100 Kettlebell Swings A Day Weight Loss: Putting Your Strength To The Test

100 Kettlebell Swings A Day Weight Loss

Weights aren’t normally associated with weight-loss, except for kettlebells. Kettlebells are uniquely capable of helping you lose weight, and boost aerobic capacity, apart from increasing strength. To take advantage of this valuable exercise device, you can try out the 100 kettlebell swings a day weight loss program. Firstly, you need to know how to do it right.

Kettlebell Swing Workout: How To Do It Right?

To benefit from the 100 kettlebell swings a day weight loss program, you must do it right.

Without proper form, a kettlebell swing workout may cause more harm than good. This is particularly important since you’ll adapt a bent-over posture during specific phases of the workout. If you don’t keep your torso straight, you may injure your back.

To perform a two-hand kettlebell swing, follow these steps (8):

1. While standing, keep your knees slightly bent and your feet shoulder-width apart.
2. With your arms straight, hold the kettlebell with two hands.
3. Make sure to use an overhand grip.
4. Keep your back straight throughout the workout.
5. Note that your arms should not be the origin of the swing.
6. The origin of the swing comes from your legs.
7. To initiate the swing, lower your hips by approximately 45° angle.
8. Try to keep your lower legs as stationary as possible while doing this.
9. Let the kettlebell automatically swing back between your legs.
10. Keep your chest out and your head facing forward.
11. Also, keep your shoulders back throughout the workout.
12. To initiate the forward swing, push your hips up in a forceful motion.
13. Allow the kettlebell to automatically swing up to chest level.
14. Repeat this process.

When starting, you can have someone supervise your workout to check for any improper form. If you don’t have anyone nearby, you can record yourself with a camera during the workout to check for poor form.

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Kettlebell Weight Loss And Strength Benefits

To appreciate the real value of the 100 kettlebell swings a day weight loss program, you need to know the extent of weight loss and strength benefits to expect. This way, you can determine whether a kettlebell weight loss workout will serve you better than hiking, cycling, or any other weight loss workout.

Here is an analysis of the expected benefits.

Kettlebell Strength Benefits

Since kettlebells can be used in resistance training, you’re sure to get strength benefits.

So, how effective are kettlebells?

One study revealed that kettlebells can be just as effective as jump squats (3). In the study, participants experienced increases in both maximum and explosive strength from kettlebell workouts.

21 men, aged 18 to 27 years, went through a 6-week training program with bi-weekly workout sessions. The performance of one group doing kettlebell workouts was compared with another group doing jump squats.

Researchers in the study found similar performance between the two groups when measuring their half squat and vertical jump height performance.

Although the study didn’t involve daily workouts, it’s a useful indicator of the potential benefits to your lower body strength.

Read More: Muscular Endurance Exercises: Get in Fighting Shape With These Muscle-Blasting Moves

Kettlebell Weight Loss Benefits

What about the weight loss benefits?

An interesting aspect of kettlebell swings is they promote positive hormonal responses, which enhances body-fat-burning.

Researchers from the University of North Texas performed a study to verify this. Their research showed significant increases in growth hormone and testosterone levels (10).

It’s particularly intriguing that the hormonal boost was detected after the study. The participants did only 12 sets of kettlebell swings involving 30-second workouts with 30-second rest periods, and they only used 35-pound (15.8 kg) bells.

But why are these hormones so valuable?

Well, according to The Endocrine Society, testosterone helps increase muscle mass and enhance fat loss (9). It’s a good thing that both men and women have testosterone in their bodies.

It’s also important to remember that your testosterone levels fall as you grow older. Therefore, kettlebell workouts can help boost those hormone levels.

Since kettlebell swing workouts aren’t particularly complicated, people of all ages can do such workouts.

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100 Kettlebell Swings A Day Fat Loss

Besides understanding the general benefits of kettlebell workouts, you need to know the specific benefits of the 100 kettlebell swings a day weight loss program.

Once you determine the exact calories you expect to burn, you will know how well to complement the 100 kettlebell swings a day fat loss program with an appropriate diet plan. This is important because you can only lose weight if you burn more calories than what you consume.

In that regard, one study published in ACE FitnessMatters stands out (5).

In the study, 10 men and women aged 29-46 years performed 20-minute-long kettlebell workouts. Based on a typical average of 22 swings per minute, that would mean a total of about 440 swings (6).

In 20 minutes, the participants burned an average of 400 calories (20 calories per minute).

Based on that calorie count, you can expect to burn approximately 100 calories from 100 kettlebell swings.

Read More: Taking A Week Off From Lifting: How Rest Days Could Help You Maximize Your Gains

Factors That Influence The Number Of Calories You Can Expect To Burn

However, the actual number of calories you can expect to burn will vary dramatically based on multiple factors, including:

• Your body weight: Heavier people typically burn more calories.
• The kettlebell weight: This is relative to your physical ability. For men, a 35-pound kettlebell is very light, but it may be just right for a younger female.
• Swings per minute: You can increase the intensity of the workout by increasing the speed.
• Proper form: Proper form ensures that you fully exert the right muscles for maximum effort.
• Your age: Younger people may have more muscle mass, which gives them the capacity to burn more calories.
• Your gender: Men tend to have higher metabolism levels compared to women.
• Your activity level: Someone who has an active lifestyle will likely burn more calories than a sedentary person.
• Your lean body mass: If you have more muscles, you’ll likely burn more calories.
• Your metabolic rate: A higher metabolic rate will lead to a higher calorie burn.

As you can see, the specific calorie burn can vary immensely due to variations in all these factors. Therefore, a useful strategy to figure out your specific calorie burn is to measure it when doing the workout.

You can use a heart rate monitor to get a more accurate estimate of your calorie burn.

100 Kettlebell Swings a Day Benefits beyond Fat Loss

Although the main benefit of the 100 kettlebell swings a day weight loss program is burning fat, the workout offers far more benefits. This is because the kettlebell swing is an all-round fitness workout, much like a cross between circuit weight training and running.

So, here are the 100 kettlebell swings a day benefits you may not know about.

• Improved Aerobic Capacity

It isn’t enough just to lose fat.

To be truly physically fit, you also need an improved aerobic capacity.

Fortunately, kettlebell swings also improve your aerobic capacity, as well as your dynamic balance and core strength. This was tested and proven in one study by the American Council on Exercise (ACE) (1).

In the study, researchers tested and found a significant boost in the VO2max (maximum rate of oxygen consumption) of 18 volunteers. The volunteers had gone through eight weeks of bi-weekly kettlebell workouts.

• Prevent and Reduce Back Pains

Kettlebell swings are also somehow therapeutic.

The National Research Centre for the Working Environment in Denmark performed a study to uncover this benefit (4). Researchers found that the workouts help reduce pain in the lower back, shoulders, and neck.

By strengthening your back, you can avoid lower back injuries.

This is particularly useful if your job typically has a high occurrence of musculoskeletal pain.

200 Kettlebell Swings A Day Weight Loss

Perhaps you’re up for a bigger challenge than 100 kettlebell swings.

What about a 200 kettlebell swings a day weight loss program?

How many calories will you burn?

Based on the calorie count in the previously mentioned study published in ACE FitnessMatters, you’ll burn about 200 calories.

But remember that the calorie burn will vary massively based on multiple factors, including your body weight (2), which means you can potentially burn up to 400 calories or more.

Is It Okay To Do Kettlebells Every Day?

Maybe you’re interested in a more aggressive weight-loss plan. So, you’re not just thinking of doing more kettlebell swings. Instead, you want to do it every day.

So, should you do kettlebells every day?

To answer that question, you need to consider physical activity recommendations by reputable organizations. For instance, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provides Physical Activity Guidelines for both aerobic activities and weight training (7). This is a useful guide since kettlebell swings are a combination of aerobic workouts and weight training.

Although the guideline doesn’t give a specific number of days for aerobic workouts, it recommends two or more days of muscle-building exercises per week.

However, the maximum recommended workout frequency is five days per week.

This gives you at least one rest day for your muscles to recover and avoid injuries.