The American kettlebell swings involve swinging the weight between your legs and up over your head. It’s a full body move that gets every part of the body working to stabilise and move as the weight swings from floor to ceiling.

It’s great because:

It requires one piece of equipment: You only need one kettlebell and that’s it.
It’s a whole-body mover: By recruiting so many muscles at once, you can build serious strength from this one move.
You can work on flexibility, balance and strength: It requires hip mobility, core strength to keep you balanced as the weight moves and strength the weight as it does so.
It’s a key cardio move: While you can build a lot of strength from kettlebell swings, it’s primarily used or its cardio effect. Add into your strength circuit to give your heart a good workout!
It improves posture and grip strength: Both of these are crucial for staying functional for longer. You’ve got to maintain a tight grip around the kettlebell handle as it flies into the air, while keeping the spine nice and long to avoid backache.

The key to swings is making sure that you have the right weight. Too light and you might find that it’s harder to control the movement. We recommend trying at least an 8kg kettlebell.

Give American kettlebell swings a go for a stronger everything