Challenge Intro

Background to challenge can be found here but basically the goal is hit 10,000 KB swings in whatever pattern/style but just get it done. Recommended is 4-5 days per week. OG post lists 10/15/25/50 structure but in an interview Dan John mentioned it isn’t a hard rule and he even advises doing 15/35/15/35 instead (from here). Also being careful not to call this a program because of all said, since it’s much less defined and up to individual interpretation.

Background

Former D1 squash player, lifting on and off for 7yrs (SBD numbers definitely do not reflect that tenure), but last year decided to focus on squash again and use gym work as injury prevention and look good (squash alone will not do that). September 2023 suffered a sprained disc in my lower back and was out for 4.5 months. Tried Krypteia when I was feeling relatively mobile and low-pain but back was always nagging. Figured to try this out after seeing reddit comments lauding the challenge for helping with lower back pain. Also a big fan of circuit training (krypteia before this, this is pretty on the clock, and doing Alsruhe’s RPM after this) since it’s good bang for buck on timing and does a little bit for anaerobic energy. Since I’m not going for maximising my 1RM the limited rest time isn’t as much a negative.

Setup

So the program took me 7 weeks to complete since I did this 3 days per week. Did this mainly since I also train/play squash 3-4 days a week and with a full time job so not enough time to train twice a day and have to focus on sport first. Hence why I called this challenge slow style.

Because I did this 3 days per week, this meant I could add in more exercises without feeling burned out per session. The one week where I got 4 sessions in the week, the assistance exercises definitely suffered, so that’s to preface the structure.

Sessions were broken up into A and B style, full body. So each set of swings was superset by an assistance exercise. Row I alternated hands each set so R & L get 5x5 each.

KB swings - 15 / 35 / 15 / 35 (5 of each set)
Goblet Squats - 5 x 5
Bench Press - 5 x 5
Row - 5/5 x 5

KB swings - 15 / 35 / 15 / 35 (5 of each set)
Goblet Squats - 5 x 5
OHP - 5 x 5
Pullup - 5 x 5

Sessions were also set up in such a way that I didn’t have to move much between equipment e.g) OHP and Pullup bar were both on a rack, so I just brought a DB over and could stay in the same corner until the end.

Then 3/4 sessions of squash a week, with either solo + ghosting/other cardio or match play/training (Sundays were 1hr15m group sessions).

Results

	Starting	Ending
BW	82.5KG	81KG
Back Pain	Yes	Much less
OHP	115lbs	130lbs
Bench	185lbs	200lbs
Pullup	BW	25lbs
GB Squat	70lbs	90lbs
DB Row	60lbs	80lbs

I think a second major contributor to less back pain is I took out virtually all exercises I normally did that could’ve aggravated my back (DL + variations).

Quickest time to finish: 29mins

Slowest time: 51mins (first week where I didn’t know what I was doing)

What I Liked + Disliked

Pros

I’m a sucker for any “challenge” so a quantified goal was nice.
Lot of freedom to do whatever setup you want to achieve the 10k. This may be a con for people who don’t like to set up their own programs.
Get in and get out in ~35mins. Pretty effective for timing for me.
It’s as simple as you want it, so no need to find a gym/buy equipment for a specialized setup (had this problem with some other programs), outside of a KB

Cons

A bit monotonous. You can switch up auxiliary exercises but the fact you have 500 swings to do each session can be a bit mentally draining when not completely there.
Hands get gnawed quite a bit. Have way more calluses now than before from either squash or lifting.
Doing auxiliary exercises (especially pull ones) sucked because the arm strength isn’t there towards the end of the session
There is a learning curve. Week 3 was the worst where everything was in pain, gripping was hard and needed to really force myself through. Felt like I couldn’t finish it at times, but had to push through that wall.
As people also pointed out - you want to run this program 5 days per week to maximise its focus, I agree with this mostly. 3 days was okay and helpful still but definitely could’ve had better returns

What’s Next

Have a tournament in May so going to do another 3 day program that isn’t too intrusive to training and I can adjust as needed. This is gonna be Alsruhe’s RPM. Will also want to test my deadlift a bit to see if that will still revert any healing and injury prevention I did with this challenge. After that will stick with RPM 4 day and focus on more cardio for next season. I’m way over my goal weight (75kg) so gonna be a big focus to cut safely so I’m light enough to move quickly and expend less energy doing so.

[Program Review] 10K KB Swings - Slow and Stupid Style