KB Swing: A swing 20 times or 20 swings at time?

[curlbroscience]

Defining the RKC KB Swing by David Whitley

Standards exist in all the techniques of the RKC.

If you are an RKC (or HKC) and you are doing swings, they should meet this standard. The video above shows what it is supposed to look like (with the exception of my head turn to make sure Iwas till in frame, sorry about that). Video yourself and compare it to the standard written below. If something you are doing doesn’t match the standard THEN FIX IT. Especially if you are going to post a video of yourself swinging.

From the 2012 RKC Instructor Manual:

Task: Swing, one arm

Condition:Swing a snatch size kettlebell back between your legs and then in front of you up to the chest level for 10 repetitions.

Standard:

1. The back is neutral. The neck is slightly extended or neutral on the bottom of theswing.

2. The heels, toes, and the balls of the feet are planted and the knees track the toes.

3. The working shoulder is packed.

4. The kettlebell handle passes above the knees during the backswing.

5. The working arm is straight in the bottom position.6. There is no forward knee movement (increasing ankle dorsiflexion) on the upswing.

7. The body forms a straight line on the top of the swing: the hips and knees extend fully, the spine is neutral.

8. The kettlebell forms an extension of the straight arm at the top of the swing.

9. The biomechanical breathing match.

10. The abs and glutes visibly contract at the top of the swing.

11. The kettlebell floats momentarily on the top of the swing

Now I've seen many RKC (popular ones) perform the swing and some over exaggerate the pop and hip hinge like the Iron Tamer,

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5Ls576DFGc&feature=channel&list=UL
[/youtube]

other RKC like Reifkind have more of a subtle pop and hip hinge.

[meguro]

I adopt a softer style of swing, like this one.


I even get my hairband to match the bell.

[GJEC]

I can't do that finger grip and bent arm she demonstrates. As for shadowing the move with her free arm, I've never seen that before.

But I enjoyed her demo ...



Gary

[MMX]

I am pursuing certification for RKC so I am doing the RKC swing. I also like the effect it has on my torso and my abs/glutes are getting really strong.

[curlbroscience]

[meguro]

Apr 13, 2012 11:16:18 GMT -5 MMX said:

I am pursuing certification for RKC so I am doing the RKC swing. I also like the effect it has on my torso and my abs/glutes are getting really strong.

Cool! What's involved in certification?

[MMX]

There are 2

The HKC certification is a 1 day course and they go over the TGU,Swing and Goblet squat. You have to have good form and they test you on teaching others and there is a fitness test to pass which includes 5 strict form pull ups.

The more advanced course is the RKC which is a 3 day event. They go over the big 6 (TGU,Goblet/Front Squat,Swing,Snatch,Clean,Military Press) and there is test for the Snatch that if you don't pass you don't get certified.

chroniclesofstrength.com/1/post/2011/5/breaking-down-the-big-six-rkc-style.html

The local RKC gym here hosts an HKC test each year but I just missed this one so I will wait till next year.

I want to get out of doing IT work and move into training. I have a good connection at a Crossfit Gym and I may start teaching KB's there after I get certified.

[hangtime]

Apr 16, 2012 11:20:21 GMT -5 MMX said:

I want to get out of doing IT work and move into training. I have a good connection at a Crossfit Gym and I may start teaching KB's there after I get certified.

I have had the same thought...it didn't go over very well, lol.

OSU!

[curlbroscience]

The crossfit program teaches a different swing than the RKC. It goes above the top neutral position prescribed in the RKC and ends over head.



Crossfit Swing

I wanted to get cert'd too but we run out of free money (kids!!) to get it done. Hopefully within the next few years. It used to be that the money that went towards your HKC could be applied towards the RKC, but they did away with that program.

Best of luck MMX.

[MMX]

I think the Crossfit swing is a bad idea.

Wasted movement and dangerous to the shoulder mobility. Snatch instead.

[GJEC]

Some of the Crossfit stuff reminds me of the original Kyokushin mentality:

"If 50 is good for you, we'll do 500!"

Gary

[curlbroscience]

If Kyokushin is Crossfit in rep mentality is power lifting equivalent to other karate styles particularly point sparring in that it's a single, quick fast lift for judging technique, form and successful completion?

@mmx, I agree. The crossfit swing seems to overcomplicate for the sake of being complicated. Anything higher than the chest region should be CnP or Snatch. Maybe a high pull, but I think that they ruled that one as not so good.

[GJEC]

Apr 17, 2012 9:14:19 GMT -5 curlbroscience said:

If Kyokushin is Crossfit in rep mentality is power lifting equivalent to other karate styles particularly point sparring in that it's a single, quick fast lift for judging technique, form and successful completion?

Not sure about that one. The lifetime of effort that goes into training for that maximum lift probably elevates it to a higher level of intensity than a flicky uraken ...

But what I meant was, the programming sometimes seems bizarre. Hundreds of reps of exercises that seem pretty marginal (just like we used to do hundreds of reps of skills we never, ever used)

But hey, they're producing results, making money and people love it. What's not to like?



Gary

[curlbroscience]

I agree with you regarding the crossfit schedule. Complex OH snatch for extremely high multiples can be quite risky when technique starts to degrade midway through a set.

In theory the flicky uraken or strong gyaku tsuki is supposed to be the decided one hit strike. Perfect timing, accuracy, technique, and power. Training one technique over and over again to only need it to land once perfectly in competition. Subtle changes in form to improve overall performance. Sort of the Miyamoto Musashi of weight training philosophies.

Obviously not the same intensity, but perhaps the same mentality and attention to detail for a single technique?

Honestly hadn't given any thought to the mental process of that type of weight training scheme until you mentioned the Kyokushin for Crossfit idea.

[meguro]

I don't know how we got to the one strike ideal in karate from 20 kb swings, but here we are. ;D Personally, I think ikken hissatsu is delusional thinking as it applies to bare handed sp. When armed soldiers and LEO's are training to put two rounds in the chest and one in the head, it is not practical, and probably a disservice to karate students, to promote this thinking. If otoh ikken hissatsu is recognized as an unattainable goal in a regimen of self improvement, then everything is peachy.

As for crossfit training, I like it, but not to the point that I puke.