Best Kettlebell Swing Regression
What I want to talk about today is a Kettlebell swing regression that isn’t always used… What I’ve seen a lot of in the past is when a client can’t get the hang of a swing – the trainer will just program squats instead… The issue with this is that squats / swings are almost completely opposite movements…. The Swing is a hip dominant – the squat is knee dominant!
This BETTER regression to use is the “Romanian Deadlift”! The Romanian Deadlift is WAY better than a squat as a regression because the movement is essentially exactly the same as a swing (Hip Hinge)! The only real difference is the Romanian Deadlift is less explosive and less ballistic – which makes it a lot safer for beginners! The weight is usually fairly light for this exercise too (e.g. most people will be able to Deadlift WAY more than they can swing)
So if you’re running a Bootcamp and you know you’re going to eventually start programming Kettlebell Swings – it’s a good idea to start everyone off with Deadlifts… Either in a warm up… Or the week before… Or in the first station etc.
One thing to note with Romanian Deadlifts – they can be quite an “easy” movement for people know how to hip hinge (e.g. I can deadlift 60kgs-70kgs no drama’s… so a 12kgs just wouldn’t cut it for me)…. So to make it harder for these people – just make it a “single leg deadlift”… All of a sudden as a unilateral movement it becomes a lot harder as you need to bring the balance component into it!
If you’re not currently trained in Kettlebells I would STRONGLY recommend it… When used correctly Kettlebells are the number 1 tool for Outdoor Trainers! They are portable, can be used anywhere, are able to be used for ballistic movements (e.g. swings), are able to be used to traditional strength movements (e.g. squats / lunges) and offer posterior chain movements that are often so hard in an outdoor setting (e.g. swings, deadlifts, bent over rows, renegade rows).
PS: If you’re a Personal Trainer or Group Fitness Instructor and keen to up skill when it comes to using Kettlebells in your sessions, I recommend checking out our Kettlebell Certification CEU Courses! On completion of the courses you will receive 2.0 NASM CEUs and 20 AFAA CEUs.
If you liked this blog, I recommend checking out the below
- What to do when your client can’t keep a neutral spine (blog)
- How to use a Broomstick to fix a common kettlebell mistake(blog)
- Kettlebell Movements and Programming for Bootcamp (podcast)
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