The swing.
CHAPTER 2:
The New RKC Program Minimum
Time to hit the metal. You will start your desissification with patient practice of two staples of the Russian Kettlebell Challenge, the swing and the get-up.
The swing is what its name implies—you are swinging a kettlebell from between your legs up to your chest level and back, using your hips to power the movement, as you would if you were jumping.
The get-up, introduced into the system by Steve Maxwell, Senior RKC, is just as aptly named. Start out lying on your back holding a kettlebell up with a straight arm, as if you have just finished a one-arm bench press.
The get-up.
Without jerking or unlocking the elbow, stand up and then slowly lie back down. Although the elbow does not bend whatsoever for the duration of the set, the get-up can be wiggled into the “press” category, because the static overload of holding a weight overhead, surprisingly, builds pressing strength.
Study the safety chapters and the descriptions of the swing and the get-up. Watch the Enter the Kettlebell! DVD many times. Then practice these two exercises and their remedial drills almost daily, and at least three times a week. Practice; don’t work out! The same way you would practice shooting a pistol, stop before your fragile skill goes to pot and the target becomes a blur. Do a couple of reps of one drill, rest, do a few reps of the other, rest some more, do a remedial drill, and so on. Keep reading the exercise descriptions or watching the DVD over and over when you are resting. Look for subtleties, use your highlighter, take notes.
Don’t try to get yourself smoked; this will come soon enough. A 30-minute practice is about right. When done, you should feel energized rather than wiped out. You should hardly be sore the day after.
Stay on the above break-in program for as long as it takes. Have patience—you are taking on a challenging skill set, akin to a martial art.
Study the safety chapters and the descriptions of the swing and the get-up. Watch the DVD many times.
Practice the swing, the get-up, and the remedial drills and stretches almost daily—at least three times a week.
Practice, don’t work out!
Practice for 30 minutes. Finish stronger than when you started.
Stay on the break-in program for as long as it takes to develop good swing and get-up technique.
You may keep doing whatever lifting or athletic training you have been doing.
I dare you to find a single exercise, kettlebell or not, that delivers more benefits than the kettlebell swing! Senior RKC instructor Steve Maxwell, a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu World Champion, has flat-out stated that doing the perfect kettlebell swing alone is superior to 99 percent of the sophisticated strength and conditioning programs out there.
The swing is exactly what its name implies: a swing of a kettlebell from between your legs up to your chest level. The arms stay straight but loose; the power is generated by the hips. The motion is akin to the standing vertical jump, except the energy is projected into the kettlebell rather than being used to lift the body.
TASK: SWING
Condition:
Swing a kettlebell between your legs and then in front of you up to the chest level for repetitions.
The swing.
1. Maintain the box-squat alignment during swings and when picking up or setting down the kettlebell:
a) keep your head up;
b) keep a straight—not to be confused with “upright”—back;
c) sit back rather than dip down.
2. Extend the hips and knees fully on the top: the body must form a straight line.
3. The kettlebell must form an extension of the straight and loose arm(s) on the top of the swing.
Bad swing!
SWING MASTERY STEP #1: THE BOX SQUAT
The box squat is just like sitting down on a chair or a curb. Powerlifters invented this drill to improve their squatting depth, flexibility, technique, and power. It will serve you well.
First let us revisit the hip-crease drill. Stand up and place the edges of your hands into the creases on top of your thighs. Press your hands hard into your hinges and stick your butt out while keeping your weight on your heels. You should feel the muscles in your hinges, the hip flexors, tighten up as if you are doing sit-ups.
Press your hands hard into your hinges and stick your butt out while keeping your weight on your heels.
You may hold a kettlebell for balance.
Now pick up a kettlebell and hold it in front of you by its horns. You need it for balance, at least in the beginning. Stand a foot or so in front of a sturdy bench or box facing away from it. Crease at your hips and push your butt back.
The box squat.
How not to box squat. Drop and gimme 50!
Keep pushing your rear end back. Your knees will bend, but only as an afterthought. Hips first!
Don’t let your knees go forward. Ideally, your shins should be close to vertical. If you do not feel your hamstrings tighten up when you descend, you are squatting wrong. Imagine that you are wearing ski boots and your ankles cannot bend. If you own a pair, why imagine? Wear them. You cannot help but learn to fold in your hip joints.
Never let your knees bow in. The knees should track the feet, and the feet should be pointing slightly outward.
The movement is similar to the face-the-wall squat, except your butt is sticking out and your body is folded forward more.
Push the kettlebell forward to counterbalance, and keep sitting back.
Back, not down.
Keep sitting back until your backside softly touches down on the box. You must not fall even an inch! Control your descent all the way! You will feel tightness on the top of your thighs and a stretch in your hamstrings if you do it right.
Time to get up.
Rock back. Instantly rock forward and stand up while observing the following rules:
First, do not cross your ankles or push your feet underneath you. Plant your feet like you mean it, with your shins almost upright. Remember that you are stuck in cement up to your knees.
Second, fold over and reach forward. If you have set your feet far enough forward as instructed, trying to stand up while remaining upright is an exercise in futility, a challenge to the fundamental laws of physics.
The moment you feel that your weight has loaded your feet, push your feet hard straight down into the ground.
Tense your glutes—pinch a coin—and drive your hips forward until you stand up. Lock out your knees by pulling up your kneecaps. Lock out your hips by cramping the glutes. Do not even think about scooping forward! Your knees will slip forward only if you completely disregard the instructions. Drop and give me 50! Then get someone to restrain your shins by hand.
If the technique instruction for the box squat seems exhaustive, please realize that attention to details is what makes this, or any other effective program, work. Anything worth doing is worth doing right. Besides, once you get the box squat down pat, most of the remaining drills will build on its foundation and will be a piece of cake to learn and master.
SWING MASTERY STEP #2: THE BOX SQUAT TO A VERTICAL JUMP
Box squat by the book then rock forward and jump straight up! The expert vertical jump is just like the kettlebell swing, clean, or snatch: the hips are aggressively stretch-loaded at the start and drive hard all the way to the top. Do a few. Feel the power. Don’t start swings until your jumps are crisp and aggressive.
Once you have your jumps dialed in, the swing will be a piece of pirogi.
The box squat to a vertical jump.
SWING MASTERY STEP #3: THE TOWEL SWING
At the RKC think tank, we are relentless about streamlining our teaching. As of today, the towel swing drill from Stephen Troy, RKC, a full-contact karate fighter from Chicago, takes the cake for getting the most technique out of the victim with the least instruction.
“When you’re using your hips to drive up the kettlebell on the swing, your arms should just be ropes attached to the bell,” explains Troy. “That means the bell should project out straight from your arms throughout its arc. Many beginning lifters, and especially guys with big chests, have a hard time not flexing them when swinging a kettlebell, and as a result they sometimes rely too much on upper body strength to bring up the bell.
“To make sure you’re swinging without using your arms, attach a lifting strap or very short rope [or a towel] to a kettlebell...
“Try a few swings. If you’re driving the weight up with your hips, the bell, rope, and arm should all be in one line throughout the rep. If you’re using your arms, your hands will rise up above the strap and bell.”
The towel swing is the same as the regular swing, except for the fact that the kettlebell hangs on a towel that you are holding with both hands. The towel will exaggerate your mistakes, provide you with feedback, and teach you how to swing right—in minutes.
The towel swing.
In a nutshell, swing the kettlebell back between your legs—think “hike pass” from football—and then in front of you. The classic swing is done to the chest level, but there is no need to be so picky at this point. Keep your arms and shoulders relaxed; drive with the hips. Even during the hike pass, emphasize the hips, not the arms. “Throw” the kettlebell by hinging aggressively, as if you are descending into an explosive box squat.
Snap the hips and straighten out—but don’t hyperextend—the knees.
Again, the knees go up, not back. Pull up your kneecaps.
All of the sumo deadlift checkpoints apply (see Chapter 1).
Start swinging! If you have messed up a rep and the kettlebell is pulling you forward so that you are about to lose balance, drop it!
Don’t hold your breath. I am not going to tell you how to breathe at this point of the game, just breathe. Ideally, in sync with the movement.
The beauty of the towel swing is the clear feedback it provides. Even if you do not know exactly what you should change, you will figure it out through trial and error by trying to make your arms, the towel, and the kettlebell line up. Don’t forget to line up your whole body as well as you did in the dead lift and the vertical jump.
States Troy, “Most people at my workshops who have swing problems can self-correct within a couple minutes using this method.”
Wrong.
Wrong.
DO YOU HAVE TWO STRAIGHT LINES ON THE TOP OF YOUR SWING?
Your arms—the towel —the kettlebell
Your legs—your upper body—your head
Once you have succeeded in making these two straight lines, you are ready for the regular swing.
But better finesse your timing first. You will soon notice that there is a time lag between the driving force of the hips and the kettlebell’s flight—like in a punch. The towel reveals this important subtlety of the swing. Keep swinging, and pay attention to the timing of your efforts. Try to make the kettlebell hover weightless for a moment at the apex.
Drive your hips explosively, but don’t rush the kettlebell. Let it catch up as your hip drive goes up your body like a wave. Hurrying the kettlebell is like punching with the arm—ineffective.
Work some more on your timing. Try to make the kettlebell go a certain height between your waist and your head without scooping your body or pulling with your arms.
SWING MASTERY STEP #4: THE SWING PROPER
Once you have the towel swing licked, you are ready for the regular swing. Stand a foot or so behind your kettlebell, sit back, and take a hold of the handle with both hands. While keeping your weight on your heels—important!—hike pass the kettlebell behind you, fairly close to your groin. Drive the hips through and start swinging.
The two-arm swing.
This is a good time to get your breathing right. On the top of each swing, loudly call out the number of each rep. True, it is not easy to say “one hundred twenty-seven” quickly enough, but by the time your reps get that high you will have synced your breathing, so you may shut up. I insist.
What you are shooting for, eventually, are sharp exhalations synchronized with the finish of each swing. This is the way martial artists and boxers breathe when they punch. Note that you should never blow out all of your air, as this makes you weak and your back vulnerable. The amount of your breath that comes out with a grunt is just right.
Sharply inhale through your nose when the kettlebell has almost bottomed out behind your legs. It will not be easy in the beginning, but it will come if you call out your rep numbers on the top.
Don’t relax until the bell is safely parked.
When you are done with your set, pay attention to how you park the kettlebell. Following the backswing, let the bell passively swing forward slightly and set it down between your feet. Don’t round your back or roll forward on your toes! Don’t relax until the bell is safely parked.
When you feel ready, move up to the one-arm swing. Don’t grip the kettlebell’s handle, but rather hook it with your fingers. Try to keep your arm and shoulder as relaxed as possible—remember the rope analogy. Keep your other hand clear; don’t get cute by pushing off your knee! Big Brother is watching.
The one-arm swing.
Soon you will progress to the hand-to-hand swing. Release the kettlebell on the top of the swing, and pluck it out of the air with your other hand. If you have swung the kettlebell too far and you have to reach forward to grab it, just let it go! Your back will thank you.
The hand-to-hand swing.
Move crisply, like a karate punch.
The kettlebell get-up is responsible for many miraculous shoulder comebacks in our community. Many hard men with high mileage—who were ready to hang up their spurs and take up golf—got to stay in the fight.
In addition to developing spectacular shoulder mobility and stability, both essential for taking the punishment of fighting and sports, the get-up molds the strength to dish punishment out. Our resident kettlebell press expert, Senior RKC Mike Mahler, saw his big press get even bigger once he started doing heavy get-ups. And when Brett Jones, Senior RKC, started doing get-ups with “the Beast,” the 106-pound kettlebell, his impressive military pressing strength immediately shot up as well.
TASK: GET-UP
Condition:
Lie on your back, pick up the kettlebell with both hands, and press it with one. Slowly stand up while keeping your working arm straight and vertical. Assist yourself by pushing into the ground with the free arm. Slowly reverse the movement.
The get-up.
The get-up continued.
1. Use both hands to lift the kettlebell from the ground at the start of the exercise and to return it to the ground at the finish (an elbow safety measure).
2. At no point allow the kettlebell to hyperextend and stress the wrist. Keep the handle at the base of the palm and keep your wrist tight.
3. Lock your elbow and keep it locked for the duration of the set.
4. Keep your shoulder in its socket, especially during movement transitions.
5. Get up and down seamlessly, without jerky transitions.
6. Don’t do anything that you would not or could not do with a very heavy kettlebell. That implies keeping your arm vertical and totally controlling the kettlebell and your whole body at all times.
GET-UP MASTERY STEP #1: PICK YOUR KETTLEBELL UP AND SET IT DOWN SAFELY
Before standing up with a kettlebell, you need to pick it up from the ground. Recall one of the Kettlebell Safety 101 rules: “Don’t do anything you couldn’t or wouldn’t do with a very heavy kettlebell.” Then conduct a mental experiment: what would happen if you were to lie down on your back and try to pick up a 106-pounder lying at your side with one hand? Unless you are familiar with the arm-wrestling “post-up” technique, you will strain the inside of your elbow. Which is why we pick the kettlebell up with both hands.
How to pick up and park your kettlebell. Would you be willing to do it with a 106-pounder?
You are about to do a right handed get-up. With the kettlebell sitting on your right next to your ribs, curl grip the handle with your right hand, then overlap your fingers with a thumbless grip of your left. Keeping the kettlebell as close to your body as possible, bring it to your chest with this two-handed pistol grip. Let go with the left.
Roll onto your right side and spear your right hand deep inside the handle. Gooseneck your wrist slightly to counter the kettlebell’s determination to hyperextend your wrist. Grip the handle moderately. Keep it that way for the duration.
Press the kettlebell above your chest with your right. Keep your shoulder down, toward the ground and toward your feet.
Make sure to repeat the sequence in reverse on the way down. Overgrip the working hand with your free hand, lower the kettlebell to your chest, then roll onto your side and release the kettlebell once it is on the ground. Not sooner!
GET-UP MASTERY STEP #2: KEEP YOUR ELBOW STRAIGHT AND YOUR SHOULDER IN ITS SOCKET
A great visualization comes from Iyengar Yoga. Visualize “a power source” in the locked elbow. It sends energy up the forearm and down into the shoulder. Simultaneously, the arm is “growing longer” toward the kettlebell and “pressing hard into the shoulder socket.” Keep that image throughout the get-up and the “get-down.”
The half get-up.
GET-UP MASTERY STEP #3: THE HALF GET-UP
Bend your right knee and plant your foot. Pushing off your right foot and propping yourself with your left elbow (Josh Henkin, RKC, says you should “pivot” on your elbow), slowly sit up. Keep your arm straight and vertical and your eyes on the kettlebell. Keep your shoulder in its socket! Breathe shallowly while keeping your stomach tight throughout the rep.
Note the oblique and lat contraction.
A sit-up is good enough for the first rep. Slowly reverse the sequence. Don’t hit the ground hard—you could end up with a kettlebell stuck in your grill!
A few years ago we taught an RKC instructor course to a detail of bodyguards working under an ex-Delta Force operator for one of Mexico’s largest companies. One of our students, Mario, doubled as one of Mexico’s highest-ranked kickboxers and a physical therapist. We heard from him some time later. Mario had fixed many ruined shoulders using just the start of the get-up—a half sit-up with a pivot on the opposite elbow.
The half get-up.
GET-UP MASTERY STEP #4: THE GET-UP ALL THE WAY
Once you have succeeded in sitting up, stand up. Do it any safe way you want to; the important thing is to keep the movement smooth and seamless. No jerking as you are making transitions.
The get-up continued.
Doing a full get-up by the book, the arm ramrod straight and vertical, is going to be a bear. No problem, just go as high as you can and gradually build up. Don’t rush! Remember that the get-up is an exercise, not a competitive lift. If you are overflowing with testosterone, put it to use on a hard set of swings.
Lean into the kettlebell on the top for extra stretch. Bring your arm close to your ear (not your ear close to your arm). This may be a good time to revisit the pull-up bar drill by Anthony Diluglio, RKC.
The rest of the get-up.
Finally, reverse the movement. Don’t let your attention wander; a typical mistake is letting the elbow bend when starting the descent. “Push yourself away” from the kettlebell on the way down to avoid it.
You will not believe how great your shoulders will feel!
You will not believe how great your shoulders will feel!
Is your wrist tight?
Is your elbow locked?
Is your shoulder in its socket?
Is your arm vertical?
Are you moving seamlessly?
Would you be willing to repeat what you have just done with a 106-pound kettlebell?
When the Communists were plotting their coup on the verge of the XX century, they had a program maximum, for total domination—and a program minimum, for the most important and immediate concerns.
The New RKC Program Minimum will deliver
The conditioning of a world-class fighter;
Rapid fat loss without the dishonor of aerobics;
A back of steel;
Muscular, flexible, and resilient shoulders;
A skill base for the rest of the RKC drills.
Regardless of your goals, a simple routine of swings and get-ups makes a powerful introduction to RKC training. The sales cliché about 80 percent of the business—or more—coming from 20 percent of the clients applies to kettlebell training: these two moves will give you the biggest bang for your kettlebell buck. The swing will take care of your back, legs, heart, and lungs. The get-up will temper flexible and resilient shoulders, ready for exercises and sports skills that traditionally trash them: punching a heavy bag, grappling, heavy pressing and jerking, and so on.
I have experimented with different ways to put swings and get-ups into a routine, but I could not do better than Steve Baccari, RKC. Steve has designed the following “simple and sinister” S&C routine for the grapplers he has been training with.
Twice a week, a hard 12 minutes of the U.S. Department of Energy “Man Maker.”
The Man Maker is a painfully simple workout that was devised and implemented at a federal agency’s academy by Green Beret vet Bill Cullen, RKC. Its template is simple: alternate sets of high-rep kettlebell drills—swings in our case—with a few hundred yards of jogging. Do your swings “to a comfortable stop” most of the time and all-out occasionally. Don’t run hard; jogging is a form of active recovery. Senior RKC Mike Mahler prefers the jump rope to jogging, another great option.
Twice a week, 5 minutes of continuous get-ups, switching hands every rep.
Steve’s get-up routine gives the shoulders enough time under tension to build serious muscle and keeps them safe by allowing the stabilizers to recover after each rep.
Please note that it is a bad idea to count your get-up reps and especially to try to top them! This exercise requires finesse, not speed. Even if your reps are modest, the shoulder muscles will remain under static tension for a long period of time, exactly what they need to get bigger and stronger. The Brazilian grapplers Baccari has been putting through this routine have developed remarkable shoulders and backs!
Note that there is nothing magical about 5 or 12 minutes. Start with these numbers; you can expand or compress them later. “I picked 5 min because that is the length of a round in both sparing and competition,” explains Steve. “As for the 12 min Man Makers, most of the guys had about a 10 min threshold . . . so I just bumped it up a step. Most of them are now doing about 15 min.”
The swing.
The get-up.
THE NEXT STEP
Comrade, once you are rocking on the RKC Program Minimum, start practicing the hard-core exercises from the next chapter—the clean, the press, the snatch—before each workout.
“Practice” the clean, the press, and the snatch; don’t “work out”! Set aside 15 minutes before each of your four weekly RKC Program Minimum workouts, right after your face-the wall squats, halos, and pumps. Do a few reps, rest, then do a few more. Go nowhere close to your limit, not even to 50 percent. Kettlebell cleans, presses, and snatches are very demanding in terms of both technique and flexibility, so take your time. Weeks and months if necessary. There is no rush; you are still getting your strength and conditioning from the RKC Program Minimum.
Only when your cleans, presses, and snatches are perfect may you start the RKC Rite of Passage program from the next chapter. The Russian kettlebell does not forgive not paying attention.
Russian kettlebell power to you!