The "wall touch" drill

A very common mistake exercisers make when performing a kettle bell swing is to move too much from the knees and not enough from the hips (too much knee flexion, not enough hip flexion). This reduces the amount of involvement of the hips, glutes, shoulders and abdomen, which severely limits power production and therefore reduces the efficiency of your swing.




What we use as a cue at The Training Rim is to tell the “swinger” to reach as far back as they can with their arm between their legs. The swinger should end up with their forearm between their thighs, not with their hand toward the ground. This forces the hips to flex more and the knees less. However, it’s imperative to reach back as far as you can between your legs without your shoulders and head dropping forward, so it’s best to practice in front of a mirror. If you can’t see your face and front of your shoulders in your reflection, it probably means you’re dropping your head – be sure to keep the head up and shoulders back.




Like many things that are worth practicing, this may feel awkward and restrictive at first, but it’s worth the practice.




The improvement that follows will allow you to improve your swing which will immeasurably improve:




· your total body strength
· cardio endurance
· shoulder health
· back health
· Appearance of your abdomen and butt.




Think it’s worth the practice now? Thought so…




So we’ve developed what we call the “wall touch”:




This is a great drill that we’ve been using as a general warm up in our workouts and as a pre-cursor to a kettle bell workout. We’ve found it forms good habits, gets the heart rate up, and is a great dynamic stretch all in one.




Stand with your back to a wall with your heels about 6 inches away from the wall. (It’s not necessary to have a mirror in front of you but it may help).




Reach between your legs with your arm and try to touch the wall behind you with your hand. Make sure to keep your head up and shoulders back as you do so. Repeat with the other arm – when you can do 3 or 4 with each arm, and still keep your head up and shoulders back, step slightly further away from the wall and try again.




Use this as a warm up before performing some swings. Then start swinging with a kettle bell that’s slightly lighter than you would normally use. Do a handful of swings on each side, emphasizing the movement you just practiced – be sure your arm and the kettle bell are between and/or behind your legs, not going straight to the floor.




In fact, a good rule of thumb is that if the kettle bell gets anywhere near the floor, you’re doing something wrong. Make sure the KB is going back – not down.




The drill:




Start: Assume the position as if you were about to swing…







Finish: Reach back, touch the wall with your hand, but keep your head up and shoulders back!








Repeat, alternating right and left arms.




Next time you swing remember this drill – be sure your swinging arm is staying away from the floor and instead is traveling through your legs.




Try it out and let me know how it went!