The program

The original challenge

The 10,000 swing challenge is a program created by Dan John and originally published in T-Nation magazine in 2013, with updates made in 2020.

The context of the challenge is to complete a total of 10,000 kettlebell swings in 20 sessions over the course of one month, which amounts to 500 swings per day. You can find a summary of the program by reading the relevant article on the blog.

You will perform ascending sets of swings, such as 10/15/25/50. The goal is to attempt to complete 100 swings in as few sets as possible, ideally in 4 sets. However, don't hesitate to do more sets if necessary. Rest for 30 seconds (or less) after the sets of 10/15/25, and rest for 2 minutes after the set of 50. For women, use a kettlebell weighing 12 or 16 kgs, and for men, use a kettlebell weighing 24 kgs. For the strength movement, use a variation that allows you to do at least 10 repetitions.

For example, if you choose pull-ups, it might look like this:

• 10 swings
• 1 pull-up
• 15 swings
• 2 pull-ups
• 25 swings
• 3 pull-ups
• 50 swings
• 4 pull-ups
• Rest for 2 minutes and then repeat for 4 more sets.

What if you can't do 500 swings a day ?

In the context of micro-sessions, you clearly won't be able to complete 500 swings in 5-10 minutes, along with adding 10 repetitions of a strength movement. I tried it, and doing 100 swings with an ascending progression + 10 pull-ups, and then another time doing ring dips with 4 sets of 25 swings, took me an average of 6 minutes. So, without rest time between each sequence:

• 1 sequence in 6 minutes -> 100 swings
• 2 sequences in 12 minutes -> 200 swings
• 3 sequences in 18 minutes -> 300 swings
• 4 sequences in 24 minutes -> 400 swings
• 5 sequences in 30 minutes -> 500 swings

Therefore, based on a total training duration of 30 minutes per day, it's achievable. If you're unable to do 500 swings per day, you can do less. However, there are a couple of caveats:

1. The duration of the challenge will be extended.

• 100 swings/day, you'll reach 10,000 swings in 100 days.
• 200 swings/day, you'll reach 10,000 swings in 50 days.
• 300 swings/day, you'll reach 10,000 swings in 33 days.
• 400 swings/day, you'll reach 10,000 swings in 25 days.

2. You might not achieve the same results as if you had followed the original program. You may potentially balance out the results by compensating with the duration.

No kettlebells ? No problems !

Don't have kettlebells but still want to try the program? I suggest testing these alternative movements in place of the swing:

1. Jump Squats/Jump Lunges: Set up on a shock-absorbing surface to minimize joint impact.

2. Hindu Squats: If you can't or don't want to do jump squats, consider using this squat variation.

3. Jumping Jacks

If you choose to use jump squats or Hindu squats as a replacement movement, do not include leg exercises as your strength movement.

However, there are no restrictions if you opt for the jumping jack version. Nevertheless, if you want to spice up your sessions with jumping jacks, here are several variations I invite you to try:

https://forums.t-nation.com/t/the-easiest-most-effective-conditioning-exercise/281451

For the rest, follow the same recommendations mentioned earlier in the article and in my summary of the original program.

My feedbacks on this challenge

I tried the challenge during august 2023. I did 400 swings on average, with some days at 400 reps, some at 300.

I mainly used pull-ups/chin-ups, dips, inverted rows, declined pushups and sissy squats as strength exercises.

It took me 28 days to achieve 10000 swings with a 32 kgs kettlebell. I lost 2 kgs along the way, going from 96 to 94 kgs in the time frame, without really putting much attention to what i ate at this time. Not so bad, and I'm pretty glad of this result.

The drawback : as much as I like the kettlebell swing, I was glad to stop doing it daily at the end of the challenge. That's for me.

Your turn now!