by Neil Anderson
From YouTube comments -
"That's not a Kettlebell swing (referring to the modified Russian style swing we use at GPP)! You guys should be embarrassed. The American swing is better because it is much more work and WAY harder."
So, are we to interpret from your comment that the only exercises of value are the HARDEST movements that one can perform? Did no one EVER gain health and/or fitness from a movement that wasn't the HARDEST movement possible? Haha. What a silly notion.
It is too bad that so many in the fitness world now think like this. It's more than too bad. It is a destructive mindset that can ruin a body. It also ruins the enjoyment & healthy benefits to be gained from physical exercise.
Think this mindset all the way out. Isn't there ALWAYS a way to make ANY movement harder? Take the kettlebell swing in question. If this guy's is "better" simply because it was harder, all you'd have to do to make it even "better" is to put a jump at the top of every swing. That is harder, right? Then, to make it "better" than that, you'd only have to dig a hole so your starting position would be from below ground level AND put the jump at the end. To make it even "better" than that you might try to put a few objects (wood planks, water jugs, small people) in the way of the swing so that you'd have a harder time powering the KB from below ground to jumping overhead.
Where does this end?
If the only criteria for gaining benefit from exercise was to do harder movements ... there would be NO top out to human performance or, health & fitness because there is ALWAYS a way to make things harder and therefore "better." See the flaws in this?
More, Faster and/or Harder, is NOT better. Better is better. To gain the healthy benefits of exercise you must spend the bodies energy reserves (in a balanced way) to a point from which it can readily recover. Any more, or less than that and you'll miss the mark. There is no doubt that this can be done using the American swing (we think it has drawbacks). There can also be no doubt that this can be done with our modified Russian style (we think it has fewer drawbacks). If you need more proof than that please see below. :)
Becky has done THOUSANDS of GPP modified Russian style swings.