I’ve talked quite a bit in the past about how much I like bottoms-up kettlebell exercises to get great “reflexive” firing of the rotator cuff and scapular stabilizers in a more unstable environment. I’m also a big fan of carrying variations – so it gets me pretty pumped up when I can combine the two! With that in mind, today, I want to talk about the 1-arm Bottoms-up Kettlebell Carry.

This is an exercise that I really like to utilize with a lot of our baseball players early in the off-season, as it teaches them to relax the latissimus dorsi to allow proper scapular upward rotation to take place. My two biggest cues are to “keep the biceps quiet” and “don’t let the lower back arch.” If you do these two things, chances are that everything else will “click” just right. Check out this video for a more detailed coaching tutorial:

I like to program 2-4 sets of 30-40yds on each arm. We’ll often use this in place of a pressing exercise with our baseball guys, particularly in the early off-season when we’re working to establish optimal scapular upward rotation after a long season. Give it a shot for yourself and you’ll find that it’ll quickly be a great addition to your strength training programs, whether you’re a throwing athlete or not!