For the Love of All That’s Holy, Please Stop Waving Light Weights.

Mahi kettlebell is a good exercise. It works the hamstrings and glutes, improving grip and explosiveness—a quality that many home exercises lack. But far too many would-be kettlebell swingers (both trainers and New York Times fitness articles ) start with a weight that is too small to accomplish any of these tasks. It only sets you up for failure.

Too light kettlebell swing is not a “max” at all

Kettlebell swing is an exercise that involves something other than just performing movements. Swinging requires you to use the large muscles in your lower body to give the bell enough speed to move through the air.

No one is born with the knowledge of how to swing kettlebells, which is why most of us, when we see what kettlebell swings look like, won’t know how to do it. We are watching a demonstration and we see that the person swinging the kettlebell makes some kind of movement with the lower part of the body, and the kettlebell rises. So we do some (?) kinds of (??) movements (???) and then raise the bell with our hands. That’s it, right?

That’s the problem. If you give this person a light, tiny, unassuming, non-intimidating kettlebell, he will easily lift it with his hands. It’s not a swing because it doesn’t swing . They perform a forward lift with extra steps.

If you give a person a heavy kettlebell, on the other hand, they won’t get anywhere until they figure out how to get their lower body into motion. You should take your hips back a little, and then straighten them with such force that your body rests on your hands and the bar swings at the ends of your hands like a pendulum.

How to swing the kettlebell the way you mean it

Swinging a kettlebell correctly is like swinging a child on a swing in a playground. In the latter case, you need to put your hands on the baby’s back when he returns to you. You absorb some of their momentum by creating a strong connection between your arms and their back, and then return that power by applying an extra push, allowing them to fly forward again. If you were to simply hold the child up by lifting him up in the air over and over again, he would rightly complain.

In kettlebell swings, your hands are the chain; weight – a child; and your hips are the adult providing the push. If you have a heavy kettlebell handy, you can probably figure out the correct swing just from this description and some experimentation. Stand with the kettlebell between your legs with both hands and push off with your hips. Imagine that the bell is shouting: “Higher! Higher!” and add a little more strength with each rep.

To check if you are really rocking it, slide the towel through the handle and grasp the two ends of the towel. The towel is now an extension of your arms, acting like a very long chain on a baby swing. If you don’t actually rock the bell, it will be obvious: the towel will hang awkwardly from your hands and you won’t be able to get a steady rhythm.

There are several different styles of kettlebell swinging. The video above shows the “hard” swing, which is probably the most common in American gyms. All action is concentrated on the hips, the knees hardly bend. There are also sport-style swings , which add a bit of bounce and can be more difficult to master, but are still hip-powered and will still flow well with a towel.

Why do so many people recommend light swing weights?

There’s something important you need to know about kettlebell weight recommendations: they’re often based on some completely different lift, not swings.

You can sometimes hear people say that women should start with an 8–12 kg (18–26 lb) kettlebell and men should use a 16 kg or 35 lb kettlebell. (Kettlebells are traditionally sold in kilograms, usually multiples of 4.) General recommendations are that you should start with a kettlebell that you can bench press three to five times over your head, or that you should use the same kettlebell for both swings. , and for Turkish rises . .

But the swing can be hard. For example, hundreds of pounds of weight. I was swinging with 32kg kettlebells in each hand, which means the total weight I was swinging was about my own weight. You’ll see the big guys load the T-bar with barbell plates as they outgrow the kettlebells they have.

Guys, you do not need to lift the child over your head several times to swing it on a swing. For the same reason, you shouldn’t base the weight of a kettlebell swing on what you can push or what you can hold above your head.

Coincidentally, a good rocking weight for most people will be about the same weight as a small child. (However, I can confirm from experience that kettlebells are a more comfortable rocking shape, and they don’t squirm or scream as much.)

If your main reason for doing kettlebell lifting is because you want to compete in kettlebell lifting or really want to do bench press or turkish clean, then of course go ahead and start small. But if the main reason you’re buying a kettlebell is so you can swing it—the first thing kettlebells are good for—get the heavy ones.

How heavy should a swing kettlebell be?

If you want to train with kettlebells and can only afford one bar to start with, make it a heavy bar that is difficult to swing. Can’t you click on it above your head? That’s okay – train your arms with push-ups while you save up for a second, smaller dumbbell.

How big should this swinging bell be? Here’s how I recommend finding a starting point:

• Use a kettlebell that is too heavy to lift forward . The barbell forward raise is an exercise in which you lift the weight in front of you to shoulder height with straight arms. Hold the kettlebell with both hands and try to lift it forward. If possible, it is too easy for a swing.
• Use a bell that is too heavy to press . A kettlebell that you can barely press for 1-3 reps is the lightest kettlebell you should use for swings. A little heavier would be better.
• Consider a bar that weighs 1/3 of your best deadlift weight. If you’re experienced with barbell deadlifts, this should give you a good heavy swing option. This is probably the heavier part of what you might want to rock, and it’s okay if you’re not ready for it right away.
• Use a bell that you can swing about 10-20 times. I mean, why not just wave the bells and see what you can do? You can go to the gym or sporting goods store and just work your way up. Ten to twenty reps isn’t a hard and fast rule, but you should think about a dumbbell that really challenges you, not something that you could effortlessly pump all day.

This last test is what I did to buy my first kettlebell, the day before the stores closed due to the pandemic. I could easily download 32, and 40 with difficulty. I bought a 40, rightly assuming that I would grow into it .

Taking all these recommendations together: you want something heavy enough that you can’t “trick” it into lifting it forward, but light enough that you can actually rock it. This gives you a wide range to work with. If you’re already lifting weights, the one-arm press and barbell deadlift will give you a reasonable range.

Taking my current self as an example, it would be somewhere between 20 and 48 kilos. If you are a beginner, I would expect the 16 to 24 kg (35 to 53 lb) range to work for you and still have room to add weight.