Kettlebell Swings are one of the best exercises in existence for building power, flexibility, explosiveness, and cardio conditioning. But a steady diet of only 'standard' Swings can get, well, a littleboring.
The good news is that there are actually quite a few variations of the standard two hand Kettlebell Swing. The D.A.R.C. Swing is a variation where you switch hands at the top of the movement between each repetition. Here are a couple of tips to help you perfect the DARC Swing exericise:
1. As you learn the movement, keep the 'off' hand (the one you're about to switch to) up and ready to switch. This makes it easier to 'pluck' the kettlebell out of the air when you let go with one hand and grab with the other.
2. You need to have the one hand Swing downcold before you try the Hand-to-Hand Swing. Everything in kettlebell training starts with the Swing - and the two hand version is the #1 exercise you should be looking to master. The logical progression is the two hand Swing, the one hand Swing, andthen the hand-to-hand Swing.
If you don't have the one hand Swing downbefore attempting the hand-to-hand version, you commonly end up too focused on switching hands and your form gets alljacked up - you lose your hip snap, ab brace, you end up swinging the 'bell to close to the ground, etc.
If you're not already including the DARC Swing in your kettlebell workouts, you should add it in ASAP for variety and increased gains. I hope this kettlebell training tip article gets you going in the right direction with the DARC Kettlebell Swing!
