10,000 Swings Kettlebell Challenge
A few weeks ago I did my last 500 swings of the 10,000 swings kettlebell challenge. I was excited when a friend introduced this challenge to me. I wanted to improve my strength and burn fat at the same time. So we settled on the Kettlebell program birthed by Dan John;500 swings a day, four days a week with secondary exercise in between the swings. The goal was to finish the 10,000 swings of 16kgs kettlebell in five weeks while reducing the time taken to complete the 500 swings each day. Since my gym didn’t have the 16kg kettlebell, I opted to use the 15kgs plate.
Between sets of the kettlebell swings, I did the following secondary exercises; pull-ups, squats, Overhead press and push-ups which later reduced to only squats and deadlifts each twice a week.
Work out Clustering
Monday:
Kettlebell Swings: 50 reps, 30 reps, 20 reps (5 Times)
Secondary Exercise in between reps: 3 squats, 2 Squats, 1 Squat (with weights)
Tuesday:
Kettlebell Swings: 50 reps, 30 reps, 20 reps (5 Times)
Secondary Exercise in between reps: 3 pull ups, 2 Pull-ups, 1 Pull up
Thursday:
Kettlebell Swings: 50 reps, 30 reps, 20 reps (5 Times)
Secondary Exercise in between reps: 3 Deadlifts, 2 Deadlifts, 1 Deadlifts
Friday:
Kettlebell Swings: 50 reps, 30 reps, 20 reps (5 Times)
Secondary Exercise in between reps: 3 Pushups, 2 Pushups, 1 Pushups
Mastering the form is very important, so it took me 1 hour 15 minutes in the first two days to complete the rounds as I tried to get the form right – a swing right from between your legs to shoulder length. In the beginning, it was hard to do fifty swings at once; I, therefore, broke it down to thirty and twenty; however, this improved later on in the program as my Strength improved. At the end I was able to do 50 swings at once with little rest time in between the rounds. My completion time also reduced to 42 minutes.
The benefits of the kettlebell training are enormous as mentioned earlier, my primary intention of taking on this challenge was to burn calories and improve my strength, but I gained more than that. It was a training ground for me on accomplishing tasks I start while burning some extra fat in my belly. The challenge was also a test of my willpower to do the same thing over and over again.
What I learned during this program;
The kettlebell exercise is not only physical but a mental exercise. I wanted to quit numerous times but after I learned to focus on the right part of finishing this challenge as a way of reminding myself I can finish whatever I start for all the things I started and stopped halfway. The idea of doing the same thing over and over again got to me. However, doing the challenge with a few people helped, we were a team of four people though only three of us finished it. Even though we had targeted to complete the challenge in five weeks, I completed one week later than my friends due to an injury I obtained during a marathon.
It is key to take note of your progress each week by timing your workouts and the time taken to rest in between each round. You should be getting faster each week.
Consistency is key; sticking to the schedule helps you to keep the momentum. Every time I missed the day in the gym, it took me a lot of energy to get back to the time and form I was.
I cannot say if I will do this Challenge again anytime soon, but I am glad I did it to the very end.