Kettlebell Information, Safety & Technique

What and Why Kettlebell

A kettlebell has 3 components: Ball (round, weighted part at the bottom), Horns (side handles), and Handle (top grip).  This tool is very different from your traditional dumbbell or barbell, because the center of gravity is outside of your hand with the kettlebell.  Conversely, with other strength equipment, the center of gravity is inside your grip. This unique characteristic makes kettlebell training very functional.  Think of carrying groceries, lifting furniture, or taking out the trash– the center of gravity is below your grip in most of the things you carry in daily chores.

To throw another bonus in there, many of the exercises that we perform with the Kettlebell are swinging moves, which means that center of gravity is constantly changing.  This totally makes you fire through core muscles.

Kettlebell training cannot be classified as exclusively cardio, strength, or power training, because it is ALL of these!  You will get a heart-pounding, muscle-pumping, pant-kicking challenge from this mode of training.

The leverage system involved in a KB swing is quite complicated, but here’s what you need to know:

• It is not a controlled frontal raise at the shoulders that raises the bell in the swing.  The shoulder raise is a byproduct of powerful hip thrust.  It’s the hips, bum, and thighs that force the bell to swing up which in-turn makes the shoulders raise the arms.
• Assuming you physically provide that strong thrust at the bottom of each swing, momentum will never let you down; it will always carry the bell up from there.

Can you provide that hip thrust and still perform a swing biomechanically incorrect?  Boy, can you ever! Proper technique is crucial to getting the bang from this workout without a bang in your lower back.

Safety & Technique

• The basic squat (no equipment): Before diving right in to kettlebell work, it’s important that you have learned proper form for a squat. It all starts here. If the squat is out of alignment, everything else will be compromised. When you squat, the tailbone should lengthen down and the shoulders pull back. Avoid rounding the back. Press your body weight towards your heels as you squat down. At the lowest point on the squat, the thighs should be parallel to the ground, and the knees positioned over the balls of the feet. Never allow your knees to protrude beyond your toes. Be sure that feet are not turned in or out, but straight forward.
• Getting familiar with kettlebell intensity and function by practicing a vertical leap (no equipment): After learning the basic squat, add a vertical jump. When you transition from the low squat to a vertical jump, you’ll notice that your hips have to thrust forward to provide the power to raise the weight of your body from down low to a high leap. This teaches you the power that is required from the buttocks and hips that, also, must be generated to properly perform a swing. In the power sense, a vertical jump and a kettlebell swing have a lot in common.
• The basic swing: Like with the vertical jump, with kettlebell training, your hips have to thrust forward in order to raise the weight of the kettlebell from hovering over the ground to shoulder height. It’s the exact same concept as the vertical jump, but just imagine that your feet are cemented down to the ground so that you have to provide that power from the hips and buttocks without taking flight with the feet. If you “cheat” this, and omit the hip thrust, your weaker upper body muscles will take over the work, but this changes the entire exercise. Inertia means that unless an external force interrupted a movement, an object would maintain a steady and continual movement forever. With a kettlebell swing, if you provide a powerful hip thrust at the bottom of the squat, that kettlebell will swing out until gravity catches it and pulls it back down. If you always provide the hip thrust to propel the kettlebell up, gravity will always provide the resistance to catch it and pull it back down. When you cease to provide the power in the thrust of the hips, inertia will be interrupted and the bell will stop swinging. The only way to “fake” the movement from there would be to actively lift and lower the weight with the grinding strength and control of the shoulder muscles- this violates the intention of the Basic Swing (to provide a cardio benefit and strength for the buttocks and thighs).
• The Rack: To rack the kettlebell, hold at the handle, where the ball rests on the forearm. Bring your thumb in towards your collar bone, and elbow to your ribcage. Pull your shoulders back, and tighten through your abdominals.
• Shoulder Press: From the rack, press the kettlebell straight up, where the thumb presses directly over the collar bone, and the ball is directly over the shoulder.
• Snatch: Instead of returning to the rack from the shoulder press, allow the handle to swivel in your hand, following a line straight down the middle of the body whereto you end in a low squat with the ball hovering right above the floor. As you exhale, extend the knees and hips with powerful force, and rapidly thrust the kettlebell from that position to the ending position in a shoulder press. The kettlebell will follow a straight line up the middle to go from the low hover to the high press. THIS EXERCISE IS NOT RECOMMENDED FOR THOSE WITH SHOULDER ISSUES OR INJURIES.
• Halo: Hold the kettlebell with a ball-up horn grip. Begin with the kettlebell in the center of the chest. From there, raise the kettlebell around the right shoulder to behind the neck, then around the left shoulder back to the center of the chest. Repeat in the opposite direction. Be sure that you engage your core muscles, and avoid protruding the abdomen (going into a Lordotic posture) as you wrap the bell around the shoulders and neck.
• Wood chop: Position the kettlebell in the rack and cup the free hand over the top of the one holding the handle. Lunge the opposite leg out to the side (lateral lunge), and while moving into that lunge, chop the kettlebell across the body in a high-to-low diagonal line. Allow momentum to take control of the kettlebell as you swing down, and allow your torso to rotate. You will feel quite a bit of oblique strength. The ball of the kettlebell should fall outside of the knee. Be sure that your lunge is deep and low, where the thigh is parallel to the ground, foot faces forward, and knees is positioned over the ball of the foot. As you step in from that lunge, reverse the chop and pull the kettlebell up in a low-to-high diagonal line. Repeat the same movement on the opposite side.

Kettlebell training is contraindicated for those with lower back injuries. Please consult your physician before beginning kettlebell training if you suffer from other joint issues, such as knees, hips, or shoulders. Due to the high intensity of this workout, it is not recommended for those who practice a sedentary lifestyle.
When selecting a Kettlebell, it is recommended that women begin training with a kettlebell between 10-20-pounds and men begin training with a kettlebell between 15-30-pounds, where the lower end of that range would be for individuals with limited range of motion at hips or who only weight train erratically. For the Kettlebell Crank chapter in “Cardiopump Fusion,” you will definitely want to select a kettlebell weight on the low end of the recommendations.

If you are unclear or have questions about any of the information provided in this tutorial, please click on the “Contact Us” tab, and we will respond to you within 24-hours. For your safety, please do not perform the kettlebell exercises included in Cardiopump Fusion if you do not understand the instructions for proper technique. We will be happy to give you additional guidance within 24-hours of your contact!