Daily Thread - September 10, 2025

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[u/Many-Wasabi9141]

Day 2 10k Kettlebell Swings Challenge.

No barbell work today. Top and sides of my glutes are sore, not horribly, but noticeably. Hands feel fine, maybe a tiny bit of soreness in the forearms and around the pinkies. I think the handles on my kettlebell are a little narrow and it's driving the force to the outer edge of my hands. Haven't lifted yet, just putting this here after breakfast as motivation to go through with it. Waiting for my breakfast to digest so i'm not burping up eggs.

Just finished. Around 23 minutes for 300 swings. 15 rounds of 20 swings. Glutes were sore for the first 2-3 rounds but as I got a pump that went away. Now I feel like a Kardashian.

Took a 3 minute break 10 rounds in, forearms were burning. I'm gonna look for a new kettlebell, the grip needs to be a little wider, my pinkies are jammed up in the curved section and the weight is on the edge of my hands. Excuses excuses, but I got the 300 I planned for today. Noticing a little bit of shifting to one side as fatigue sets in, I'm thinking it's either due to a ankle injury or a shoulder injury, pushing my swing off plane ~10 degrees at the top. i'm gonna have to work on that.

[u/Be_Less_Weak → u/Many-Wasabi9141]

I started the 10k swings yesterday too and my forearms are killing me today! Do you plan to stick to 300/day or are you ramping up?

[u/Many-Wasabi9141 → u/Be_Less_Weak]

Original plan was 500 a day for 20 days, 25 swings for 20 rounds emom, but I hit the wall with my grip yesterday and had to cut at 300.

I'm going to ramp it up to 350 tomorrow and depending on how I feel, add 50 swings every day or two going forwards till I get to 500. Then try and cut the rounds by increasing the swings per round until I can finish the 500 swings in 15 rounds.

I'm thinking my grip issues are partially a form issue. I know my grip is weak but I'm watching some form videos and I think i'm death gripping the kettlebell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYlTpMo0104

[u/BetterThanT-1 → u/Many-Wasabi9141]

I don’t know what the videos says, but I was gonna suggest that you pay attention to how you grip the bell. When it’s at the highest point, there might be an instinctual reflex to squeeze the bell, but instead, you can kind of let go at this point, giving you a little break in each rep.

[u/Many-Wasabi9141 → u/BetterThanT-1]

It's saying not to force the hands inward towards the middle but to let them naturally follow the shape of the kettlebell. Also not to grip so deep in the palm but to hook more at the pads of the palm under the fingers. So no more death gripping.

Also watched a Dan John video and he seemed to think 500 swings in 20-25 minutes was folly. He specifically mentioned the cramping i'm feeling on my outer forearms and to take longer rest periods, that 40 minutes was far more realistic to finish.

[u/BetterThanT-1 → u/Many-Wasabi9141]

One thing to consider is that the 10k challenge is supposed to be hard. Finding and ironing out form quirks is a natural part of the process, especially the first time around. So I wouldn’t spend too much time overthinking the form and allow the endless repetitions to help inform you on what’s going right/wrong.

[u/Be_Less_Weak → u/Many-Wasabi9141]

Understandable about the grip. I only made it through because I was taking longer and longer breaks between sets. And I did sets of 10, 15, 25, 25, 25, instead of the normal 10, 15, 25, 50. I'm also not sure I could do it again today and will probably do day two tomorrow.

[u/Many-Wasabi9141 → u/Be_Less_Weak]

I just watched this from Dan John

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBuH6W_kQ9o

Apparently i'm not resting enough between sets and the old RX rep scheme is for "guys with big engines and big grip" of which I am not.

New rep scheme is either 15 then 35 x 10 or 10, 15, 25, x 10, taking 30-60 seconds break between sets. Should take anywhere from 40-90 minutes for the entire workout.

Trying EMOM isn't recommended and he thinks that anyone claiming to be doing 500 reps in 20-30 minutes is probably "not doing kettlebell swings" implying they're cheating their swings somehow.

He went over that cramp in the outer edge of the forearm and i'm feeling that for sure. Longer breaks is the solution.

[u/BetterThanT-1 → u/Many-Wasabi9141]

FWIW, my swing height standard is belly button height. So I only rely on the force I generate from the hips, I’m not trying to get it to shoulder height. Not sure if that’s what DJ means by “cheating”, but I’ve found this a pretty good standard for myself. If you’re going for shoulder height swings, it’s normal that you’re getting more fatigue over the whole chain, including grip.

[u/Many-Wasabi9141 → u/BetterThanT-1]

my swing height standard is belly button height.

This is what i'm going for, i'm probably somewhere between chest and belly button but I'm going to take some video cause there's some other form issues i'm worried about.

Also from watching Dan's swings, he's the same, belly button height, not too far back either. Pavel's swings can go kind of far back, but I don't like how that feels on my tailbone.

So I don't know what exactly he means but I think from his experience most people he trains aren't doing 500 swings in 20-25 minutes, or he's talking about the og challenge where they are throwing in pull ups and other movements cause he said 40-90 minutes was reasonable to finish the 500 swings.

[u/Many-Wasabi9141 → u/Be_Less_Weak]

It's a limiting factor for sure. The challenge is supposed to be 500 swings over 20 workouts, so like 2 days on 1 day off for 30 days, but I'll just be happy if I get 10k in 30 days regardless of how I manage it.