Zen and the Art of Swing Maintenance

“It is the achieving of the perfect strike which is the goal of Kendo. You are given the rare opportunity to concentrate single-mindedly on one simple, yet unattainable goal: the perfect strike.”—Zen Master Dogen

The above quote is referring to the martial art of kendo, the way of the sword. I will simply replace the word strike with swing, kendo with kettlebell, and it will sum up our hard style practice philosophy.

Keep in mind that perfection is impossible. I recall Fabio Zonin, StrongFirst Certified Master Instructor, speaking at a SFG Level I, “I once thought I did a perfect swing, but I was mistaken.”

This leads to the next quote from head coach and general manager of the Green Bay Packers, Vince Lombardi, who led the team to three NFL championships and to victories in Super Bowls I and II (1967 and 1968). “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.”

That is what we are all about at StrongFirst, catching excellence.

Chasing Perfection

When teaching and troubleshooting the kettlebell swing or any other skill we have a hierarchy that we must follow. Like sculpting a statue, we must first carve the general shape and then and only then can we refine the details. The first step of any progressive learning setting is to make sure the technique is safe. We are called StrongFirst but we must be SafeFirst. We’re not worried about perfection yet; we just simply need to ensure the practice is not dangerous.

The two most critical areas of a safe swing practice are posture and timing.

Posture

In the practice of the kettlebell swing we must make certain our students can maintain the neutral spine while hinging the hips at the beginning of the swing and that they are not hyperextending the lower back during the lockout. Bad posture in either one of these positions can cause injury.

Timing

The next troublesome spot of the swing is when the student moves their hips too early after the float. Moving your hips early puts a tremendous amount of stress on your lower back.

Cole Summers, StrongFirst Certified Senior Instructor from Canada, makes the analogy of trying to pick something heavy up out of the trunk of your car. You have to bend over and reach way out in front of you. The weight is far away from your hips and all the stress and strain has to be taken by your lower back. This is exactly what happens when you move your hips too early on the downswing.

The correct timing is to maintain a vertical plank until the kettlebell is very close to your body. Then, at the last possible moment hinge back quickly. This means the weight of the kettlebell is close to your center of gravity allowing your glutes and hamstrings to absorb the majority of the load.

Once we have taken care of these big problems and the student’s form is safe, we are free to start working on the smaller details.

Troubleshooting

Learning to troubleshoot as a new coach takes time. It is not an exact science. Part experience, part intuition, and part trial and error. The following advice will help you fast track your coaching learning curve.

Troubleshooting has three main components.

1. Identify
2. Select
3. Communicate

Identify

First you need to develop a coach’s eye and be able not only to identify a problem but also figure out the root cause of the problem. We want to fix the cause not simply treat the symptom. This comes through experience and it is very helpful when first starting out to become an apprentice. Volunteer to assist at certifications and courses. Intern for experienced coaches and shadow them.

Select

Once you identify the problem, the next thing you must do is select the correct drill to fix the problem. With experience you will be able to sleuth out the linchpin corrective that will make all the difference in the world to the student’s form. More on tool selection later.

Communicate

Now that you’ve identified the problem and selected the correct tools to fix it, you must communicate that to student. They need to be able to feel the difference. This way they can internalize the correct technique and make it their own.

How To Use Your SFG Level I Manual

Your SFG Level I Manual is one of the best tools you have as a new instructor. You should use it much like you would the owner’s manual of a power tool or high-end television. When you run into trouble, you turn to the troubleshooting section of your owner’s manual and look up what to do if your “machine” is having a certain issue.

To take some of the guess work out of troubleshooting it is very helpful to break “problems” into categories of common mistakes just like the owner’s manual mentioned above.

We can use the acronym SET.

Starting problems: these aremistakes that happen at the beginning of the swing. This includes the setup, backswing, and drive.

Ending problems: theseerrors happen at the end (or top) of the swing, otherwise known as the lockout. These include posture and lack of tension in the vertical plank and unpacked shoulders.

Timing problems: timing problems (also known as rhythm) occur in the middle of the swing. This includes but is not limited to:

• Moving the hips too soon after the lockout.
• Bending the knees before bending the hips after the lockout.
• The proper timing of the biomechanical breathing match.

Here are examples of fixes and categories using troubleshooting drills from the SFG Level I Manual:

Now let’s look at each one in turn.

Starting Problems

Be Like a Pilot Part #1: Pre-flight Checklist

Before a pilot flies his plane, he has a pre-flight checklist he must complete. No matter how much experience he has, he must always use the checklist. We must do the same thing before we swing. This is known as the setup. It has been said, “Your setup should be considered your first rep.” Your routine should be the same before every set. This needs to become a pre-flight ritual. I have adapted the below setup routine from StrongFirst Certified Senior Instructor Woo Chae Yoon. In fact, Woo Chae has a cool mantra to help students remember the setup sequence and develop good habits:

Foot, foot. Hips. Hands. Lats.

First, be calm in front of the kettlebell. Many people are very excited to swing the kettlebell and they rush this part. They just mindlessly grab the kettlebell and start swinging. Before you grab the handle take a moment and be calm. Focus on the lift you are about to do.

Second, set your feet. Firmly plant your feet in your swing stance at the proper distance from the kettlebell and leave them there. Your feet should not move at all during the setup. Say, “Foot, foot” as you plant them.

Third, hinge your hips. Place your knife hands on the crease of your hips and initiate your hip hinge but pushing your hips back with your hands. Say, “Hips.”

Fourth, grab the handle of the kettlebell with both hands keeping your eyes on your focal point, which could be the spot where the wall and floor meet. Pavel says, “Look down at the horizon.” Say, “Hands.”

Fifth, activate your lats by trying to bend the handle of the kettlebell while keeping your elbows straight. Say, “Lats.” Now you are ready to inhale through your nose, sniff some air, and perform your back swing.

Be Like a Pilot Part #2: Practice Touches and Goes

When someone is learning to fly an airplane, much time is spent practicing take-offs and landings. The student pilot along with their instructor will take off from the runway, circle around the airport, briefly touch down or land and take-off again. They do this over and over because take-offs and landings are where many problems show up. During the course of an hour of flight instruction the student gets a tremendous amount of practice on take-offs and landings compared to just taking off once, flying around for 45 minutes and landing once. This procedure is called “touches and goes.”

In the kettlebell world, the dead stop swing (DSS) is our “touch and go” practice. Once we have the proper setup routine down, we are ready to practice the dead stop swing.

How to use the dead stop swing in a coaching session:

• The student performs the setup.
• Instructor corrects stance, posture, etc. …
• Instructor gives the command to swing.
• Student performs one swing and lands the kettlebell in the same spot as the initial setup.
• Instructor gives feedback. Corrects stance and posture if needed.
• Instructor gives a focus of the next rep. Example: “That was really good, your backswing was great. This rep I want you to really focus on contracting your glutes at the top of the swing.”
• Instructor gives the command to swing again.
• Student swings again trying to improve via instructor feedback.
• The process repeats.

Because it is not advisable to give cues and feedback during an active set of a ballistic movement like the swing, there is a great advantage to this type of training. The student is busy swinging and cannot focus on what the coach is saying. Cues given during the execution of the swing at best will go unnoticed and at worst will distract the student. Instead, the instructor has time to give feedback and cuing between reps when the kettlebell is parked. The student can then focus on what they need to do to improve the next rep.

Coached this way the dead stop swing can be used to fix many of the starting issues that arise. Once the single dead stop swing is looking good, we can ask the student to do two swings before they park the kettlebell, and then progress to three. If at any point things break down, we simply regress the student back to singles or doubles.

Important Note

When trying to develop a skill we need to honor the 3Fs of skill practice.

F1 = Fresh. We do not want the student to get tired. Fatigue is a poor teacher. It is better to end the set when you see the reps improve instead of having them practice to the point that their form regresses. The student will only “remember” the last few reps and we want those reps to represent the best in the set. Stop before they have to.

F2= Frequent. To get good at something the student needs to practice it often.

F3= Flawless. The student needs to try to improve his form each and every rep.

The Reverse Dead Stop Swing (RDDS)

I learned this excellent drill from my friend Woo Chae Yoon. He perfected it and I named it.

The reverse dead stop swing is the opposite of the dead stop swing. It is used to correct lockout issues and timing. As with the dead stop swing, the reverse dead stop swing allows us to take a freeze frame in time. Instead of that snapshot being at the beginning of the swing, in the RDSS the pause is at the top. Here is how it works:

• Instructor stands off to the side of the student.
• The student performs the setup with a little lighter kettlebell than snatch test size.
• Instructor gives command to swing.
• At the lockout, when the kettlebell is floating, the instructor catches the kettlebell and holds it.
• Instructor coaches and cues the vertical plank if needed.
• If the instructor identified a timing issue during the test phase of troubleshooting, the instructor will tell the student to maintain plank and not move their hips until the last possible minute.
• Instructor fakes letting go of the kettlebell.
• If the student’s hips move at the fake, the instructor repeats the fake.
• Once the student successfully holds plank, the instructor lets go of the kettlebell and the student hinges with the proper timing.
• Repeat for several reps.

Once the single reverse dead stop swing is looking good, we can ask the student to do two swings before the instructor catches the kettlebell, and then three. If at any point things break down, just regress to singles or doubles.

Please see the RDSS Video.

Between the DSS and the RDSS you will be able to handle 95% of the problems that should arise with your student.

It is my hope that this article dramatically improves your troubleshooting ability, fast tracks your student’s skill development, and you successfully catch excellence.

“Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself.”—Chinese Proverb