Hi I'm David Weck. Today I'm going to teach you an incredibly effective exercise called the Compression Kettlebell Swing using the BOSU Elite. First thing that I want to say is that the BOSU Elite is not about instability, the BOSU Elite is about resistance. The dome is exceptionally firm. If you feel it and try and press it in, you're going to be surprised at just how dense it is. When you stand on it, it maintains it's shape and the balance challenge is really not so challenging. The shape of the dome combined with this incredibly strong resistance puts these dynamic directional forces through the body that give you better suspension and transmission of force. We have better tensional balance in the body and it helps you balance through the balls of the feet, capture the full power of the haunch, so that you are most athletic [Balance Training]. We use it to prime for heavier weight lifting on the ground and we use it to move with greater speed, agility, and power on the ground. My objective with this video is to teach you exactly how to get started using the Compression Kettlebell Swing which will transform your training, I guarantee you. It's not about instability, it's about resistance.

Before you get started, you need to get familiar with what we call the Compression Squat. Watch that video to become familiar with it, I'll briefly review what it is. We turn the feet out to the forty-five. Forty-five simply means turned out to what's most comfortable for you. You want to work those feet back as far as you can on the dome but still maintain comfort and balance. Knees are going wide and I'm compressing in the dome. I'm crushing it, I'm trying to pop it. I'm using the outside of my feet, the fourth and fifth metatarsals, to crush the dome. At the top you'll feel the adductors. As soon as you start to bring it down you're going to feel the glutes big time. Huge training for the glutes, advanced lifters and exercisers have told us that the have felt a deep soreness and work through the glutes that they have never felt before having performed the compression squats.

Here's how we get started with the kettlebell. One more point about the compression squat is matching spine and shin angles. So with the kettlebell, you start with an extremely light kettlebell, something that you can manage. You rehearse stepping off by maintaining wide stance with the base so you never hit your knee with the kettlebell and it remains very safe if you have to step off. I'm going to set up that compression squat because this is not a hip-hinge. We are not hip-hinging, we are squatting to do this exercise. I squat down a quarter of the way and all of my intention is compression. I want to squeeze in as hard as I possibly can and light those glutes up and just swing the bell very gently. You'll find this alone is fantastic training. Because you're getting this dynamic, elastic, isometric resistance that whatever you can put into it, it's feeding you right back. The forces are coursing up through the body, giving you this three dimensional strength, balance and coordination, activating the largest muscles in the body. So right here is the start, the focus is compression, and then I simply come up and down, up and down. I'm trying to squeeze that dome as hard as I possibly can the entire time. I'm never releasing that compressive force. It's here and it's here. Notice how I'm doing a squat, not a hip-hinge. When you come off the dome you're going to feel light, meaning you have balance through the balls of the feet, captured the full power of the haunch. If you were to do a lunge, it's going to feel very powerful and balanced. If you're going to life a weight, it's going to feel like you can really nail a good position to lift heavier weights. Fantastic conditioning as well.

So, you progressively work up in weight with the kettlebell and you'll find that you can lift very heavy kettlebells doing the Compression Kettlebell Swing once you get the technique. So, you simply work up to whatever weight is appropriate for you, don't be in a hurry to increase the weight, it's about the compression.

So, I'm compressing, I set that pattern activating the glutes big time and then swing it, low at first, here, and as you learn the movement you can project it up. And you catch it at the bottom of that squat. You may feel your toes flexing as you're working for the balance. You want to extend the toes and work to not flex them. We like to do sets of twenty reps. You get off, the conditioning effects metabolic is huge and the activation, like I've been saying, through the haunch, through the glutes and upper hamstrings, it's like nothing you've ever felt before.

I want to reiterate, this is not about instability. It's completely different than the original BOSU Ball, which is a wonderful training stimulus in it's own right. But this is completely different because the density and the firmness is so hard that it gives us that substantial base that feeds us back to make it about resistance not about instability. The inward compressive force is the key to this exercise. You have to maintain the intent of that inward compression and the BOSU Ball is going to give back whatever you can give to it. You squat 600 pounds, you can't crush the dome, it's going to feed you right back.

So perform that exercise, look at the Compression Squat Video to really get familiar and perfect that first. Try this exercise out, I guarantee you will find it incredible and it will become a staple element in your training arsenal. Compression Kettlebell Swings using the BOSU Elite.