Kettlebell Swing

Form tips

• Set your feet with a shoulder width stance and the kettlebell about a foot in front of you. 
• Keep your back flat and tilt the bell over slightly to begin. 
• Hike the bell back between your legs while maintaining a flat back and straight arms. 
• Forcefully drive your hips forward and open to move the kettlebell out and up finishing at shoulder height.
• The first rep is from the floor, subsequent reps are a continuous swing without returning the bell to the floor until you are done. 
• This exercise is a hip hinge, the forceful movement from your hips is what drives the bell up. 

Benefits

A powerful movement that teaches us how to use our hips and gluts more efficiently and explosively. 

Overhead Squat

(Jo’s personal favorite)

Form tips

• Set your feet in a slightly wider than hip width stance with a wide grip and the bar in a back rack position. 
• Push press it up until your elbows are locked out. 
• While keeping your lumbar curve maintained and shoulders pushing up into the bar, proceed down into a full squat and back up. 
• The bar will stay just behind your head if you’re looking from the side. 
• Your midline is tight and engaged the whole time. 
• To warm up this movement and get comfortable in the position, start with either a wooden dowel or a PVC pipe to dial your form in. Make sure you have your technique down before progressing to a barbell, a 45lb barbell will be challenging at first. 

Benefits

This is a tough exercise to master right away so keep at it if it doesn’t come smoothly at first. It requires a lot of mobility, range of motion and core strength to get down to a full squat while holding a weight locked out overhead which is why this is one of my personal favorites. This is more of a core exercise than a squat despite its name. 

Read more about Jo in our Prologue, or learn more about how to build a strong foundation in Part I of this series.

Photos: Chris Wilson//@chriswilsonphoto

Gym: Mètier//Capitol Hill, Seattle