Hope you all had a great weekend and better yet looking for another super challenging CrossFit Games WOD this Thursday. (stay tuned for specifics)
It was awesome to be back in NW Arkansas last weekend for CrossFit Kettlebell Certification training and a little ghost hunting in Eureka Springs. Since we didn’t find any real ghosts other than my damaged ego I thought I would share a couple points from the certification training.
People at the gym often ask us when swinging kettlebells, “How high should the bell swing?” or “Do I stop the bell at shoulder heigth or take it all the way over the head?” Simple answer is yes to both.
Russian Swing
The Russian swing is the most basic swing in kettlebell training where the bell goes between the legs, the hips drive and extend so the bell literally floats to shoulder height. In practice the Russian swing should be mastered before one progresses to the American swing with the bell all the way overhead. The reason why is the the swing in general all comes from the hips and legs and not the arms. In fact if you are feeling the swing in the shoulders you don’t have adequate hip drive…PERIOD. That said CrossFit Rx is the American swing because it is easier to judge as a good or bad lift in competition compared to the Russian. So work on your Russian swing and get the hip drive down before taking it overhead. The Russian swing is a perfectly acceptable scaling of the American swing in your workouts. Remember NEVER sacrifice good form for speed and extra reps. So lighter bells and Russian swings are great but don’t get stuck and feel free to do Russian Swings with bigger bells or less reps and/or lighter bells in the American swing.
You can always learn more at our classes just ask. Also stay tuned we will be offering a special 2 hour kettlebell workshop soon.
In the meanwhile watch my instructor Jeff Martone perform a Turkish getup with one of our fellow certification students. (btw she weighs 125)
Scott
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