The kettlebell clean and press exercise is a great exercise. It engages your entire body. This full-body movement functions to promote functional fitness. It gives you more individual strength and power. This article explores the various daily exercises you can engage in to increase your movement integrity in kettlebell squats, pulls, and presses. These exercises are especially beneficial if incorporated into your daily workout routine.
If you would like to know more, kindly keep reading.
Kettlebell Clean and Press Muscles Worked
The kettlebell clean and press exercise is an integration of two exercises. The first is the kettlebell clean and the latter is the overhead press. Besides working on over 600 of your body’s muscles, this exercise works your cardiovascular system as well.
For safety purposes, it is best to work your way through each exercise separately before combining them into one.
The exercise works out most of your body’s muscle groups. These include:
- Hamstrings and glutes
- Shoulders
- Triceps
- Upper chest
- Quadriceps
- Traps
- Upper back
- Lats
- Anterior chain
The squatting movements engage your triceps. You work your shoulders, triceps, and upper chest with pressing movements. Overhead stability helps with these too.
The front rack positioning works your upper back as well as your traps and lats. The overhead press stabilization engages these muscles as well.
The wide range of movements in the kettlebell clean and press exercise makes it the perfect workout for your body’s metabolic conditioning.
Double Kettlebell Clean And Press
The double kettlebell clean and press is one of the most intense kettlebell exercises. It engages both your lower and upper body to draw their power and strength.
It is a comprehensive exercise that engages almost all of your body muscles. It is a great strength training exercise. If done correctly, it yields exceptional results.
Listed below are the tips for perfecting the exercise.
- Pick up the kettlebells and allow them to swing between your legs
- With your upper arms pressed against your sides, pull up the kettlebells. Use a motion similar to that of starting a lawnmower
- Quickly incorporate an uppercut motion to bring both kettlebells up into the rack position (between your biceps and forearms)
- Push the bells straight up from the rack position so that they are now locked out. Then lower them back into the rack position.
- Easily lower the bells into a swing and avoid jerking your arms.
NB: Do not allow the kettlebells to go upside down at any point during the exercise. Instead, hold them with an uppercut grip especially when lifting them up. This is best to avoid injuries.
Kettlebell Clean and Press Benefits
There are numerous benefits to this exercise. Many people engage in kettlebell exercises for weight loss. These exercises are considered best for cutting down weight because they work your entire body.
Some of the most common benefits of kettlebell clean and press exercises include:
- Improved coordination
- Conditioning your entire body
- Creating a resilient bodybuilding foundation
- Providing improved muscle coverage, which translates to pure strength and stability
- Creating more powerful hips
- Increased unilateral movement, strength, and performance
Single Arm Kettlebell Clean and Press
You can do the single arm kettlebell clean and press workout in various ways. These include the kettlebell:
- Clean and push press
- Clean and jerk press
- Swing clean and press
- Hang clean and press
When you clean up the kettlebell into the rack position take a pause before pressing it overhead. If you avoid the pause, it could result in improper breathing patterns. As a result, this will cause you to lose focus during the latter stage of the exercise.
Besides, the pause comes in handy as you start lifting heavier kettlebells. You will enjoy the pause as it will give you time to compose yourself.
Kettlebell Deadlift to Clean and Press
According to experts, the deadlift is one of the most important kettlebell exercises. It gives you a complete workout. Aside from that, you also get to include strength training and cardio in a single workout.
Since the deadlift works out all of your muscles, you build more muscle faster. Also, you get to burn calories, improve your flexibility, and work your nervous system.
If you combined leg extensions with crunches and curls, you still wouldn’t experience the same results you would by doing the deadlift. It offers much faster results.
The deadlift starts in the dead position. You should move your hips backward as opposed to your knees forward.
As you do this, extend your spine slightly to make sure your back is safe. You want to develop strength in your glutes and hamstrings. You can achieve that by practicing full-range motion.
These full-range motions help to strengthen your posterior chain giving it dominance. Then, it also loosens up your hip flexors and quads and stretches them out. The most basic lifts will give you amazing results within no time.
Ensure you are efficient with the motor pattern and develop consistency before starting on the more advanced workout.
Kettlebell Squat Clean and Press Muscles Worked
It is important to know the muscles worked with each exercise you engage in. That way, you can choose the appropriate exercise for you depending on the muscles you want to work on.
The kettle squat clean and press workout is a fat burning kettlebell workout. As such, it works out various muscles throughout your body. These include your:
- Triceps
- Biceps
- Quadriceps
- Deltoids
- Glutes
- Hip Flexors
- Clavicular head, which is also your upper chest
- Trapezius
- Rhomboid
- Latissimus Dorsi
- Abdominals
- Hamstrings
Besides working on your muscles, this exercise is perfect for strength training and cardio. It aids a lot in ensuring cardiovascular health. Combined exercises such as this one provide you with a wider range of benefits.
Are you willing to take up this exercise now that you know it’s beneficial? Well,
if you are you can invest in adjustable kettlebells. These would be especially perfect if you travel a lot.
They are designed to easily fit into your travel plans. Besides, the weights have varying weights which give you a wide range of resistance. They weigh up to 40 pounds.
Single Kettle Clean and Press vs. Double Kettlebell Clean and Press
This is almost the same exercise. Except in the single kettlebell clean and press, you work on one side at a time. On the other hand, the double kettlebell clean and press exercise works on both sides simultaneously.
As such the double kettlebell clean and press is more advanced and difficult compared to the single kettlebell clean and press.
The two types of exercises work on the same muscles. The major difference is that with the double you get your desired results much faster than if you were doing the single.
The double compared to the single kettlebell clean and press is a full body workout. So, it works on your entire body simultaneously, while engaging over 600 muscles throughout your body.
Don’t let the name fool you. The single kettlebell clean and press is quite a rigorous exercise as well. Similar to the double, it also engages over 600 muscles throughout your body.
Both exercises are quite rigorous and beneficial to your body. Whichever choice you make you will reach your desired results.
Kettlebell Clean and Jerk vs. Clean and Press
These two exercises both include an identical clean movement. Considering this similarity, the one difference lies in the technique you’ll use when lifting the kettlebell from the rack position.
A clean and jerk exercise will need you to master the technique. The coordination and timing are everything when performing the jerk move. To effectively complete the jerk you must include both the strict and push stress movements.
The jerk is therefore an advanced version of the press. There is no way you can handle the jerk before mastering the press.
Kettlebell Clean and Press Before After
The clean and press have tremendous effects on your body and mind-blowing benefits. Then, you will notice exceptional changes in your body structure. That’s especially due to muscle growth and development.
Some of the more specific noticeable changes include:
- Exceptional hand strength
- Tactful movement
- Full-body transformation
- Improved flexibility
- Better stability
- More pronounced muscles
As a full body workout, the clean and press are bound to help you shed weight and gain muscle. Besides that, it provides cardiovascular and strength training benefits.
As such, it is the perfect exercise to help keep fit, but more so to help you maintain your health.
Conclusion
The kettlebell clean and press is a vigorous exercise for your entire body. It engages most of the muscle groups in your body. So, it’s a full body strength development exercise. As such, you need to be very careful when engaging in the exercise.
Make sure to choose the appropriate weights for you. Also do not overdo the exercise. Choose the right number of repetitions for you. Then, you can base this number on your muscle strength and your comfort level.
Remember that other than the benefits, there’s a real risk for injury. As such, always exercise safety.