Kettlebell Moves: Elbow to Knee

Now that you’ve strengthened your core, and improved your balance with the kettlebell elbow to knee, check out my Kettlebell Moves page for a lot more kettlebell exercises!

Works

There’s something that I love about working my abs and core in ways that don’t require me to do crunches from the floor. Also, in my workouts I try to work in as many components of fitness as possible: strength, flexibility, coordination, and balance. The kettlebell elbow to knee is an exercise that recruits all of these components together.

Elbow to Knee

1. Clean and press the kettlebell overhead.
2. Shift your weight to the side of the body opposite of the kettlebell. Shift far enough to counter-balance as much as possible.
3. Lower the kettlebell and raise the knee to meet each other about hip height. Internally rotate the kettlebell arm as you lower it in order to bring the kettlebell as close to the core as possible.
4. The standing leg and core activate in order to maintain balance.
5. Press the kettlebell back overhead as you also lower the foot back to the floor.

Tips

The tighter that you can bring the kettlebell into the body when you lower it, the more you’ll be able to use your core in helping you balance, as well as pressing the kettlebell back overhead.

Root the standing foot into the ground as much as possible. The calf muscles of the standing leg should really be activated and greatly involved in maintaining balance.

Balance improves over time just as strength and flexibility do. It’s totally fine if you need to hurry up and place the elevated leg back to the floor while you are mastering this exercise. Over time, you will notice improvements to your balance.

Practice!