Day 14 07/12/14
Start time 7:05
Time taken 46 mins and 34 seconds
Kettle bell - 24 kg
Goblet squat - 44 kg
Well there’s not much to say about today apart from it sucked. I felt like crap when I woke up which wasn’t a great start. But still go changed etc and headed to the gym.
Started off okay once I had loosened up a little. Then it went downhill and fast. As mentioned above I have been having issues with my right knee and boy did it play up today. It gradually got worse and worse to the point that after the 3rd round I just sat there for 4-5 minutes. Thinking to myself why am I doing this and I should just quit. After a brief pause and having pulled myself together I pushed on finishing the 4th round, then finally the fifth. My time really shows how slow I was and I hope my knee improves before Thursday!
I’m not going to try and butter it up, but today was the worst by far where I nearly thought sod it and quit. But despite my knee throbbing, I’m glad I didn’t.
6 more days to go and I can say that I have successfully finished the 10,000 swing challenge! I can’t wait!!!
Day 15 09/10/14 75% done!
Start time 7:00
Time taken 33 mins 40 seconds
Kettle bell 24 kg
Pull ups
I spent an hour last night doing lots of mobility work and really mashing my knee on the roller and with a lacrosse ball. Felt a lot better today and could really feel and tell the difference.
Smashed though the workout with no issues. Knee was tight after but I spent 10 minutes or so after mashing my knee again.
Going to try and do some mobility after the last 5 workouts. Front squats tomorrow to end this week.
Day 16 10/10/14
Stat time 6:60 pm
Time taken 39 mins 47 seconds
Kettle bell 24 kg
Front squat 90 kg
Well today went pretty good. I must admit I struggled a little today with the 90 kg front squats. I couldn’t get comfortable and left my core collapsing so to speak.
Still I pushed on and completed it under 40 mins…just!!But I’m happy with that. 4 more days to go. Can’t wait to finish it, mainly just to say I have.
I’m feeling so strong at the moment with all my lifts and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this program to someone who wants to try something different.
Roll on Monday…the count down begins!!
Day 17 13/10/14
Start time 7:00
Time taken 35 mins 25 seconds
Kettle bell 24 kg
Goblet squat 44 kg
Today went pretty well. I felt good doing the swings and the squats went well. Time was okay, could of been better but I’m just sort of cruising at the moment. Still must press on and keep push, pressing and swinging them weights! 
Pull ups at 6:15 am tomorrow as i can’t do my usual time.
3 to go!
Day 18 - 15/10/14
Start time 7:08
Time taken - 44 mins 10 seconds
Kettle bell 24 kg
Front squat 80 kg
I don’t really know what to say about today. I’m very disappointed. And I have no one to blame except for myself. I did heavy dead lifts last night as I didn’t have time to do my kettle bell workout in the morning. And as a result my back was very tight this morning. To the point that I had to drop 10 kg off my front squat. I still finished in under 45 minutes but I know I could do better.
I have pull ups and OHP left to do and that’s 10 k swings. Fingers crossed tomorrow goes better!
The penultimate workout!!
Day 19 - 16/10/14
Start time 17:10
Time taken 38 mins 16 seconds
Kettle bell 24 kg
Body weight pull up’s
I’ll start off by saying I have loved doing this workout if I am truly honest. It has tested me and combined with other factors, nearly broken me. And today was no exception.
Today started off awful. I have been struggling with a bad back since doing heavy deadlift’s Tuesday evening. I then did my kettle bell work out Wednesday morning instead of Tuesday due to having to go to the hospital. So Wednesday morning my back was tight, I pushed on did my swings and front squats. As mentioned though I had to drop down to 80 kg.
Instead of just leaving it here, I decided I would go and do a circuit Wednesday evening. Which to my horror included swings, goblet squats and burpees! I’ll just add that I stopped mid way through the circuit and spent the last 30 minutes doing mobility work and mashing out my back with a foam roller.
So on to this morning. I woke up at 6:30 and could barley move. I turned off my phone and went back to sleep because there was no way in hell I was doing my swings. I then go up an hour later and still stiff and sore as hell. I’ve rested all day with a hot bath in the morning and decided to go down this evening to get this done. I didn’t want to fall behind with the swings and as you know, tomorrow is the final day.
So I got to the gym, did some stretches, put the Ipod on and chalked up the hands, then began. First round was okay, second getting difficult. My back was killing me. I was struggling both physically and mentally. I decided to get the roller and mash my back during my break between set 2-3 and to my amazement, where ever I rolled must have relieved some pressure as my back began to loosen up. My swings got better and better and more easy as the sets went on. I finished the workout under 40 minutes which I am very pleased about.
The final day tomorrow and i’m aiming for 62-64 kg OHP. Let’s see if I can end on a high. Had some Arnold’s Iron Dream now so fingers crossed for a nice relaxing sleep…
Day 20! 17/10/14
Time start 17:15
Time taken 36 mins 22 seconds
Kettle bell 24 kg
OHP 64 kg
Think the picture says it all really. 10 thousand swings and 600 strength movements later!
Today went great. Started in the evening with just a bit of pre workout to give me a bit of a kick. The swings sent easy, my OHP went up 4 kg and felt fine. My hands are shredded but it’s all good. And best of all I finished in a fairly good time. Happy days!
I must say I have enjoyed it, it has pushed me further than I thought I could go, tested my patience. Tested me both mentally and physically. I’ve been beaten and broken, but can finally say I finished.
I feel stronger and better after getting up early all the time. I would recommend this to anyone wanting to try something different.
I’m not sure what to do next though. Think I will close this one off now and start a new “general” workout log.
Cheers all…
Nice work! I just found your log today and read through it all (procrastinating on a work project
I have the 10,000 swings challenge in my file for future reference. Would you say it helped your body composition at all?
Hi Lifting!
I guess it depends what you are after. Personally I think it’s made my shoulders, traps and lats “thicker” so to speak. I think with a good diet it could really help.
I can see a difference around my neck and traps for sure. It’s also helped my posture as I’m concentrating on keeping my back and core tight. Especially the front squats and OHP.
I’m maxing out my bench and deadlift Monday. Having a good rest this weekend so will be fresh Monday. I think then ill be able to tell if there is much difference in strength. I feel stronger but it doesn’t really mean much until it’s put into practice.
I’ll update here again Monday. Have a great weekend!
Well as promised. Today 20/10/14 I tried maxing my bench again.
Can’t say I’m pleased though if I’m honest. Recently I did 100 kg for 5 reps, yet I couldn’t do 110 kg for 1…I did get 106 kg up but that’s only an increase of 6 kg since my last PR attempt which was probably 7-8 weeks ago.
My dead lift felt good though. I didn’t actually go up on my PR for dead lifts, however I did hit my current PR quite easily. I think starting fresh without the other work I could hit 190 kg. But still for now my dead lift PR is 180 kg. I did load 190 kg on the bar but I just couldn’t get a pumped for it due to being fatigued.
My 1 rep maxes as of today are :
Bench : 106 kg
Dead lift : 180 kg
Back squat : 140 kg
Front squat : 120 kg
OHP : 70 kg
I’ll be maxing back squat next Monday and expect to hit 150 kg…
I think I’m going to start a new log tomorrow though. Keep this kettle bell one as it is.
[quote]gavsterry wrote:
Hi Lifting!
I guess it depends what you are after. Personally I think it’s made my shoulders, traps and lats “thicker” so to speak. I think with a good diet it could really help.
I can see a difference around my neck and traps for sure. It’s also helped my posture as I’m concentrating on keeping my back and core tight. Especially the front squats and OHP.
[/quote]
Thanks for the feedback. The 10K challenge is often mentioned as a fat loss program, which is what I would use it for. Sounds like it would work pretty well if diet was on point.
