Kettlebell swings are a brilliant exercise - they're one of the best exercises around for developing a strong, healthy and powerful posterior chain AND anyone who has done them will tell you they get the heart rate up very quickly. Think no impact running with a resistance workout for the muscles in your body that most need working if you want everyday functionality or improved sports performance.  Does it get any better than that?

Unfortunately, most of the evidence for the benefits of swings in the Western World is anecdotal, which has meant the acceptance of exercises such as kettlebell swings in the mainstream fitness industry has been disappointingly slow. There are very few people out there who won't derive far more benefit from doing doing kettlebell swings than they will from half an hour of machine weights in a gym.

The Swing Study

The good news is, a recent study from Truman State University in the US has confirmed what kettlebell lovers in the West have known for many years - the kettlebell swing is excellent for cardiorespiratory fitness.  And if you value your joint health and don't want to pound the pavement, this is a very good thing.

The study involved taking ten college aged men and measuring their VO2 and heart during a workout that involved doing swings at a self-determined pace for 12 minutes, trying to complete as many swings in that time period as possible.

Proof of the Superiority of Swings

The results showed that this kettlebell swing protocol maintained the subjects' heart rates at an average of 87% of maximum heart rate, and maintained VO2 at an average of 65% VO2 max.   These heart rate and VO2 levels put the workout in the category of "hard exercise" according to the American College of Sports Medicine standards.  It was concluded that the kettlebell swing workout was metabolically challenging enough to increase VO2 max.

The study also compared the kettlebell swing protocol used to the effects of circuit weight training, and concluded that the kettlebell swing protocol presents more of a cardiorespiratory challenge than tradional circuit weight training.

So, if you're after the more efficient, gentle and systemically beneficial way to improve cardiorespiratory fitness and increase VO2max grab a kettlebell and start swinging!

Download the report here

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