Kettlebell Figure of 8 – Exercise Tutorial

Hi everyone,

This exercise is great for the quads, glutes, hamstrings and core. It also benefits your stability, balance and endurance of “the burn” LOL!

The Kettlebell Figure of 8 is a great “filler” exercise for a workout. What I mean by “filler” is those points in a workout when you need active recovery, rather than complete rest.  Because it’s a static exercise, the muscle burn is severe! When planning where in a workout to place this type of exercise you need to consider a few things:

• Don’t go straight from a high intensity highly active exercise into this one as you will risk blood pooling (when the body stands still, but the heart keeps pumping the blood fast and it pools in the lower extremities, risking you passing out – which we do NOT want! Go from high intensity, to rest period THEN to this type of exercise. I usually put these types of exercises in between sections rather than as an actual interval. But you could time it so it is beside a moderate intensity exercise, to reduce this risk.
• Consider what you want this exercise to achieve – Place it at the start of a workout to help warm you up, in the middle as a “filler” or at the end for a challenge, like a 1 minute hold :/
• Play about with the order of exercises and fool your body. Do squats, lunge jumps or some other plyometric leg exercise, then a static hold – your legs will be on FIRE!

The good thing about this exercise is that it’s suitable for all levels. The only caution is watch you don’t bend your upper body forward too much – If this keeps happening then forget the “weaving” of the Kettlebell and just hold it with both hands, arms straight between the legs and add a pulse, keeping the back straight and the head up.

Teaching Points:

1. Stand over the Kettlebell and Deadlift it up with both hands, so it hangs down, with straight arms, between your legs.
2. Increase your stance to just wider than shoulder width, knees and toes pointing out slightly.
3. Bend at the hips then knees and sit back into a partial squat – keeping the core tight throughout.
4. Now, keeping the head up and back straight, start to weave the Kettlebell through the legs in a figure or 8
5. Be aware that you are not beginning to slowly rise up through the exercise because, without noticing, your back will be rounding forward too much and you may feel strain in the lower back.
6. Do this rotation for time, not reps. You can change direction half way through.
7. When you’re finished, safely place the Kettlebell on the floor between your feet and stand up.

Key Pointers:

• Head and back in line and straight – don’t look at your feet, or you will start to bend forward.
• Keep the knees strong by pushing the quads down and out – no wobbly knees people!
• Keep the core and glutes tight to support your lower back – if you feel strain or pain – STOP!
• Try and stay the same depth throughout – rising up may risk your back.
• Keep the weight sensible, heavier isn’t necessarily better for this one – make it harder by adding more time.

As you can see from the video this video is from a while back LOL, but I am getting through things eventually.

Cheers

Marianne