The half-kneeling kettlebell windmill may be the best exercise not currently in your abdominal training arsenal. But before you add it to your routine, it’s best to get the basics down first.
You’ve probably incorporated plenty of crunches and situps into your workouts—and in one sense, that’s fine. But those exercises primarily work on spinal flexion, only one of your core's functions. Adding the kettlebell windmill targets an entirely different region and aspect of your core. This move requires you to brace, and according to Men’s Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, CSCS, along with and fitness editor Brett Williams, NASM, it forces you to work on rotation and power while also addressing hip mobility and shoulder stability.
The move is obviously a challenge, Samuel says. “There’s a lot of nuance to the kettlebell windmill.”
The Half-Kneeling Kettlebell Windmill Setup
Start by getting into a half-kneeling stance, in this instance with your legs positioned wider than you would for other exercises. Samuel notes that this position gives your hips a bit more room and also allow for more space to move the bell.
Next up, raise or clean the kettlebell to your shoulder before pressing it overhead. Try to avoid arching your back, Samuel says, and instead work on keeping your ribcage nice and tight.
Once overhead, make sure to keep your eyes focused on the kettlebell throughout the movement, not in front of you or anywhere else. Try to turn the pit of your elbow behind you, creating as much external rotation as possible at your shoulder joint.
Important Factors for Nailing the Half-Kneeling Kettlebell Windmill
Here comes the twist to perfecting the next step of the movement. Keeping your eyes trained on the kettlebell overhead, slightly push your glutes back; as you’re doing this, your chest will begin rotating to that side. Squeeze your shoulder blades tight, and lower your opposite elbow to the ground. You’re really working your core now while getting a good grasp on shoulder mobility.
“As we're moving through this, we're actually teaching our scapula to work very, very fluid,” Samuel says. “As you’re going down, the weight has to tip back. if it doesn’t tip back in his shoulder blade doesn't start to rotate the way it's naturally supposed to rotate, then that weight is going to wind up forward and he's not going to be able to stay in balance.”
Don’t be frustrated if you fail the first few times, Samuel encourages. If reaching your elbow is too difficult, try just touching your hand to the ground instead. This requires less range of motion to start, but you’re learning how to brace and rotate, and improvement is a few practices away.
Once in position, the final piece to the puzzle is getting out of the windmill position. Samuel says you want to do this “with power” as this helps with hip extension, a must for improving movements such as jumping, running, and even deadlifting.
Squeeze the glutes at the top, Samuel says, like a kettlebell swing. “That's another good chance we can express power in a workout in a safe way, and especially when you're starting to get a little rotational. These are all really really good things for you to do,” Samuel says.
How to Use the Half-Kneeling Kettlebell Windmill in Your Workouts
Samuel advises to keep the reps low when you include the kettlebell windmill in your workouts.
Three sets of six to eight reps should work, as each should take about two to three seconds to get through each rep. Samuel says you can also take the kettlebell windmill and incorporate it into a flow, such as snatch to windmill, snatch to windmill balances, bottoms-up windmill, even a cross snatch with switches.
“Once you master the kettlebell windmill, you can level it up in so many ways,” Samuel says.
Want to master even more moves? Check out our entire Form Check series.
