OK now we are getting into the juicy stuff, the foundation exercises. There are loads of videos of sexy kettlebell exercises, hundreds of workouts and loads of people telling you to do this and do that. The thing is, you can get most of your results and bomb proof your entire body by just doing two exercises, the Swing and the Turkish Get Up. Master these 2 exercises first.
The Kettlebell Swing
The Swing is explained in depth later under the Exercises section but for now it is important to know that without the ability to swing a kettlebell correctly you are not going to progress any further. The Swing is a foundation exercise that many of the other exercises evolve out of e.g. Can’t Swing, Can’t Clean; Can’t Swing, Can’t High Pull; Can’t Swing, Can’t Snatch. Remember, “don’t run before you can walk”.
When I teach clients and Kettlebell Classes we spend months on the Swing. We may mix it up with some body weight exercises etc. but ultimately we swing like crazy. When such a huge portion of results are going to come from this full body exercise why would you not practice it and progress it until you are “Blue in the Face” (excuse the pun!). In fact I still base the majority of my workouts around this single most important exercise.
The Turkish Get Up
The Second foundation exercise is the Turkish Get Up (TGU). Legend has it that thousands of years ago our ancestors were forced to TGU a weight before they could even start training with it. Nowadays we have it all backwards, most people train with heavy weights before they can pick them up properly or hold them overhead.
Why is the TGU so important? This crucial exercise teaches your body to stabilize. It perfects alignment, improves muscle stabilisation timing, and it produces a strong platform from which our main prime mover muscles can operate off. To prove this point you can test yourself by holding a kettlebell overhead for 1 minute. If you can’t do this then you should not press that same kettlebell, your stability is weaker than your prime mover muscles. Continue pressing this heavy weight and you will certainly injure your shoulders.
See my 12 Week Essential Kettlebell Program to ensure that you start off your kettlebell training safely and effectively using these 2 exercises.
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