Windmilling is an advanced technical exercise requiring balance and coordination – essential skills for overhead pressing or rotational movements.
Practice makes perfect when it comes to mastering the low windmill! Learning this exercise will increase your shoulder stability while engaging your lats to maintain lats engagement. Plus, this activity is great way to strengthen core stability!
Strengthening
The windmill exercise builds oblique strength, core stability and shoulder mobility while simultaneously improving overall strength, movement coordination and balance. Unlike barbell movements, it requires you to move one side at a time which makes it easier to identify imbalances between sides.
Windmills are an advanced movement, and to get the most from this feat you should first ensure your body is prepared. Before trying this movement with any weight added on it’s wise to perform light cardio exercises followed by stretching for hips, shoulders and spine as well as bodyweight only windmills to test balance and prepare yourself.
As you descend and ascend with a bell (or dumbbell/kettlebell), keeping your eyes focused on it helps ensure control of its movement. Looking down towards the ground or up towards the ceiling could cause you to lose balance and drop one or both supporting shoulders; this compromises spinal posture and can lead to injury.
One common error is reaching towards either the floor or ceiling with your hands. If this is beyond your range of movement and flexibility, prioritize going as far down in your hinge as possible while maintaining a straight spine – this allows your obliques to engage to help protect against it bending out of shape when moving.
Your yoga teacher or videos may show models reaching all the way down to their ankle or foot, but that doesn’t have to be your goal – just focus on getting as low as comfortably possible, then build your flexibility over weeks or months.
Note that learning the windmill requires time and practice. New lifters may initially struggle with it due to limited hip and shoulder mobility or no prior experience holding weight overhead – be patient with yourself and seek assistance from an experienced coach or trainer if needed.
Flexibility
Windmills are not only an excellent upper body exercise; they can also strengthen and stretch hip muscles. Windmills teach your body to move in multiple directional planes – an essential skill in most sports – as well as how to generate force in awkward or stretched positions, which could come in handy if your sport requires you to push or pull from non-traditional positions.
Keep this in mind when performing the kettlebell windmill: its range of motion can be difficult for new exercisers. You might find yourself struggling to reach your knee or even foot – that is perfectly normal and starting off light may lead to greater results in time. Avoid overdoing it as too much weight could result in serious injuries – start light and increase as time progresses.
Hips power the movement of a kettlebell windmill, while your core protects you from bending or falling mid-rep. Thus, it is crucial that you engage your core throughout the movement.
At first, begin doing windmills with just your bodyweight; gradually add weight until you can complete 10 to 15 repetitions without difficulty. At that point, add 10-pound kettlebell or dumbbell workouts into your regimen for added resistance.
Try the high windmill exercise for added difficulty; keep both hands outstretched at all times above your head during movement to increase its difficulty and force your shoulder and core muscles to work harder. This makes your shoulder and core stronger!
Holding the weight in the lowermost hand instead of your uppermost is another variation on the windmill that adds an additional challenge, helping build stronger core muscles while improving shoulder stability and mobility.
Windmill practice must include windmills without weights at least occasionally to avoid overtraining or injury. While weighted windmills will help strengthen your grip and stabilize shoulders over time, using them every day could cause overtraining – therefore be sure to incorporate non-weighted windmills 1-2 times each week as a balancer.
Posture
Windmills may appear complex, but they’re actually quite straightforward to execute. All it requires to master this exercise is basic strength, hip mobility and shoulder elasticity – something lighter weights may help with. Once you understand how to perform them correctly you may then progress further with more challenging versions of this move.
Maggi Gao, an NASM-certified personal trainer and Russian Kettlebell Challenge certified coach from New York City. To properly execute the windmill exercise, she says you must be able to both move your hips backwards while rotating your upper body simultaneously while keeping your core engaged throughout.
Holding weight overhead without losing balance requires strong, neutral spine alignment with adequate shoulder and thoracic mobility – often an issue for many people. Furthermore, you must be able to control the kettlebell by not flexing hips or dropping supporting arms during each exercise session.
Even though most windmill photos and videos depict models who can reach their knee or even the ground with their free hand, it is important to avoid overdoing it. Aiming initially for the floor or opposite side of your stance foot may help increase range of motion gradually over time; trying too far too soon could cause injury if your range of motion is limited.
For optimal stability in your position, do the exercises barefooted to improve balance and control. Heavy training or running shoes may cause you to wobble during movement and prevent you from properly stabilizing your feet.
Gao suggests another effective way of increasing stability is holding the kettlebell with your lower hand instead of raising it, suggesting this as another effective means of stabilizing weight more efficiently and potentially relieving tight shoulder strain. Furthermore, this approach provides an effective means of performing regular windmills for those who struggle due to mobility or strength imbalances.
Stability
Windmill exercises require considerable core, shoulder, and hip stability for success. Even the slightest movement can destabilize the movement and lead to injury; so make sure your base is secure by starting slowly with lighter weights or going weightless at first and gradually progressing into full movement over time. Or add another challenge by holding different weights in each hand as part of an old-school approach; just be careful not to strain too hard as this could put undue stress on shoulders and spines!
Add resistance to windmill moves to challenge your balance and strengthen core muscles, and don’t forget to practice in bare feet; many training and running shoes add extra cushioning that prevents full range-of-motion in movement, and makes maintaining stability more challenging.
Add an additional challenge by holding the kettlebell vertically with its uppermost handle instead of overhead, as this makes the exercises less shoulder-centric while increasing grip demand on your core muscles. It can also provide an ideal alternative to traditional windmills for those having difficulty holding up weight overhead.
At first, it’s wise to train your weak side first as this will enable you to identify and correct any strength or range of motion imbalances between sides of your body. Failing to do this could lead to long-term issues if left unaddressed.
Kettlebell Windmill exercises are an excellent way to build more shoulder stability, strengthen core strength, and add some punch to any workout regimen. Before beginning any kettlebell windmill routine if you suffer from shoulder, back, or hip conditions as the movement places additional stress on these areas. In order to avoid overtraining or injuries it’s also a good idea to practice without weights as often as you practice using weighted exercises.
