cross-fit

High Repetition Kettlebell Swings

Kettlebell Training

The kettlebell swing is a amazing exercise that can build power, strength, improve conditioning and accelerate fat loss.  

Swings are packed with benefits.  

Kettlebell swings have been a staple exercise in my workouts for the past 13+ years.  

I started by swinging a 24kg kettlebell, and have since moving on to 28kg, 32kg and 44kg swings of varying intensities and volume.  

Within 4 weeks, I noticed the impact kettlebell swings had on my physique.  

And I wasn’t using fancy workouts, just a simple 15 seconds on/ 15 seconds off for 24 rounds.  That’s a 12 minute workout, with 6 of those minutes being dedicated to swings.   

Long story short, adding swings to my workout regimine helped to burn fat off of my body while building functional power, improving my posture and delivering a potent form of conditioning. 

Swinging kettlebells has also improved my running.

Kettlebell swings are a total body exercise.

In the beginning, I rarely swung my 28kg bell beyond the 15-20 reps in a work set.  

Overall, my workouts 

Then I started reading testimonials where people described how high rep kettlebell swing workouts (several days per week) was torching fat off their bodies. 

Who doesn’t want to burn a little more fat off their body?  I sure did, and still do, let’s get lean people. 

Of couse, nutrition is a crucial part of fat loss, so factor that in. 

Over the years, I’ve gone pretty far down the rabbit hole with swings.  High rep swing workouts might eclipse 300-400 reps in a session, using heavier kettlebells.  

Note:  Tread lightly using high rep swings too frequently.  Give your body chance to recover and avoid injury.  

—> Here is a short list of my observations and findings while using high rep kettlebell swing workouts <—

1)  High rep kettlebell swings builds grip endurance.  

2)  Might be a good idea to perform self administered soft tissue work on the forearms using a lacrosse ball or a percusion massager like the TheraGun. 

3)  I got lean pretty quick, which is predictable because kettlebell swings work a large number of muscles and burn a significant number of calories in these high rep workouts.  

4)  Take adequate rest between sessions.  Give your low back, glutes and hamstrings a chance to recover from the increase volume.  Foam roll, percussion massage, accupressure mat, active mobility training and long walks are a good idea.  

5)  2-3 high rep swing workouts per week is enough to create noticeable changes in body composition and conditioning.  

6)  Postural changes were interesting.  Standing position seemed like my hips were further forward and my shoulders pulled back.  

7)  15-20 minutes is more than enough time to accumulate a shit ton of swings.   

8)  Don’t be afraid to move up in weight and attack heavier kettlebells.  

I’d consider a high rep swing workout to be 100+ reps or more.  

Taking that number and scaling it for a beginner,  40-50 swings might be high rep for your experience level. 

If you’re advanced, 200+ swings might be your target for that day.  

It depends on your conditioning level and familiarity with the kettlebell swing.

Here’s a good kettlebell swing workout:

Baseline Kettlebell Swing Workout

Workoust like this are deceptively challenging.  

In the early round the rest periods feel long, but in the later rounds the rest periods don’t feel long enough.   

Fatigue is a hell of a drug.  

Using this workout, you’ll accumulate 100 swings in 10 minutes.  

That’s plenty to create a training effect.   

Choosing kettlebell weight.  20-24kg for men and a 16kg/20kg for women.

This is not the law however.  If you need to go lighter, do it.  Need to go heavier?  Do it.  Feel it out and make that decision as needed.  

This workout uses a fixed work:rest structure.  Wear a heart rate monitor if you have one.  A heart rate monitor can provide valuable information on work and rest periods, along with pinpointing how hard you’re actually working according to heart beats per minute.  

Using a heart rate monitor, I’ll perform the swings, finsih, then watch my heart rate monitor until the BPM decresases to 130bpm before starting the next round.  This method will make rest periods short in the beginning and tends to increase the length of rest later in the workout as fatigue accumulates and your body needs more time to calm down.  

Here are a few other workouts I’ve played around with. 

Other tips for high rep swing workouts

Don’t make the mistake of swinging too light of a kettlebell.  

The hips are powerful , size up the kettlebell and challenge yourself.  

If you have several different weights, you can start the workout with the heavier kettlebell and transition to the lighter bell as needed.  

It’s all based on feel.  

If you’re swinging super high rep marathon sessions with too light of a kettlebell, there’s diminishing returns.  

Instead of swinging 500 reps and feeling fresh at the end of the workout, lower the reps while increasing the weight.  

The increase in load will challenge your body plenty, and over time, the volume will increase.  

Repeat this process and you’ll be swinging the 40kg BEAST in not time.  I bet your body will reflect this progress.  

Just remember, the rules of progressive loading apply to kettlebell swings also.  

Again, this is a basic progression with loading, similar to what you’d use with traditional resistance training.

Heavier kettlebells will require greater effort to move the kettlebell through the arc of motion.    

Kettlebells are amazing for building power, improving posture and fat loss.  

Swings, while not the best for building lean muscle, are known to and can build muscle.  

Don’t count kettlebell swings out for building SOME muscle.  Just know there are better exercises.  

Deadlifts, squats, vertical pulling, rows, horizontal pressing and overhead pressing are best for building muscle because muscles will spend more time under tension through the full range of motion.  

Kettlebell swing are great for fat loss, if…   

… you’re in a caloric deficit.    

It doesn’t matter if you’re getting into a  caloric deficit via the swing workouts, or you’re a badass and entering workouts already in a caloric deficit.

You cannot out-swing a calorie surplus and expect to lose fat.  The math will work against you every time and you’ll go insane.  

People fight the calorie deficit thing all the time, like there’s some other secret sauce that can only be found by spending $97 on a fitness guru’s fat loss product.  

The caloric deficit is NOT EVERYTHING when it comes to fat loss, but it does play a HUGE role in burning fat.  

Huge.  

Sleep, hydration, protein intake, eating whole foods over processed foods (as much as possible) will deliver “best” results.

If you found this article wondering if high rep kettlebell swings are a good idea… 

… yes, they are.  

Just make sure you approach these workouts with some common sense, making sure you’re familiar with the swing itself and not overdoing the volume out of the gates. 

Increase the reps gradually, find the sweet spot with the weight, attack the workout. 

Integrating several high volume swing workouts per work alongside decent nutrition will deliver awesome athletic and aesthetic results.  

Cheers to high rep kettlebell swings!

KG

The Freak 5K

Quick Tips

This past weekend marked my second experience at the local “hardcore” mud run… also known as the:

The Freak 5K

Yes, The Freak 5K was held once again this past weekend in Chippewa Falls, WI.

First let me say that this race is not easy.  What it lacks in distance, it makes up for in volume of obstacles and elevation change.  Each team was required to carry a keg the entire 5K, which added an element to the race also.  Someone mentioned that The Freak 5k had the same number of obstacles in about 1/4 of the distance of a Tough Mudder.

Freak 5K Map

Second, let me say that I only have one gear when competing in races.  No matter how much I say that I am just going to run for fun and enjoy myself, as soon as we leave the starting line, my competitive side appears and I basically black out from that point on.  I’ll step on heads to get out of the mud pits, ask slower racers to move over on narrower paths and elbow the males and females alike to get to the front.  I honestly hate losing and also hate seeing other people push it harder than I am, especially when I know that I have another gear.

I wrote an article a while back about the idea of staying “physically prepared”.  I enjoyed writing that article, and I feel that it loosely represented my philosophy on staying fit for demanding activities… whatever those demanding activities may be.

For The Freak 5K, I tweaked my training about 2 weeks prior and added a few longer distance aerobic based runs into the normal training regimen.  Why?  Just to make sure that my body had a few training sessions to adapt to the demands of running.  Personally, I respect running but I am not a fan.  It’s not my go to hobby for killing time and I rarely have a good time during a run.

I was told by someone before the race that the Cross-Fitters would do the best because they train for everything and it is hardcore training.  I always chuckle when I hear this.  Cross-Cult has got people believing everything these days.  Our guys dusted all of the “hardcore” cross-fitters on Saturday.  It’s hard to imagine that performing 50 continuous hang cleans or 100+ box jumps “unbroken” wouldn’t be enough to help someone power through a race like that no problem.

A workout is more than burying yourself in a pile of fatigue.

So, I took it as a personal challenge to torch everyone on the course after I heard this comment.

Here is a brief commentary on how we maneuvered the through the race…

On the starting line, my team chose to leave the starting line last for our wave, to avoid raising any tempers early on in the race.  Most people flail around like idiots in the mud pits, so I was on board with waiting for the flailers to move through the pits before we entered.  Shortly after the mud pit was a 35-40 foot dirt hill that was nearly a complete vertical climb.  Nice.

We made our move here.

Passing numerous teams on the dirt hill, we made our way into the woods.  The entire time passing competitors who were proudly sporting Cross-Fit t-shirts like they were tattoos.  Badges of honor.  Ha.

The demands of a condensed run course like The Freak 5K are interesting.  By far, the most difficult aspect of the course was the elevation change.  The course designers did a great job adding to the volume of hill climbing.  I bet we climbed 50 yards up and down for nearly 100 yards of horizontal travel.  It was brutal.  Up hill climb was exertion and focused breathing while the down hill was recovery into the next climb.  We made it through in good shape.

Freak 5K Elevation Change

So it turned out that we met up with a local high school wrestling team who we trailed for the remainder of the race.  The guys were in good shape, but we could have been relentless assholes and passed them a couple of times in sketchy spots.  We didn’t and it chaps my ass that we got stuck waiting for them to scale multiple obstacles, 20 foot lake plunges, 50 yard slip-n-slide, etc.  At these obstacles, we were typically forced to go single file, which is difficult to swallow when you are competing to win.  It really takes the wind out of your sails.

Our keg crossed the finish line 2nd behind the wrestler’s keg, by a matter of a few seconds.  I would like to note that we ran with 3 guys, taking turns carrying the keg for varying distances.  The wrestlers had 5 guys, doing the same.  No excuse, just saying that the rest factor could have played a part in how fresh they were toward the end.  God I wanted to bring home the trophy.  Next year.

Regardless, what I learned was this:

1)  Cross-Fit makes you good at… Cross-Fit… Training isn’t a sport, training is a means to accelerate at sports.

2)  I can train minimally still perform well at a demanding obstacle course-based race like The Freak 5K.

3)  I can keep my workouts to less than 30-40 minutes a session and still push it to the edge for 55 minutes no problem.

4)  Hip extension is everything, so train your butt muscles to be powerful extenders of the hip, add in some stability and mobility while you’re at it.

5)  It doesn’t take long to make adjustments to your training to acclimate to a specific demand if you’re training regularly.

6)  Trail running is superior to beating the pavement for building athletic qualities.

7)  Along with #3, simplicity in your workout regimen and your nutritional regimen yields great results.

8)  The ability to put your mind in a place where it is resilient to the thought of losing or quitting is essential to pushing yourself physically and squeezing  more out of your performance (black out and go for it).

9)  Life and sport happens on your feet… Make damn sure your lower body is strong, mobile and stable while taking care of your health/function of your muscles/joints.

10)  Don’t be afraid to step outside of your comfort zone with regard to physical exertion, you’re capable of enduring much more than you think you are.

11)  Never lose the desire to compete and avoid being average.

12)  Beer tastes great after a race like that.

13)  Spectators shouldn’t stand so close to the mud pit located at the bottom of the 50 yard downhill slip-n-slide when I slide down with a keg on my lap and toss it prior to water contact. (sorry old guy in the Levi’s with the new Polo shirt)

 

 

Cheers destroying your next race and The Freak 5k!

KG