man who brought kettlebells to Canada once told me, Russians generally donвЂ™t perform high tension kettlebell swings like we do here in North America. Many will call the movement I described above the вЂњRussian swingвЂќ. Your hands are firmly connected to the kettlebell throughout the swing however it is the legs that should be performing all of the effort as opposed to your shoulders. A win win all around for everyone, from athletes to keyboard warriors. When the glutes are contracted, the hip flexor muscles will relax and open. Not only will the movement aid in the development of stronger and more powerful hamstrings and glutes, but it will also serve to open tight hip flexors through reciprocal inhibition at the top of the swing. The kettlebell swing is a hinge motion, where the hips are pushed backward in the backswing, creating tension and stretch in the hamstrings, which is unleashed in an explosive extension of the hips. It is an important exercise to include in your programming as most people are typically quad dominant due to how we live our modern lives, we spend most of our times in forward motion, running and walking, and excessive amounts of time seated which leads to very tight hips. It is a fantastic exercise used to develop strength and power in the posterior chain, utilizing the hamstrings and glutes as the primary movers. The kettlebell swing has become a very common movement and for good reason. LetвЂ™s consider what we are looking to achieve here. I have often seen kettlebell novices performing this swing variant in university gyms, parks, and anywhere else where a kettlebell can be swung! Full range of motion, doesnвЂ™t sound so horrible right. This move was heavily popularized by CrossFit gyms and competitions. So what is the American Swing anyways? It is a variant of the common kettlebell swing where you swing the kettlebell from between your legs in the backswing, all the way over your head until your arms are directly in line with your ears, achieving a вЂfull range of motionвЂ™ for the shoulders. The fact that jump squats while holding a kettlebell behind your head were also part of the circuit, thus smashing your spine with ever rep, helped to confirm my suspicions that maybe sometimes strong and amazing athletes can make bad life decisions. Here was my chance though, I have an elite level expert showing it as a conditioning drill, and maybe I was being close minded. I had been swinging kettlebells for years at this point and had always been turned off by what seemed like an exaggerated movement in the spectrum of ass kicking kettlebell techniques. It was included as part of a conditioning circuit during a two day kettlebell sport certification. The irony of this moment was not lost on me.

The first time I ever performed an American Swing it was taught to me by a Russian kettlebell sport world champion.

Pat swing thief