Swing for the win!

I love a good old kettlebell swing, don’t you?

 

It hits the majority of your muscles in your posterior chain, improves your core bracing, your grip strength, firms up your glutes and strips fat like there’s no tomorrow.

 

Yep, swings are great

 

The 10,000 swing 4 week program

 

Have you ever done it?

 

I first learnt of this from reading the fine writings of Dan John, his work/writing worth looking up if you haven’t already done so.

 

Here is how it works:

 

– 500 swings a day (50-30-20 x5 rounds)

– feel free to add in one strength movement of 3-5 reps in-between each set of swings (50 swing – 3-5 presses, 30 swings – 3-5 presses etc)

– perform this 5 days per week

 

Simple enough, right?

 

While it may indeed be simple it’s far from easy as it requires a rather large amount of both physical and mental fortitude to stick at.

 

If you saw it through to the end you’d find you stripped fat, added a nice amount of lean muscle and and built a cast iron grip.

 

The mistake many people make with this is using a kettlebell that is way too heavy from the start, this leads to things getting difficult very quickly.

 

My advice would be for ladies to grab a 12kg kettlebell and for the gents to start with a 16kg, even if that isn’t anywhere near what you currently swing, I know some ladies that are chucking around a 32kg for sets of 15-20 solid swings, however it;s not a good idea to go in that heavy, trust me, you’ll thank me by week 2.

 

Depending on your experience level you could scale this protocol, which personally I’d advise, and start off with say 5000 total swings (this means 25-15-10 x5 rounds, 5 days per week).

 

You may even want to start off at 2500 swings in month one (125 swings 5 days per week).

 

Then 5000 in month 2 (250 swings per day, 5 days per week).

 

On to 7500 in month 3 (375 swings per day, 5 days per week).

 

Finally go for 10,000 in month 4 (500 swings per day, 5 days a week), it’s entirely up to you.

 

^^ I’d aim to keep the set up of:

 

X swings- 3/5 strength- X swings – 3/5 strength – X swings -3/5 strength -rest, repeat 5 times

 

You’ll just need to break down how many swings that will be each set in the 2500/7500 months.

 

Pick a kettlebell that you can handle, and build ups o that 10,000 target. If you choose to do it over the 4 months, you’ll have something to stick to, just make sure you change up the strength movement to add in some variety.

 

I’d suggest the following movement patterns:

 

– Pushing (press, bench, dip etc)

– Pulling (chin, row, high pull etc)

– Squat (FS, SQ, Lunge etc)

– Loaded carry (bear hug variation)

 

Deadlifting in this time might not be advised, however it’s your choice if you want to do it or not.

 

If you’ve found yourself a little lost then this might be the protocol you need, you can always feel free to crack straight on with the 10,000 swings from the start, just being with a much lighter bell and perhaps work up to your standard shining weight over the next 3-6 months.

 

*It’d be worth taking a few days off perhaps at the end of each block of 10,000, no sense in crippling yourself just so that you start each month on the 1st.

 

Give it a go and enjoy,

Ross