Kettlebell Swing Modifications

Recently, I met a doctor here in the Sacramento area who, in addition to his medical practice, owns a weight loss clinic.  He has two BodPods at his clinic – a pretty rare, and super expensive body composition measurement device.

We got to talking, and when I mentioned how I had always wanted to get my BF% measured with one of these devices, he offered to do a test for me.  It was a great experience – and very helpful in the big picture of reaching my ultimate fitness goal(s).

(If you are in the Sac area, I would highly recommend hopping over to his clinic and getting this test done.  I’ll send out more details about exactly how you can set this up on my training site, Forest Vance Training, in the next week or so.)

Good news is, I have lost some body fat since the beginning of the year. But I am still about two or three pounds away from my “fighting weight”. So, I need to keep focusing on fat loss … which in my world, means I need to keep doing lots of kettlebell swings 

High volume swing workouts – like the ones in this program - are typically the approach I take to using kettlebells for fat loss.  But when you’re doing hundreds of swings in a single workout, you need to know how to “manage fatigue”.  Which is what today’s video is all about.

Check out the video below, then read the recap below it:

Video Recap

Hey guys, Forest Vance here from FVT Boot Camp in Sacramento, CA. One of the staple exercises in our boot camp program is the kettlebell swing. What we do many times, for a variety of different reasons, if we have people that are just starting off and getting going … if it’s towards the end of a workout we always value safety and want to make sure that people are using good form through the end so we use this when you’re getting smoked out and your form starts to deteriorate. We have a couple different modifications on the kettlebell swing that I want to share with you and break down in this video.

Two very basic ones. The standard two hand kettlebell swing. The kettlebell is coming to about shoulder level and that is what our standard swing looks like. Now if you start to fatigue and get smoked out, let’s say you are doing 100 reps, let’s say your form is not quite on point yet and you’re just getting tired and you know you are breaking down … instead of trying to keep going and getting sloppy go to a half swing. You’re just going to think, snap the hips and let the ‘bell swing up about halfway. That’s your variation number one.

Variation number two is you can switch to a sumo dead lift and you can practice a hip hinge. So you’re swinging away and you get to rep 30 and start getting smoked out I can switch to your half swing … now I’m getting smoked … now I switch to my dead lift. Then I can keep going, I can finish my set and keep getting a workout and I can continue on and practice my skills and drills and get into great shape and keep doing the workout you want to do.

In summary – if you’re just getting started with the kettlebell swing, or if you’re doing high rep/volume swing workouts and need to “manage” your fatigue, this video will help you.  Incorporate these techniques into your training today for better results!

That’s it for now – train hard, and talk soon -

Forest Vance, MS, RKC II

PS- Are you looking to get more help with your kettlebell workouts? Looking for a downtown Sacramento personal trainer? Check out my training site at ForestVanceTraining.com!