Kettlebell Jefferson Curl

Instructions

1. Stand tall with your feet about hip-width apart, either on the floor or on an elevated surface if that is how the exercise was prescribed.

2. Hold a kettlebell with both hands in front of your thighs.

3. Keep your knees straight but not locked.

4. Start by gently tucking your chin toward your chest.

5. Slowly round your spine one segment at a time, beginning with your upper back.

6. Continue curling downward through your mid back and then your low back.

7. Let the kettlebell travel downward toward the floor as your spine rounds.

8. Keep the movement slow and controlled the whole way down.

9. Pause briefly at the bottom.

10. To return, slowly reverse the motion by stacking your spine back up one segment at a time.

11. Unroll from the low back, then the mid back, then the upper back, and bring your head up last.

12. Return to a tall standing position with control.

Common Compensations

• Do not rush the lowering or return.

• Do not bend mostly from the hips without segmenting through the spine.

• Do not lock your knees aggressively.

• Do not use a kettlebell that is too heavy to control slowly.

• Do not jerk yourself back up from the bottom.

• Do not force the range of motion beyond what you can control.

Extra Info

• You should feel this mostly through the hamstrings and along the muscles of the back as you control the spinal rounding and return.

• You may also feel a strong stretch sensation through the back of the legs, especially if your knees stay straight.

• The kettlebell adds load, so this variation should usually be done lighter and more slowly than many other kettlebell exercises.

• The goal is controlled spinal mobility and loaded flexibility, not speed.

• You should not feel sharp pain, nerve symptoms, or pinching in the spine, hips, or backs of the legs.