There’s no doubt that the swing is the center of the kettlebell universe. Mastering the swing should be one of the first goals of your kettlebell journey. It is simple—if you can swing well, you will probably clean and snatch your kettlebell properly too. Besides, the swing should look exactly like your clean and snatch, the hips do all the work and the arm guides the kettlebell to where you want it to go with some “steering strength”. While I consider the swing a basic, nailing it so it becomes a thing of power and grace can be difficult. “Basic” doesn’t mean “easy”.
My previous post, “Regress To Progress” steps out the progressions we use in the RKC to teach the swing. It explains how most kettlebell swing issues can be resolved by going back to master the progressions. Likewise, mastering regressions can really improve your kettlebell swing, no matter where you currently are in your practice.
In my opinion, great coaches give cues which can instantly and radically improve technique. I learned the two cues in this post from former Master RKC Geoff Neupert in my few years training with him. With these two cues, I feel like I can really transform a swing. I use them every time I teach at an RKC Workshop.
The timing of the swing movement is seldom discussed in detail, and yet it can play a very powerful part in making your swing a thing of grace and beauty—and powerful as hell!
One of the benefits of using kettlebells is working with the eccentric phase (the backswing) or downward phase of the kettlebell swing. The “overspeed eccentric” technique is a method to increase the intensity of the kettlebell swing in the RKC. This technique adds an active acceleration of the kettlebell on the backswing in addition to the ballistic concentric acceleration of the kettlebell during the forward swing phase. Instead of simply letting the kettlebell accelerate downward with gravity, a partner pushes the kettlebell down from the top of the swing. This assisted acceleration also increases the posterior chain’s eccentric muscle contraction speed.
During this eccentric muscle contraction, the muscles lengthen from the external load of the kettlebell while contracting under tension. Research shows that eccentric muscle contractions are capable of producing more force than either isometric or concentric muscle contractions. Maximum eccentric strength is estimated to be between 1.5 and 2.0 times that of maximum concentric strength. Put in other words, you get strong on the negative phase of exercises. This is why concentrating on the negative or eccentric phase will build the strength required for both phases of the exercise. For example, learning how to do a push up or pull up by focusing on the eccentric phase is the way to build the strength to do your first full push up or pull up.
“Overspeed eccentrics” result in an accumulation of kinetic energy from greater force production and elastic energy. Studies that have shown that training programs which utilize eccentric contractions at fast velocities remove neural inhibition. Normally, neural inhibition is a mechanism for injury protection as exemplified by the stretch reflex phenomenon. The rapid stretching of the posterior chain muscles in the backswing causes sensory muscle spindles—which are distributed throughout the fleshy part of skeletal muscle—to activate. To protect the muscle from being overstretched, the spinal cord is notified that the muscles are being lengthened. Next, the spinal cord reacts by contracting the muscle being stretched while inhibiting the contraction of the antagonist muscles. This process bypasses sending any messages to the brain and is known as the “stretch reflex”. Taking advantage of the muscle’s elasticity and the stretch reflex is also known as the “stretch-shorten cycle”. The faster the muscle is stretched eccentrically, the greater the force will be on the following concentric contraction. In other words, you will get a stronger and a more explosive swing.
To take advantage of overspeed eccentrics during the two-arm kettlebell swing, two things must be present: a fast backswing and a rapid switch from the eccentric muscle contraction of the backswing to a concentric contraction of the forward swing. This technique can be implemented with the kettlebell swing when a partner forcefully pushes the kettlebell down from the top of the swing at chest height as it we do it in the RKC.
Coincidentally, a common kettlebell swing technique error is to not get deep enough with the backswing. An insufficient backswing results in a lackluster swing without much force. The overspeed eccentric drill is one cure for this—along with other “A-HA drills” you will learn at an RKC workshop.
