How To Kettlebell Clean, with Kiera Newton, RKC Team Leader

If you are going to work out with kettlebells, you MUST get good at the kettlebell clean.

The kettlebell clean is the safest and strongest way to get the kettlebell to your shoulder – and you need to get heavy kettlebells to your shoulder if you are going to squat with kettlebells or do military presses with kettlebells. 

And squatting and pressing two of the four most powerful fat loss movements there are!

This is a two part video on the kettlebell clean. In the first part, Kiera breaks down each step of the kettlebell clean, in two variations.

In the second part of the video, Kiera does a really cool troubleshoot of two common kettlebell clean mistakes.

The Kettlebell Dead Clean

The kettlebell dead-clean isn't one of my favorite moves, just because it's so hard for people to get.  The problem with the dead clean is that you elevate the kettlebell straight up, but you do it by driving your hips forward.

It's an explosive horizontal hip movement (driving your hips forward)…

…that creates vertical movement of the kettlebell (the kettlebell shoots straight up)

I like to think about it as "trying to wedge your hips between the kettlebell and the ground."

One thing that's really cool about the dead clean is that it's one way of helping people understand how the clean is different from the swing:

The SWING is a forward projection of your hips that creates a forward projection of the kettlebell.

The CLEAN is a forward projection of the hips that creates an upward projection on the kettlebell. 

The Kettlebell Swing Clean

The kettlebell swing clean is the clean you are probably going to use most often.  It's the more powerful of the two cleans, and the safest way to get a really heavy kettlebell to your shoulder.

By setting the kettlebell up in front of you…

…you can then hike it back behind you, really powerfully loading your butt and hamstrings so you can use all of the good things you know about the hip snap in the kettlebell swing to move that kettlebell.

You create the momentum in the kettlebell with the same powerful hip snap of a kettlebell swing, but then you translate that upward, tight to your body, and to your shoulder.

Remember – a good fat loss workout always needs four movements:

1.) Hip hinge – like the kettlebell swing

2.) Squat – like the kettlebell front squat

3.) Push – Like the kettlebell military press

4.) Pull – Like a kettlebell bent over row

Two of the four movements you need (the squat and the press) start with the kettlebell at your shoulder (in the rack position).  You absolutely NEED to get good at the kettlebell clean, and the kettlebell rack, to do effective kettlebell fat loss workouts.

'Cuase you can't squat it if you can't clean it.

Article and Pictures by Josh Hillis,
RKC

Video Demonstration by Keria Newton,
RKC Team Leader

If you are in New Mexico, I strongly recommend going to Keira's kettlebell gym, DKB Fitness.