I have finished the 30 day 10,000 35 lb. kettlebell swing challenge!

At long last (after a month), I have completed the challenged and done 10,000 35 lb. (one “pood") kettlebell swings in thirty days! Based on the records below, I spread these swings out over 24 days, averaging in at approximately 417 swings a day. Clearly, at the end things got a little lumpy thanks for some busy weekends and a weekend away (at a wedding in Cali).

I am glad to be done with this challenge. Kettlebell swings are an intense form of exercise, and at a minute and a half for 55 swings, that totals up to about four and a half hours of straight kettlebell swings spread out over a month. Sure, if you’re working out three times a week for 45 minutes, you’re putting in nearly 10 hours of workout time a month, but you also are taking brief rests in between sets at the gym, and kettlebell swinging is more intense than regular cardiovascular exercise. Alls I’m sayin’ is that 4.5 hours of kettlebell swings is intense!

And it’s also monotonous. This is why I wouldn’t do this challenge again. Swings just get boring, like work, and exercise should be fun and challenging, not just challenging. Other drawbacks to this challenge is that it puts your hamstrings in a generally achy state most all the time—not enough to be super annoying, but enough to be irritating. I think the high repetitions is also not so good for knees and lower back. Yes, if you’re swinging properly, you’re not blowing out your knees or your back, but when you’re doing such high reps, you start using stabilizing muscles and putting strain on joints that normally are left alone. One final negative is that interjecting so many swings throughout your day demotivated me to doing any additional weight-lifting. That’s a big “negative” to a program like this.

On the plus side, it seems that the daily, dispersed swinging time had some benefits as far as body recomposition. However, it’s at the margin (Read: it’s hard to tell). I wish I had done a before and after vertical leap, but I didn’t. All this swing work helped me really get a feel for the hip-snap action that makes a swing most powerful, so chalk up that for another benefit.

All said, though, I wouldn’t do it again. Did I mention I was glad it’s over?

Original Write-up and Records/Notes

The idea for this 30-day kettlebell swing challenge emerged from a combination of wanting to do 1,000 swings in one workout session (I did 500) and some twitter from @sandysommer (Charm City Kettlebells) about a 10k swing challenge. I seem to recall that challenge involving doing something like 200 swings a day.

Well, my 10K swing challenge is intended to be completed in 30 days. That means I have to do 333 swings per day, every day, for 30 days. I’m using my 35 lb. kettlebell, and the intention is for this not to replace other workouts. In other words, I’d like to additionally continue doing weight training and other exercise in concert with this challenge. Also, the total can be broken up however makes the most sense. Currently, I’m breaking it down into three rounds of two sets each. The rounds are spread throughout my day, which makes for a nice five minute break between working, blogging, etc. Default method is double-arm. “SA” is noted where alternating single-arm swings (Sets of 11 per arm, typically). “SAA” is noted where single-arm swings are performed with a flip/pass at thea peak of every swing. A set of 55 takes me a minute and a half (exactly) to complete.

I started the challenge on 3/16/09. Check back here to see my progress:

3/16: 333 (3x[56,55])
3/17: 333 (3x[56,55])
3/18: 333 (2x[56,55]SA, 1x111)
3/19: 333 ([56,55], 1x111, [56,55])
3/20: 333 ([56x3 w/1:30 rest between sets], [55x3 w/1:30 rest between sets])
3/21: 333 (9x33, 36)
3/23: 666 (3x[56,55], 9x33, 36)
3/24: 333 (3x[56,55]SA)
3/25: 333 (9x33SA, 36SA)
3/26: 333 (4x66SA, 69SA)
3/27: 333 (4x66SA, 69SA)
3/28: 333 (4x66SA, 69SA)
3/30: 333 (4x66SA, 69SA)
3/31: 666 (2x[9x33SA,36SA])
4/1: 333 (4x66SA, 69SA)
4/2: 333 (4x66SA, 69SA)
4/3: 333 (9x33SAA, 36SAA)
4/4: 333 (4x66SA, 69SA)
4/7: 666 (36SA, 9x66SA, 36SA)
4/8: 666 (36SA, 9x66SA, 36SA)
4/9: 666 (2x[9x33SA,36SA])
4/13: 333 (36, 9x33, 10)
4/14: 500 (10x50SA)
4/15: 499 (4x100SA, 99SA)

Total to date: 10,000

Notes: 3/21 - Starting to really nail the snap aspect of the swing. It feels very much like the GHD sit-up hip flexor snap feels, where you actually feel your heels want to slide back on the floor due to the snap action. The upswing motion is much more forceful when the snap is right. 3/27 - despite doing no other exercise other than the challenge this past week, I think this sort of dispersed, daily workout may be having some positive impacts on body composition. Of note, I am practicing LeanGains style IF, which is more or less having a compressed daily eating window (so fasting from say 10pm to 2-4pm everyday). 3/31 - over halfway through this challenge and I just found where I originally read about it at innergrrr.blogspot.com. Key difference to that challenge which is set at six weeks (42 days), I’m doing it in 30. Trivial difference? Surely not! 4/4 - Gotten into the “swing” of doing five sets @ of three left/three right single-arm 11 rep mini-sets of swings. I like this breakdown mostly because the 11-rep swap makes each “big” set feel much smaller, and considerably less boring. I do wonder if I could further compact it into 3 sets of 111. Hmm. 4/7 - I took a two day hiatus from the swing challenge to see if I couldn’t alleviate some lower back soreness. It didn’t quite do the trick though. What’s weird is that it doesn’t seem like muscle soreness and it doesn’t seem like any part of my swing aggravates the sore area. So I’m puzzled.