Exercise of the Day - Kettlebell Swings

If you do not have a kettlebell or access to a kettlebell like if you are doing this at home, you can use a gallon jug filled with water (that's about 8 lbs) or two gallon jugs if you want to go heavier. It is important to note that this is typically a timed exercise not a rep count exercise, so start with 30 seconds with 30 seconds in between if you are a beginner, if you are fit go for 2 mins with 30 secs between for 5 to 10 sets.

Here is a good video explaining the technique.

http://youtu.be/q0jalJ-3e7U

You should do figure eights tomorrow.  Those are so much fun.  I love kettlebell swings. 

When you do kettlebell swings how many sets/reps do you do? What is typical?

Depends on the workout - occasionally we do them for Tabata and it's 8 sets of 20 seconds, on kitchen sink days it's three rounds of 45 seconds with a lot of exercises in between (hence kitchen sink), random days we do them for three minutes for maybe 3-4 rounds (that's the max usually), for a "normal" workout it's a minute, rest 10 seconds, maybe three rounds.  I've been doing mostly single arm swings because I'm trying to work on my coordination and getting more comfortable swinging.  The longest I've done is five minutes for double arm swings

So it is more of a timed thing, not a reps thing. I will update the post.

I've done reps, but I think timed is easier because it's easy to lose count.  The swings are pretty quick, and it's easier to focus on proper form when you're not trying to keep count in your head.  Maybe that's just me :)

Whatever you do, do not chew gum while you exercise. You are already bruised up enough.