Is Kattlebell Swing a Resistance training or a Cardio?

[ant0099]

@yochanagrace Lolz thanks for the tag. This all started because I said that kettlebells work for conditioning but not as efficiently as monostructural work

Taking a small reddit break cause I'm doing some business stuff but getting this tag was a highlight to my morning. Can't believe it's still going on hahaha

 

[wakemantk]

@yochanagrace I jump in my burpees every day. I just don't when I do them in reps over over 200. I regularly do a 1-15-1 burpee and swing pyramid where I jump. And when I don't jump in my burpee workouts I still make sure to do plyometric leg work.

Live stream. Me and you. We will jump each rep.

 

[wakemantk]

@yochanagrace How about this then since you don't want the live stream. I will go right now and record 100 straight burpees with solid form (with the jump). I will upload it. This will not count as the workout at all but will be a test to see if you will actually upload yourself doing the same. Once we have both uploaded the 100 burpees I will record a full long session of brutal hell that you will also have to try to match. Sound good?

 

[wakemantk]

@yochanagrace

Oh, hon, if you thought volume was the way to beat me you didnt do your research.

Also I don't need to do research. I do thousands of reps each week. This is what I will be doing anyway. If I can drag someone into deep waters with me, all the better. It just sounds like fun to me.

 

[ant0099]

@wakemantk I'm generally game for any challenge offered me on this subreddit. And if you assessed it to me in a better context I likely would take it. But I see little purpose in engaging with someone that flies off the handle over an otherwise civil conversation. I didn't downvote you. I don't know why you got so downvoted as I thought you made some cool training recommendations in your comment.

I've also done that same workout same weight strict at 4:52. I train pretty much every way. We likely agree on far more than we disagree on. I hope you have a great night.

 

[dolomite1]

@sezzalovesmj Swings can definitely get your lungs puffing. 12kg is too small though. I'd go with 20 or 24kg. (YMMV based on your size and strength)

 

[juancarlos]

@sezzalovesmj The load defines what it is. But indeed it is not as pure cardio as running etc can be.

 

[sharita3737]

@sezzalovesmj Short answer yes, but it depends.

Long answer: if you're new to training in general, kettlebell swings will likely strengthen your posterior chain and be a big conditioning hit as long as you're doing enough volume.

However, as you get more efficient with the movement, the strength component will slowly become a power/power endurance adaptation, which isnt a bad thing.

As others have mentioned, monostructural cardio like running and biking are preferred over swings due to the ability to tweak the intensity more easily. In particular doing easy cardio (eg Zone 2 cardio) is hard to do with kettlebell swings. Typically your grip strength also becomes a limiting factor for how much volume you can do, even at lower weights.

That being said, from a cardio perspective swings can be a great exercise to improve conditioning at higher intensities (Zone 3-5) which is why you see them in metcons and HIIT workouts, which I think are underappreciated in a training program.

 

[sunnynevada77]

@sezzalovesmj I started with 16kg, moved up to 24kg very soon after that. I'm M, 5'5", 135lbs, and mid-50s, no real sports background.

I think 16kg is a good traditional starting point and you should be able to do one-armed swings from day 1 at that weight.

Never lost too much sleep if it's cardio or not (at my 5-10 minutes a day for 100 swings I doubt it is though), if anything it feels more like something akin to judo, lots of flow, balance and mechanics.

 

[beckka]

@sezzalovesmj Swings are cardio if either:

1. You don't do any other cardio, or
2. your name is @kris8585

Based on your post, your name is not @kris8585 and you do other cardio. So, no.

 

[gb123]

@sezzalovesmj You kinda hit the nail on the head: The swing is resistance cardio. It's a lot like when you do shadow boxing with rubber rope or when you lift light weights fast.

 

[prabakaran]

@sezzalovesmj Goes back the argument about LSD training. HIIT work like KB routines will improve cardio, but not as much as LSD work. KB will improve strength, but not as much as the big five barbell lifts.

 

[iamcliff]

@sezzalovesmj Personal anecdote (so take it for what it is): I mountain bike in the spring through fall and snowboard in the winter. Snowboarding, while a physical sport, is not conducive to maintaining lung capacity, so I step up my swings in the winter. Every spring, it only takes a few rides to get my lungs back up to uphill chugging capacity. I don't think this is merely good genetics.

 

[boywillie61]

@iamcliff Similar experience with MTB. Also, when I first got into KBs, I hadn’t been running that winter and went splitboarding and was expecting to have a rough time on the way up. Instead I felt great from a cardio standpoint. Swings feel like great maintenance.

 

[reemal]

@sezzalovesmj Kettlebell Sport events are 10 minutes of continuous exercise. Meanwhile, a powerlift or an Olympic lift takes a couple seconds to finish at maximum. For comparison, the 3k (3,000 meter) run and the 2 mile run (about 3,2000 meters) both take under 10 minutes (for elite-level athletes) - they are shorter than kettlebell sport events. Would anyone seriously argue that these are resistance training events?

 

[feuerbach]

@sezzalovesmj My swings improve my 5km run times. Because I'm in the yellow or red for +45mins whilst doing swings, 25mins of running is not a strain on either the heart or the lungs.

 

[ardmore]

@sezzalovesmj They are good for conditioning, a lot of kettlebell movements combine cardio with resistance. They are also good for power, a lot of people find that training with kettlebells makes them better at sprinting and jumping

 

[beka121]

@sezzalovesmj I prefer to think about it as ballistic yoga. Can it get your heart going? Yes. But that’s not really what I’m using them for. Real competitors doing things like long cycle may differ in that opinion. Kettlebell training is very mailable in that regard. You can get out of it what you want.

If you’re going to start with one kettlebell my vote is to start at 16kg (yellow). Especially if you are a reasonably fit male.

You can also look into adjustable competition style kettlebells like the ones from Kettlebell Kings. That’s one bell that can go from 12-32kg.