The 10,000 Swing Kettlebell Workout

01dragonslayer · Jul 14, 2024

A Complete 4-Week Plan

The best kettlebell workout. The most powerful kettlebell exercise plus hardcore strength work. Get ready to be better... at everything!

Without challenges, the human body will soften. We thrive when we push our boundaries, reach goals, and blast personal records. We perform better, we look better, and we feel alive.

You’re either progressing or regressing. There is no maintenance phase. Moderation in training can easily turn into stagnation. And moderation is for sissies. So if we want to improve, we have to seek out new challenges, struggle, and win.

The 10,000 Swing Kettlebell Workout is just such a challenge. And it will rapidly transform your body in only four weeks.

I don’t write training programs by reading textbooks and studies. I create them in the field, deep in the trenches with real athletes and people whose lives literally depend on their physical abilities.

To create and refine this program, myself and 18 other coaches and athletes met several days every week to put it to the test. Here’s what we experienced:

Everyone got leaner, dropping a waist size or two, in 20 workouts.
Every coach or athlete made visual muscular improvements in their physiques, adding lean body mass.
Every lifter increased his grip strength and greatly increased work capacity and athletic conditioning. They could all train longer and harder when they went back to their normal training programs.
After the program, every lifter saw a noted improvement in his core lifts. PRs fell like dominos. Full-body strength and power shot through the roof.
Abs were more visible. Glute strength was tremendously better. The abs and glutes “discovered” how to work again, leading to athletic improvements in sport and in the weight room.

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In four or five weeks, you’re going to perform 10,000 proper kettlebell swings. These will be split among 20 workouts. You’ll do 500 swings per workout.
Between sets of swings, you’ll perform low-volume, basic strength exercises.
You will train 4-5 days per week. Train 2 days on, 1 day off, and repeat.
Men will use a 24kg kettlebell (53 pounds). Women will use 16kg (35 pounds).

This is a stand-alone program. If you feel you’re able to do a second workout on the same day, then you are “underbelled” – you’re either not going heavy enough or not training with maximal effort.

Use an undulating rep scheme to reach 500 total reps per workout:

Set 1: 10 reps
Set 2: 15 reps
Set 3: 25 reps
Set 4: 50 reps

You’ve now completed 100 reps or one cluster. Repeat the cluster 4 more times for a total of 500 swings. Between sets, experienced lifters will add a low-volume strength movement.

Use a strength movement with low volume between sets of swings. The best exercises are:

Press (barbell overhead press or one-arm press)
Dip
Goblet Squat 862
Chin-up

Other acceptable choices: front squat, pistol squat, handstand push-up, wide-grip loaded pull-up, and the muscle-up 170.

Remember, choose only one strength exercise per workout.

Use a 1-2-3 rep scheme for most movements. Here’s an example using the press:

10 Swings, Press 1 rep
15 Swings, Press 2 reps
25 Swings, Press 3 reps
50 Swings

Rest 30-60 seconds between rounds.

For the 1-2-3 lifts, use your five-rep max weight.

For the dip, you’ll need more reps. Use a 2-3-5 rep scheme.

If you choose to do the program 5 days per week, on one of those days, you’ll only do the swings. Leave out the strength work between rounds. If you train 4 days per week, you’ll use the strength exercises every workout.

You may use a different strength movement every workout, rotating between the press, dip, goblet squat, and chin-up. I also like using two days of chin-ups and two days of presses.

After each round of 10, 15, and 25 reps, rest 30-60 seconds. The first cluster will be easy and you can jam through it. In the later clusters, you’ll need the full 60 seconds or more for grip strength recovery.

After each set of 50, rest will extend to 3 minutes or more. During this post-50 rest period, perform a “corrective.” Stretch anything that needs it, like the hip flexors. Do a mobility movement of choice.

Time your workouts. Each week you should be getting faster. Your time in workout #20 should clobber your time in workout #1. For the strength lifts, the goal is to use a weight that’s challenging on the first workout and easy by the last workout.

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10 Swings, Press 1 rep
15 Swings, Press 2 reps
25 Swings, Press 3 reps
50 Swings

Rest 30-60 seconds; repeat 4 more times.

By the end of the workout, you’ll have completed 500 swings and 30 presses.

10 Swings, Dip 2 reps
15 Swings, Dip 3 reps
25 Swings, Dip 5 reps
50 Swings

Rest 30-60 seconds; repeat 4 more times.

By the end of the workout, you’ll have completed 500 swings and 50 dips. Remember, for dips you’re using a 2-3-5 rep scheme, not 1-2-3 as you do in other lifts.

10 Swings, Goblet Squat 1 rep
15 Swings, Goblet Squat 2 reps
25 Swings, Goblet Squat 3 reps
50 Swings

Rest 30-60 seconds; repeat 4 more times.

By the end of the workout, you’ll have completed 500 swings and 30 goblet squats.

10 Swings, Chin-up 1 rep
15 Swings, Chin-up 2 reps
25 Swings, Chin-up 3 reps
50 Swings

Rest 30-60 seconds; repeat 4 more times.

By the end of the workout, you’ll have completed 500 swings and 30 chin-ups.

If you begin the cycle again because you want to use the program 5 days per week, remember to do only the swings during one workout per week.

The swing is a hip hinge. It’s basically the position you take in a standing long jump. Look for maximum hip bend and minimal knee bend. It is not a squat!

Begin in the “Silverback gorilla” position. Slide the kettlebell back a bit and vigorously “hike” the bell at your zipper. Hinge deeply and let the forearms slide through the thighs. Then, snap up to a vertical plank position.

There is no start or finish to a correct swing. The vertical plank is a moment to grab the 'bell and toss it back to the zipper. The hinge causes a rebound and we pop back to the plank.

Ensure the following: glutes clenched, lats connected to the shoulders, arms snapped directly in front of the body. Do not let the kettlebell float much higher – grab it and toss it back to your zipper. The kettlebell should not be brought overhead.

The swing should be aggressive, explosive, and attacked with a high tempo. More detailed info here 401.

First, congratulate yourself for actually finishing a program. That’s rare in today’s world.

You are now in extraordinarily better shape than you were four or five weeks ago. Your training should be poised to take off. I recommend you put these newfound abilities to work with a basic strength template,