Poliquin: Kettlebell Swings Are Bad For You

[BlackPyjamas]

So I just came across an interesting Tim Ferris podcast. His guest is Charles Poliquin. About 2hrs and 3 mins in, he talks about kettlebell swings being dangerous for the back, and that they can potentially cause back problems which may not surface right away.

Poliquin has a good reputation, but I'm taking this particular view of his with a big fat pinch of salt. Prof Stuart McGill endorses kettelbell swings as beneficial for spinal health, and the man has a phd in spinal biomechanics or something similar.

Curious as to which way you guys are leaning toward on this, and if you've ever had issues yourself with swings.

http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/07/21/ ... -poliquin/

Anecdotally, I've been doing swings regularly coming up on 8 years, and I've never had a problem.

[Barkadion]

kettlebell swings being dangerous for the back, and that they can potentially cause back problems which may not surface right away.

Being alive can be dangerous as well.. It can potentially cause hell a lot of different problems and eventually a death..

[lennarn]

People can get hurt from any exercise as long as they are doing it wrong, or progressing too fast, or something unexpected happens. The only exercise I avoid because of injury potential is behind the neck press.

[Gerryatric]

I would say that how you. do the kettlebell swing barbell deadlift bend down to tie your shoelace can eventually cause you problems . The key is proper training and common sends

[Blackmetalbunny]

I think that context is critical here and the context to consider here is that Charles is talking about moving maximal weight, as well as the displacement of the weight away from the body.

He doesn't specifically elaborate on the how and the why the kettle bell swing is dangerous in his words "there is no safe way to do a kettle bell swing", which in itself is a fallacy - how dangerous will it be to swing a 4kg weight?

There are many permutations that aren't specifically considered:

1. Are you doing the swing for max reps or max effort or max weight?

2. He didn't say the American Swing or the RKC swing. Presumably; he's referring to any swing. That said, snatching your bodyweight over your head isn't safe either - there are too many examples on YouTube. Yet he mentions the Oly lifts as some of the exercises that he considers a more efficient way to train your glutes.

3. He says earlier that there has been no new innovation in fitness training methodology since 19whenever, but KB Swings aren't new, the Russians have been doing it for a long time. He also mentions have in a saturated fitness industry, people have been known to say things against the grain just to get ahead, presumably he's not innocent of this either.

He might or might not be wrong, but I'd take a pinch of salt from him given his training philosophy of old-school, old time training.

[lennarn]

If you're hip hinging correctly and have the isometric strength to keep your spine braced, you should be safe. The problem is likely that these things aren't trivial with most training populations that have an assortment of previous injuries and fubar movement patterns.

[BlackPyjamas]

People can get hurt from any exercise as long as they are doing it wrong, or progressing too fast, or something unexpected happens. The only exercise I avoid because of injury potential is behind the neck press.

This isn't a question of form. Poliquin isn't saying swings with bad form are bad for you, rather swings are bad for your back period because of the angle and manner that they stress various parts of the back.

[BlackPyjamas]

I would say that how you. do the kettlebell swing barbell deadlift bend down to tie your shoelace can eventually cause you problems . The key is proper training and common sends

No doubt, but it isn't a question of form. Charles isn't saying swings with bad form are bad for you, he's saying swings are bad for you.

[BlackPyjamas]

I think that context is critical here and the context to consider here is that Charles is talking about moving maximal weight, as well as the displacement of the weight away from the body.

He doesn't specifically elaborate on the how and the why the kettle bell swing is dangerous in his words "there is no safe way to do a kettle bell swing", which in itself is a fallacy - how dangerous will it be to swing a 4kg weight?

There are many permutations that aren't specifically considered:

1. Are you doing the swing for max reps or max effort or max weight?

2. He didn't say the American Swing or the RKC swing. Presumably; he's referring to any swing. That said, snatching your bodyweight over your head isn't safe either - there are too many examples on YouTube. Yet he mentions the Oly lifts as some of the exercises that he considers a more efficient way to train your glutes.

3. He says earlier that there has been no new innovation in fitness training methodology since 19whenever, but KB Swings aren't new, the Russians have been doing it for a long time. He also mentions have in a saturated fitness industry, people have been known to say things against the grain just to get ahead, presumably he's not innocent of this either.

He might or might not be wrong, but I'd take a pinch of salt from him given his training philosophy of old-school, old time training.

Good points.

[lennarn]

he's saying swings are bad for you.

Then I'll just have to disagree with him on that point. I happen to think kettlebell swings are among the best exercises you can do for general post chain work and don't understand why they are so bad. Maybe you can elaborate on the reasons he gives?