The Most Common Swing Mistake

I think that the most common mistake that people make in KB swings is dropping their hips rather than keeping them high and pulling them straight back. When you drop your hips, you are also curtailing your power in two ways:

1. You are reducing the range of the backswing or "wind-up" of your hips.
2. You are wasting force in your legs, which gets absorbed by your knees.
   

In my experience, the reasons why there is a tendency to want to drop the hips while swinging is habit (many of us have been taught to unnaturally keep our backs straight when squatting, which compromises knee alignment), and because of tight hamstrings.

For someone with tight hamstrings, a proper swing, with hips pulled high and back, feels at best uncomfortable, and, at worst painful. The good news, though, is that with regular practice of a proper KB swing, you'll fix your tight hamstring problem!

Note that by pulling the hips high and back, the shins stay straight, with no impact on the knees, and maximum power:


This slower version shows the effect of keeping the hips high, for no impact on the knees, and a nice, fluid swing for long sets: