When done correctly, the humble kettlebell swing is a total-body exercise. Not only do they strengthen the posterior chain (the muscles along the back of the body) and raise your heart rate in a short amount of time, but they target the legs, arms, and core. It’s a high intensity, low impact move, but what would 100 a day do to my body?
To learn more, I grabbed a kettlebell and started. Would 100 kettlebell swings a day for two weeks help with my posture and strengthen muscles along the back of my body? I’m no stranger to a weird training challenge – read what happened when I did 50 hamstring curls a day for a week. here, or 100 dead insects a day for a weekHowever, kettlebell swings don’t usually feature in my strength workouts, so 100 a day was definitely a test. Read on to find out what happened.
Before we begin, a reminder that doing 100 reps of anything is a lot, and targeting the same muscle groups every day is not recommended. If you’re new to kettlebell swings, or are returning to exercising after an injury, it’s a good idea to check your form with a personal trainer before adding repetitions or weight to the exercise.
How to swing with a kettlebell
The first thing to remember before swinging with a kettlebell is that the movement part of the swing comes from the legs, not the arms.
1. To do a kettlebell swing, start by standing on your exercise mat (we have a list of the best yoga mats which double as exercise mats if you need suggestions) with your feet shoulder-width apart and a kettlebell in front of you.
2. Bend your knees and grasp the kettlebell with both hands.
3. Engaging your core, move the kettlebell back between your legs; then, as you rock up, contract your glutes and abs, keeping your arms extended as the kettlebell rises.
4. Try to lift the kettlebell to chest height, arms extended. Squeeze your glutes and swing your hips at the top of the movement.
5. Let the kettlebell drop back down naturally and rotate it between your legs again for your next repetition.
Of course, kettlebell swings can also be done with a dumbbell, holding the weight by the plate, not the handle.
Remember, the movement in the kettlebell swing comes from your hips, you’re not lifting the weight with your arms. Think of your hips as the hinge of the movement: your lower body stays flat on the ground, with your weight back through your heels, and your torso moves back and forth to balance the weight. The main muscles worked are along the back of the body; this is not a squat and lift.
Be careful not to bend your knees too far during this movement (again, this is not a squat) and avoid leaning back at the top of the movement, as this will put too much stress on your lower back; Avoid this
Read more about how to swing with kettlebelland variations to try here.
I Did 100 Kettlebell Swings A Day For 14 Days: Here’s What I Learned
Eager to master the move, I grabbed a kettlebell and started swinging; this is what i learned.
This move worked my entire body.
I did not expect to feel this movement as intensely as I did. It hit all the different muscle groups in my body, and I could feel my glutes and abs working hard as I swung my kettlebell back and forth.
Doing 100 a day meant I had a tendency to rush through my reps to get to the finish, but moving too fast on kettlebell swings puts too much emphasis on the upper body when the movement should be coming from the legs.
Taking 100 swings a day was a lot.
In addition to feeling this exercise in my glutes and abs, after a couple days of 100 reps, I really felt the movement in my lower back. Worried about arching my back during exercise, I videotaped my form and sent it to a personal trainer friend, who assured me I wasn’t doing anything wrong, but that going from no kettlebell swings to 100 a day probably it was a problem. a little jump. Over the next several days, I divided the challenge into four sets of 25 reps, keeping a kettlebell by my desk and doing 25 at various times throughout the day, rather than doing it all at once.
As a reminder, to avoid lower back pain during kettlebell swings, think about engaging your core during the exercise. To do this, think about dipping your belly button into your spine or bracing your stomach, like you’re about to get punched. Here’s more about engage your core, and why it matters.
I have a couple of blisters
Doing kettlebell swings is said to help you work on your grip strength, something I definitely need to practice. Around the fifth or sixth day of my challenge, I started to develop blisters on my hands from the kettlebells. This is a sign that I’m not lifting half as much as I should, but it’s still a surprise.
I found it easier to activate my glutes while running
On the days when I would swing my kettlebells before going for a run, I definitely felt my glutes get more activated as I racked up the miles. Like many runners, I tend to get lazy glutes when I run, and I found that swinging with kettlebells before heading out the door helped me activate them while running. A to study (opens in a new tab)published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that six weeks of kettlebell training improved explosive strength by nearly 20%, so perhaps keeping the kettlebell as part of my pre-race warmup will help me run faster in the long run.
I have more confidence in the movement.
By the end of my two-week challenge, I managed to do a couple days of one-armed kettlebell swings, a step up from the two-handed technique. These help increase the demand on the stabilizer muscles, and I definitely felt my shoulders work more.
I will definitely be adding them to my strength workouts in the future.
There’s no doubt about it: doing 100 kettlebell swings was one of my most boring challenges yet. However, despite the back pain and blistered palms, I really felt the benefits on my body. Of course, two weeks is not long enough to see any physical difference, but I felt like I had worked my lower body and core a lot, and was running stronger because of it.
I will definitely keep kettlebell training in my routine in the future, but hopefully I won’t have to do 100 swings tomorrow morning.
Looking for more inspiration? Read what happened when this fitness writer did it 100 kettlebell snatches a day for a weekalso take a look at this 15 Minute Kettlebell Abs Workout.
