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Kettlebell 10000 swings in 10 days.

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knockdownfighter1

knockdownfighter1

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Hi everyone,

As probably most of you, I'm one of those people that always has to have a challenge and a goal to strive for. Last year I had a Knockdown karate tournament cancelled (after about 12 weeks of camp). I decided to give this a go and was wondering if anyone else had completed it as well and was willing to share what results they had.

Ten Thousand Swings to Fat Loss | T Nation

I found that after the 3rd day I was just in total agony. By the 5th day my body was adapting, by the 7th day I was able to do the 1000 reps comfortably (broken into sets of course).
 
How much time does it take you to do 1000 swings a day?

And what's your bodyweight vs the KB weight?
 
Reading the article linked:

"Waking heart rate was elevated in a similar pattern."

That's not usually considered a good thing.

Body composition:

Abby, Corina, and Mitch lost fat.

Angela and James gained fat.

It's a small sample size, but that's a pretty mixed result.

"James didn't see noticeable changes in body composition, although his performance level on swings and ability to buffer lactate improved remarkably."

No change in body comp, definite changes in conditioning....but conditioning isn't permanent and will gradually fade to being de-conditioned (for that volume of work) once the stimulus is gone.

I guess, other than a bucket list item, what's the point of going through this?
 
I've done it a couple of times. It works, really really well. You do gain some muscle. At most it's 75 minutes to do the workout. I found it was the hot spots on my hands the first 3-4 days then the skin toughens up.

It is amazing how quickly the body adapts to high volume swings. Sets of 50 with a 25kg bell were not a challenge by the end. Lightest weight I used was a 25kg, Heaviest a 40kg.

An excellent shock cycle to do before going on vacation. You are also hungry all the time, so don't expect to lose 5-6 lb. in 10 days.

Just need to make sure your swing form is locked in.
 
Shawn90 said:
Did i read correctly.in the article results that 2 out of 5 actually gained fat ?
Click to expand...

Yeah poor James gained half pound of fat and lost five pounds of fat free mass. I guess it's just another expression of the
old adage that "you can't outsnatch doughnut".
 
BrianCF said:
I've done it a couple of times. It works, really really well. You do gain some muscle. At most it's 75 minutes to do the workout. I found it was the hot spots on my hands the first 3-4 days then the skin toughens up.

It is amazing how quickly the body adapts to high volume swings. Sets of 50 with a 25kg bell were not a challenge by the end. Lightest weight I used was a 25kg, Heaviest a 40kg.

An excellent shock cycle to do before going on vacation. You are also hungry all the time, so don't expect to lose 5-6 lb. in 10 days.

Just need to make sure your swing form is locked in.
Click to expand...

At 75 minutes, this is pretty much a cardio activity.

You definitely can't generate max force for 75 minutes and, style wise, I would assume you have to adapt a more GS-style swing. And even GS folks don't go for 75 minutes.

Being hungry is also consistent with long cardio.

The conditioning benefits from the article are also consistent with cardio.

There is nothing wrong with cardio, but for 75 minutes, for me personally, I'd rather be doing something different than a bazillion swings --- outside riding a bike enjoying the sunshine, hiking up a tough mountain with my family and dog, taking a dancing class, or going rucking.

But to each his own!
 
I'm not saying it took 75 all the time. Usually around an hour. 20 swings on the minute for 50 minutes. You can get some decent force. I wouldn't call it hardstyle, but it's not exactly GS equal.

I have no intention of doing it again anytime soon. Right now it's too cold/icy to ride a bike, hike up a tough mountain, my dog is 14 and can walk a 1/4 mile at a time.

I like the 15-25 minute hit hard hard, vs this. But you have to switch it up once in awhile.
 
Go for it! Seriously..only 3 days left and, given a normal lifespan, what’s 10 days out of 7, 8, or more decades? I’m anxious to hear about it.
 
BrianCF said:
I have no intention of doing it again anytime soon. Right now it's too cold/icy to ride a bike, hike up a tough mountain, my dog is 14 and can walk a 1/4 mile at a time.
Click to expand...

Luckily, my dog is 8....I find walking uphill in mid-calf snow (so much snow this week) a heck of a good workout and gets my heart rate right in the fat burn zone.

On the other hand, lifting barbells and kettlebells in my unheated, uninsulated garage is becoming a serious test of willpower....
 
After 45minutes your workout becomes very catabolic. If ye dont believe it google it you will find studies.

I read the result table on that blog a few times. 2 out of 5 gained fat. 2 out of 5 were pretty chubby in the first place (have more lose more) only Abby seem to have some decent result based on give statistics.

Imho if you want a challenge go for it. But youprobably yield better result from the 300 daily swings and a little cutting.back on kcal intake. Without being that greatly tormented.

My 2 cents
 
Shawn90 said:
After 45minutes your workout becomes very catabolic. If ye dont believe it google it you will find studies.

I read the result table on that blog a few times. 2 out of 5 gained fat. 2 out of 5 were pretty chubby in the first place (have more lose more) only Abby seem to have some decent result based on give statistics.

Imho if you want a challenge go for it. But youprobably yield better result from the 300 daily swings and a little cutting.back on kcal intake. Without being that greatly tormented.

My 2 cents
Click to expand...

That was my take away, as well.

If one wants body recomp, there are better options.
 
watchnerd said:
How much time does it take you to do 1000 swings a day?

And what's your bodyweight vs the KB weight?
Click to expand...

I broke my sets up using ladders (1,20,1). I would do this in the morning before work and after work. I also brought a kettle bell to work and would do 20 swings whenever I could. At the time I was 92kg and was using a 24kg for the entire challenge.


watchnerd said:
Reading the article linked:

"Waking heart rate was elevated in a similar pattern."

That's not usually considered a good thing.

Body composition:

Abby, Corina, and Mitch lost fat.

Angela and James gained fat.

It's a small sample size, but that's a pretty mixed result.

"James didn't see noticeable changes in body composition, although his performance level on swings and ability to buffer lactate improved remarkably."

No change in body comp, definite changes in conditioning....but conditioning isn't permanent and will gradually fade to being de-conditioned (for that volume of work) once the stimulus is gone.

I guess, other than a bucket list item, what's the point of going through this?
Click to expand...

For me it was more of a mental challenge. To be able to sustain that volume over that much time.
 
Shawn90 said:
After 45minutes your workout becomes very catabolic. If ye dont believe it google it you will find studies.
Click to expand...

But are all styles of training alike when it comes to session length?

If Pete was a bodybuilder who did nothing but supersets to failure, with just 30 seconds between the supersets. And Sam was a weightlifter who did easy, fast triples and took five minutes of rest between every set. Would you believe both of them would get in an equally catabolic state after 45 minutes?
 
Antti said:
But are all styles of training alike when it comes to session length?

If Pete was a bodybuilder who did nothing but supersets to failure, with just 30 seconds between the supersets. And Sam was a weightlifter who did easy, fast triples and took five minutes of rest between every set. Would you believe both of them would get in an equally catabolic state after 45 minutes?
Click to expand...

How does this compare to doing 1.000 kb swings a day ?
 
The two people who "gained fat" were:

Angela: She gained 0.1% fat but gained just over 1 pound in fat free mass.

James (one of the authors): He gained 0.5% fat and supposedly lost almost 5 pounds of fat-free mass.

I don't know what to make of these two results. In the article James mentioned that the DEXA scan counts glycogen that is stored in the muscles as fat-free mass. If your muscle glycogen gets depleted then DEXA interprets this as a "loss" of fat-free mass.

The other three lost significant amounts of fat in the 10 days.

Overall this was a very interesting experiment. I think it's difficult enough to get to 500 swings. Can't imagine what it would be like to get to 1,000.
 
Always thought this was such a fun challenge to really test conditioning, mental fortitude, but also really dial in the technique with a bell of the proper size.


One year I did 3 different 10k swing challenges (30, 20, and 10 days respectively) and each one I found had pros and cons. I would do one for a month, take a month off and go into the next cycle.


Dan John's 20 day variant I feel I responded to the best overall but I feel that was also because of the density per session AND the fact that it's no so prioritized on the swing that you can really get quality practice with your other skills (Press, Front/Goblet squat, Getup, etc....).

The 10 day one in the article above I have actually done twice for some reason but the first time was right after talking to one of the people who were referenced in the article about it. First run I lost about 7lbs of fat and packed on a bit of muscle along the way. the 2nd was the best to day because I dialed in nutrition as well and really focused on the fat loss. That time I lost 12 lbs of fat but gained a good 7 in muscle.

Good times
 
Hello,

I think 300 swings a day may be enough, provided one keeps the diet in check.

Otherwise, 10k swings of D. John is nice as well

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
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