17,000 Kettlebell Swings in 2 Months.
Throughout the months of December and January, I embarked on 2 challenges: One that was my design and one that was Lisa Shaffer from Kettlebell Inc.’s doing.
The first of December, I decided to do 1 Turkish Getup for each day of the month. So, on the 1st day, I did one and on the last day 31. I took one rest day each week. Each rep was up and down both sides.
I did this totally for personal reasons. I wanted to improve my shoulder stability and strength. I knew this would do it. I also decided to add a minimum of 1,000 kettlebell swings per week.
I made the mistake of writing about this on the Kettlebell Inc. Forum, and others joined in the challenge, and then upped the ante on the swings. Lisa Shaffer decided on 1,000 swings the first week, 1,500 the next, 2,000 week three and 2,500 the final week. It was tough. This equalled 7,000 for the month.
Lisa then issued the next challenge: 10,000 swings for the month of January. It was tough.
I added lots of presses and Turkish Getups to make the workouts balanced, and did between 400 and 500 swings 6 days per week to get the numbers in. There was no slack, and no time for catch up if I were to get behind.
Last Saturday I finished out my 10,000 for the month with 600 swings with the 70lb kettlebell.
My pressing strength has also improved, as a result of the pressing routine I followed with the swings. I will elaborate on that more later.
The pictures are of what my hands looked like after my final swings of January. The only reason I post these photos is that I never, ever recommend anyone let their hands get to this point.
This is not cool or macho. This will equal a few days away from kettlebells, which is not productive.
-Jim
