OUR KETTLEBELL EXPERT BRANDON LARUE BREAKS DOWN THE IMMENSELY CHALLENGING 10,000 KETTLEBELL SWING CHALLENGE, AND HOW YOU CAN DO IT IN 30 DAYS.

I need to be up front right away, accumulating 10,000 swings in just 30 days is no small feat. In fact, I would suggest it ranks right up there with the grind it takes to train for a half marathon or some other event that pushes not only your physical capacity, but also your mental capacity. Your hands are gonna get tore up at some point. Your hamstrings are going to be sorer than they’ve likely ever been. You’ll experience soreness in your forearms like you’ve never experienced before. Most challenging is the mental grind that even though you accumulated 300+ swings on one day, you’ll have to accumulate another 300+ the next day. In summary, it’s really stinking hard, but like all really stinking hard things, it makes it a worthy challenge to pursue. 

If you’re new to using kettlebells, new to the kettlebell swing, or perhaps you’re out of shape and you’re looking at this as a means to kickstart your journey, I would not recommend the 10,000 swing challenge; however, attacking the 3,000 or 5,000 swing challenge may be a good starting point. Nothing will ruin your fitness lifestyle efforts faster than an injury, so don’t be a hero….out of the gates anyway. I fully support being a hero later.

If you’re a connoisseur of the kettlebell, then you already know what I’m talking about, then again, perhaps not. It’s usually only if you’ve done high volume training or competed with kettlebells that you learn the lesson of taking care of your hands. Take a look at your hands, if they have callouses on them, you may to take a cuticle cutter and trim those puppies down and even shave them down before you begin this journey. You do not want an entire callous to tear with 8,000 swings left to accrue. Also, depending on the size of your hands or the handle of the kettlebell you’re using, your pinkies may take a beating as well if they get pinched into the handle. You may need to put your pinky on the outside of the handle when swinging to alleviate the friction and reduce the likelihood of blistering. Chalk will be your become your best friend forever to help with the overall friction of the high volume swinging. Make sure you have chalk and don’t run out. Lastly, you may want to get a good hand moisturizer to help with healing the hands and keep them from drying out from all the chalk you’re going to be using.

Since you’re going to do 10,000 of them, we’ve got to discuss the nuances of doing the kettlebell swing perfectly. There will be other exercises in this program to balance out the program so you’re not just training the hip hinge 10,000 times and nothing else, but any dynamic, explosive movement done that many times needs to be executed properly. When done with great technique, the kettlebell swing is one the most beneficial exercises in existence. You can get strong, develop muscle, increase power, enhance conditioning, and melt body fat away with this one exercise. While it surely targets the glute, hamstrings, and low back, the kettlebell swing is a total body movement that also hits the mid/upper back, shoulders, and trunk. Make sure to watch this short video to ensure that you’re doing the kettlebell swing correctly.

We don’t know about you, but we like a little diversity in our programming, so we aren’t just going to line up each day and knock out 333 swings. If that’s your style, then by all means, have at it. As for us, we are going to create a full body, balanced program with 7 different workouts to perform throughout the 30 days to hit all the major movement patterns to maintain and promote strength throughout the entire body. 

Workout #1: 30 Minute EMOM

• Kettlebell Swings x 10
• 1-Arm Rows x 5 ea

Workout #2: Inverted Ladder

• Kettlebell Swings x 1 – 24
• Hollow Holds x 24s – 1s

Workout #3: 15 Sets

• Kettlebell Swings x 20
• Pushups x 5

Workout #4: 15 seconds ON 15 seconds OFF

• Kettlebell Swings x 5

Workout #5: 6 Round Ascending Ladder

• Kettlebell Swings x 1 – 10
  • After every finished ladder, front plank for 1 minute.

Workout #6: Every 10 Minutes for 30 Minutes

• Kettlebell Swings x 100
• Single Arm Strict Press x 10 ea

Workout #7: 50 Sets

• Kettlebell Swings x 6
• Pull-ups x 1

Feel free to insert some other movements into this workout structure each week, but keep the bones the same and you’ll accrue your 10,000 swings. Keep in mind that 300 x 30 = 9,000 swings, so somewhere along the way you’ll have to accumulate the other 300 swings. You could just add 33 swings to the end of every workout so you’re not stuck with 1,000 left to do on the last day. I’ve been there before, stuck with 1200+ swings to do on the last day to accomplish my goal of 10,000 swings in 30 days. Trust me, you don’t want to have to do that.