Well the title of this blog says it all, but I’ll carry on writing.
On Sunday, the 27th of November I decided I’d get stuck in to a challenge laid down to the world by Übercoach Dan John. I mentioned it in Volume – up or down?. 10,000 swings in 30 days.
Today, 25 days later, I got to 10,260. So I’m pleased with that.
The vast majority of those swings were with a 24kg bell, and performed two-handed. Some were done single-armed, and I did a about 400 of the 10,260 with my 28kg bell. I’ll carry on for a few days – today is 21st December,’ll stop on Christmas Eve, so I might pass 11,000.
The good: I just feel stronger, especially around my traps, lats, and as you’d expect, my glutes, which feel like two enraged anacondas trying to writhe up my back. My chest feels stronger too, which I didn’t expect. Better sleep, better aerobic conditioning, although I haven’t tested that by, say, doing a 5k, but I do cycle from time to time, and notice a difference.
The bad: Dan John appears to have a strict protocol for this, doing 5 x 10/15/25/50 swings (= 500) for two days, then taking a day off, and I absolutely didn’t follow this, partly because I wanted to make this a daily thing, involving harder and easier days, and partly because multiple sets of 50 swings are slightly beyond my hand strength. Eating like a horse with a worm, so in no way do I have a leaner physique from my exertions.
I have really enjoyed this endeavour. It’s given me a sharp kick up the backside. I will go back to ‘normal’ training for a while, then do another one, maybe with 28kg, maybe adhering to Dan John’s protocol with the 24kg, or maybe even making every swing one-handed.
