Kettlebell Pirate Ships

Execution

1. Brace your belly, pull the ribs down and keep the knees soft; the bell hangs in front of your hips with the arms long and loose.
2. Exhale and turn your chest to the right, letting the left toes pivot with you, and send the bell up on a diagonal to head height while the arms stay straight.
3. Pause for one beat at the top, with the bell in line with your arms instead of thrown behind your head.
4. Inhale and let the bell fall back down the same line, pass it in front of your hips, then exhale and swing to the left the same way, alternating evenly.
5. Keep the load light enough that you can stop the bell at head height; if it pulls you into a lean or lifts a heel, it is too heavy, so end the set and drop one size.
6. End the set by letting the bell swing lower over two or three smaller arcs, then hinge at the hips and park it on the floor in front of your toes.
7. If the handle slips or the bell gets away from you, let go and push it out into the clear space in front, then take one step back; do not hang on to it and do not chase it.

Quick cues

• Turn the chest, do not crunch sideways.
• Head height is high enough.
• Let the opposite toes pivot along.
• Even, like a clock pendulum.
• Breathe out on every swing up.

Common faults

• Fault: Leaning the whole torso sideways to throw the bell higher

  Fix: Drop one bell size and lower the stopping mark to shoulder height until the chest does the turning with the ribs still down; rehearse the path unloaded on the torso rotation drill.

• Fault: Bending the elbows to pull the bell up at the end of the arc

  Fix: Keep the arms straight like two ropes and let the turning trunk carry the bell; if the arms still have to pull, the bell is too heavy, so drop one size.

• Fault: Feet staying planted while the chest has already turned all the way

  Fix: Let the opposite toes pivot toward the swing so the knee and hip turn with the chest, and widen the stance by half a foot-length on each side to make room.

• Fault: Swinging on so the bell flies past the head and pulls you backwards

  Fix: Pick a mark you can see at head height, such as the top edge of the mirror or one rail of the rack, and stop the bell there; a bell you cannot stop at that mark is too heavy.

• Fault: Finishing the set by dropping the bell on the floor

  Fix: Let the bell lose height over two or three smaller arcs and hinge it down in front of your toes; many Vietnamese gyms have tiled floors with no thick rubber matting, so a dropped bell wrecks the floor and the handle alike.