The kettlebell swing is one of the best exercises you can do if you’re trying to burn calories and build muscle at the same time.
The kettlebell swing can also help to strengthen your back, legs, and core muscles as well as improve your balance and coordination.
In addition, as you become stronger with the swing, weight loss will become easier with your increased muscle mass.
But what is the number of calories burned from kettlebell swings?
Keep reading to find out!
You’ll be surprised at just how much energy the swing can burn off!
While kettlebells are incredibly versatile, they are primarily known for one exercise—the kettlebell swing.
The kettlebell swing is an exercise that targets many of your lower body muscles while also improving your cardiovascular health.
There are two main types of kettlebell swings—one-arm and two-arm—and it’s up to you to decide which variation is best for you.
We’ll discuss the best ways to do kettlebell swings, the amount of calories burned, and how the average person can add them into their strength training.
The muscles in your arms and legs move quickly during kettlebell swings, which means they’re working hard.
Research has shown that people who do 20 minutes of high-intensity exercise can burn up to 800 calories, whereas those who do moderate-intensity activity for the same amount of time might only burn 400 or 500 calories.
How Many Calories Will 10 Minutes Of Swings Burn?
One of the best benefits of kettlebell workouts is that it doesn’t require heavy weights.
Because kettlebells are so compact, you can get a full-body workout with just one or two, depending on your fitness level.
But while lighter weights are better for improving your form and increasing endurance, they may not be enough to build mass.
If you’re looking to burn fat and lose weight, consider adding a kettlebell exercises routine.
A single ten-minute kettlebell swing workout could burn anywhere from 250 calories to 450 calories, depending on how hard you go.
Whether or not you think that’s worth it really depends on your goals.
If you want to lose weight, burning 250 calories with 10 minutes of kettlebell swings is pretty substantial—that’s about as much as a nice run outside or an intense cardio session at home.
However, if you just want to burn off some extra energy before work or have fun with friends without feeling like your head will explode, 10 minutes of intense exercise might be too much.
This compound exercise is a great exercise to add to your resistance training for more than just its benefits in fat loss workouts.
Improved core strength, aerobic capacity, and a boost in testosterone levels are just a few of the other benefits you get from kettlebell swings.
What Is A Kettlebell Swing?
A kettlebell swing is a full-body exercise that engages most major muscle groups.
It requires you to push and pull with your arms and legs as you shift your weight from one foot to another, which gives it a cardio quality.
Unlike most other forms of exercise, you use both sides of your body in tandem during a kettlebell swing.
That’s because you must alternate between pushing your hips back and bending forward at your waist to create momentum for each repetition.
In addition, each time you swing a kettlebell overhead, there is an added resistance component to consider due to gravity.
The resulting movement makes it difficult to perform more than 10 repetitions without taking short breaks.
A kettlebell swing is a ballistic exercise that primarily targets muscles in your buttocks, hamstrings, lower back, and shoulders.
While there are many ways to do a kettlebell swing, it typically involves holding a kettlebell with both hands on either side of your hips, then swinging it between your legs before extending your arms forward and lifting the weight to chest level.
Check out these kettlebell movements you can add to your next workout!
The most common mistake people make when performing a kettlebell swing is swinging too low.
This can put a great deal of stress on your lower back.
It’s best to keep your knees slightly bent as you perform a kettlebell swing.
Before moving onto heavier kettlebells it’s best to make sure you have your technique correct. Injuries will only compound with more weight.
The following steps outline how to do a kettlebell swing correctly:
Stand with feet shoulder-width apart.
Hold a kettlebell by its handle with both hands, then bend down and grasp it just below its center with both hands.
Your arms should be hanging straight down from your shoulders and elbows bent slightly outwards at about 90 degrees from your torso.
With legs locked into place, exhale as you use your hips to thrust forward with a flat back until your body forms a straight line from head to heels.
Try not to arch your back as you swing—this is where many beginners go wrong since doing so prevents you from getting a full range of motion during each rep.
Inhale as you return to starting position, where knees are locked and core engaged throughout the entire movement.
Repeat 10 times. Rest for 30 seconds between sets, focusing on taking deep breaths while waiting for time to pass.
Complete three sets. Each set should consist of 10 reps performed with perfect form.
Check out these best leg exercises with kettlebells here!
What Is A Calorie?
The term calorie is often thrown around by fitness experts, but what does it mean exactly?
Put simply, a calorie is a unit of energy.
The more calories you consume in your diet, the more fuel you’re providing your body with.
Your body then uses that fuel to do all sorts of things like move, breathe, and so on.
Every day, most people use up about 2,000-2,500 calories.
On average for men about 13% comes from protein, 34% from carbs, and 53% from fat. For women, it’s closer to 11%, 30%, and 59%.
Of course, these figures vary widely depending on weight and activity level. So what does all of that have to do with kettlebell swings?
Well, one common way to track calories burned during exercise is to estimate how many total kilocalories (that’s thousands of calories) you burn over a certain period of time.
A single pound of fat equals 3,500 kilocalories, so if you cut 500 off your daily intake through dieting or increased exercise, you could expect to lose one pound every week.
That doesn’t sound too bad until you consider that:
1. Most people would rather not eat less than half their normal food intake and
2. Most workout routines only burn 100-200 kilocalories per session for each hour spent sweating.
For more on how to get your calories right, check out this article.
What Muscles Do Kettlebell Swings Work?
Kettlebell swings are a weightlifting exercise that targets your posterior chain, helping to strengthen your glutes, hamstrings, and lower back.
Because they engage many of these muscle groups at once, kettlebell swings are a very effective exercise that on its own could almost replace full body workouts!
They also require minimal equipment, making them convenient for home workouts or trips to the gym.
Since you can perform kettlebell swings almost anywhere, it’s an ideal exercise if you want to start training without investing in new equipment or hiring a trainer.
However, proper form is essential when performing any weight-training exercise.
If done incorrectly, kettlebell swings could strain your muscles and joints.
To use a kettlebell to work for the muscle groups in your entire body you can look at adding in movements like kettlebell snatches, goblet squats, one-arm swing, and clean and press.
Find out the difference between kettlebells and dumbbells here.
When paired with a good diet a high intensity workout with kettlebells is going to increase strength while it burns calories and fitness level will go through the roof.
Training with kettlebells offers great cardiovascular training also makes them an effective way to improve physical fitness while burning a ton of calories!
Benefits Of Kettlebell Swings
There are many benefits of using kettlebells.
The best one is that they are just fun to use, but that isn’t all they have to offer.
They are great for your muscles, your cardiovascular system, and your mind.
If you are looking for a workout that will help you get in shape quickly, while also giving you time to think or even socialize with other people while exercising, then kettlebells might be exactly what you need.
In addition to burning a lot of calories very quickly, kettlebell swings will make your core stronger too because when they swing their arms back and forth quickly it engages your core muscles by forcing them to stay tight so that you don’t fall over from momentum caused by the movement if gravity pulled you forward at an angle instead of straight down like normal walking would do.
This helps tone up these areas in a way no other exercise does for most people!
So if toned abs are what you want, then try adding in some kettlebell swings into your routine.
You can still add kettlebell swings into more traditional workouts though.
Maybe instead of sitting on the treadmill for 30 minutes at the end of a workout, try a 20-minute kettlebell workout instead.
It doesn’t even need to be done at a fast pace, a 20-minute workout with a kettlebell is going to improve fitness levels in the least amount of time.
How Many Kettlebell Swings Should I Do?
If you’re new to kettlebells and wondering how many swings should you do, it’s all about finding your sweet spot:
You want enough swings that make you break a sweat, but not so many that you start feeling fatigued.
A solid base amount of reps is anywhere from 20 to 50, with 10 being a good starting point for most folks.
And once you find a set number of swings that works for you, keep going back to them until fatigue sets in.
Whatever way you slice it up though, aim for quality over quantity here—it may feel like a lot more work at first, but fewer total repetitions will help ensure proper form stays intact over time.
Kettlebell swings can also be replicated with resistance bands as I show you in this video below.
But for more on resistance bands and how they are about to become your gym replacement you can use anywhere.
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