Swings are one of the most, if not the most fundamental kettlebell movement for beginners all the way to experts. Everybody who consistently uses kettlebells will recommend this movement. What makes swings insane is that they improve so many aspects of your physical capabilities. The unique movement it creates strengthens hip flexors, stability and strength of the hips, glutes, quads, hamstrings, explosiveness, core strength / stability, grip strength, and conditioning. It is an amazing workout to work on the posterior chain, improve running speed, or increase your vertical jump height. It works so many components of your body at once making it one of the best full body workouts you could ask for. Increase the weight to work on hypertrophy or decrease weight and increase repetitions to create an amazing cardio workout. There is no downside to this exercise, so let me walk y’all through it.
Start with your feet shoulder width and the kettlebell about a foot in front of you between your feet. Push your butt backwards while maintaining good posture in your back.
Lift the kettlebell off of the group, swing it back towards you between your legs. Your legs shouldn’t be locked out here, be soft and bouncy on your knees. You should be bending primarily at the hips here.
To swing the bell outwards, thrust your hips out in an explosive movement forwards while tightening the glutes, and tightening the quads. Maintain good back posture in this entire movement. At the peak of this, your arms and the kettlebell should be parallel to the ground. You should be standing up straight.
Bring the bell back down, getting soft on your legs again and let the kettlebell go back between your legs. Do not try to stop the movement of the kettlebell. Let it move where it wants to move.
Repeat this over and over until you feel your form breaking down. Doing 100 of these a day is an amazing starting point for working on your health.
You should feel the most fatigue in your butt muscles and in your hamstrings.