The other day I saw a poster on reddit (the author of, "The Daily Effort Protocol" — a book I've yet to share a proper review on, but it was really great. Well thought out daily training template with a pretty advanced, albeit, well-thought-out, Periodization scheme) share a really cool experiment he did.

Simply put, he wore a moniter that measured his power output while doing dead stop kettlebell swings opposed to the more traditional kettlebell swing clean.

The results in his experiment were clear: the swing clean is a, measurably, more powerful exercise.

This contradicts what many kettlebell lifters claim. But should it be a surprise?

I don't think so.

This is a common misconception people make in the kettlebell world, but it actually shouldn't be surprising (if we think about it). In the barbell world, hang power cleans/hang power snatches are more powerful than dead stop power cleans/power snatches from the floor. I think (emphasis on 'think') it comes down to hinges being more powerful, by nature, than their squattier brethren.

In the kettlebell example, I think we sometimes mistake something feeling "harder" as requiring more power output. But the fact of the matter is, swing cleans feel "easier" because we're able to lift more powerfully with the ballistic hinge motion. It's just a more powerful, more favorable, efficient movement for moving the bell explosively.

Harder does not equal more powerful. I could be wrong, but I suspect we'd also see a greater power output doing 1 hand kettlebell swings as opposed to kettlebell snatches, despite snatches being more difficult. This doesn't mean we shouldn't snatch, because snatches are probably more beneficial for hypertrophy and conditioning.

Inefficiency is ideal for hypertrophy and conditioning. Efficiency is ideal for power output and strength expression.

One isn't better than the other. It depends on the goal of why we're doing the exercise.

But, if power is the goal, you want to choose the more explosive, powerful movement, which usually will be the more efficient exercise.

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