Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Glute-tastic!

What is the strongest muscle in your body relative to its size? If you said, "your tongue," you'd be right! But since this site is about kettlebells and skeletal muscle, the trick question is actually referring to your glutes. The glutes are actually several muscles, whose job is hip extension and hip external rotation. These "butt" muscles primarily serve to drive your hips forward, and because of their awesome leverage, they can produce intense, powerful contractions. In fact, to train the muscles most efficiently, you must introduce high loads (weight) with high velocity (speed) to your strength training regiment. Enter the kettlebell swing!



Because of the powerful and dynamic gluteal contractions throughout the swing, resulting from forceful hip extension, it is one of the most EFFECTIVE "butt" exercises. In addition to this aesthetic appeal, the movement is incredibly functional and easy to learn. I can teach you how to swing perfectly in less than 5 minutes. And to top it off, once mastered, the swing becomes a full body exercise, effectively strengthening every major muscle group in your body because of the heavy loads handled and the dynamic nature of the movement!

No comments:

Post a Comment