Can Kettlebell Swings Be Done Everyday? The Daily Swing Workout Plan

Probably once or twice per week I get asked the same question: Can kettlebell swings be done everyday?

Hopefully you are aware of the huge benefits of the kettlebell swing but is more better?

Is swinging a kettlebell everyday the answer to your fat loss, strength, or lower back issues?

Let’s take a look and see what we need to consider.

The Kettlebell Swing Exercise

The kettlebell swing is a full body exercise that targets over 600 muscles in the body.

As the swing uses so many muscles it also burns a lot of calories as well as raising the heart rate quickly making it very cardiovascular.

If performed correctly the kettlebell swing will also strengthen the body from head to toe as well as developing a solid core to prevent back issues.

Discover more: 4 steps to master the kettlebell swing for beginners

Watch a video of the two handed kettlebell swing in action below:

Recovery When Using the Kettlebell Swing Daily

As with all types of exercise the body needs time to recover in order to strengthen muscle tissue, ligaments, tendons and other soft tissue.

The big question is:

Can you recover enough each day before your next kettlebell swing session?

Exercise recovery is very subjective, it will vary from one person to the next.

For example, recovery will depend on:

Age – younger body’s repair quicker than older ones
Genetics – some people just recover from exercise quicker than others
Diet – it’s hard to repair muscle tissue if you a feeding yourself with junk food
Sleep – the majority of muscle repair happens during your sleep
Occupation – a daily physical job may not leave much room for complete recovery
Experience – a lifetime of exercise or lifting weights can mean quicker recovery

So not everyone will recover at the same speed.

You have to be very careful when comparing your workouts or rest periods to your friends or someone else online.

As with all workouts and exercises you need to listen to your own body.

The Daily Workout Intensity and Volume

One major aspect to consider is the intensity of the daily swing workout.

If your workout is too long or you are lifting a kettlebell that is too heavy then it will take longer for you to recover.

Usually it is the volume of the workout that will be the determining factor.

Heavier weights and longer workouts together create a lot of volume that will definitely overload the system.

It is important to push yourself during exercise in order to force an adaptation but push too hard and you will either get injured or require longer than you think to recover.

Discover more: Complete guide to buying kettlebells

Can you Swing Kettlebells Everyday?

If you keep the volume down then yes many people can swing a kettlebell everyday.

However, you need to listen to your body and take a day off when you feel you have not recovered.

How do you Know When You Have Not Fully Recovered?

Firstly, your resting heart rate will be slightly higher than usual first thing in the morning.

There are various heart rate apps that you can download to build up a daily measure of your resting heart rate.

Make sure to measure your heart rate at the same time first thing in the morning.

Secondly, you should not feel excessive soreness or fatigue in your muscles.

If your resting heart rate is elevated or you feel excessive fatigue then take another day off.

How Many Times Should I Swing the Kettlebell Each Day?

As mentioned earlier, you need to keep the volume low in order to avoid overtraining and potential injury.

I like to keep the repetitions low with slight rest breaks in between each set.

For example:

Two Handed Swing x 10 reps
Rest for as long as needed
Repeat 3-6 times

Keeping the repetitions and rest periods short like this gives you time to reset each set.

In my opinion, repetitions that last too long have a greater potential for injury.

So using a workout like the one above you could use the two handed swing daily.

After a few weeks you can start to progress to the one handed swing.

For example:

Two Handed Swing x 10 reps
Rest for as long as needed
Repeat 3 times
One Handed Swing – Left x 5 reps
One Handed Swing – Right x 5 reps
Repeat 3 times

As you get stronger and stronger you can increase the kettlebell weight but just be careful not to overload the amount of repetitions.

Using Rep Setting for Your Daily Kettlebell Swing Workouts

You can use a system called ‘rep setting‘ in order to ensure you do not over exercise each day.

Set the total amount of swings to 60 reps.

Next ensure that you do not swing more than 60 times each day.

Your workouts could start like this:

The Daily Kettlebell Swing Workout Plan

Kettlebell Swing Workout 1

Two Handed Swing x 10 reps
Rest for as long as needed
Repeat 6 times

Then progress to this:

Kettlebell Swing Workout 2

Two Handed Swings x 15 reps
Rest for as long as needed
Repeat 4 times

You can then progress to the one handed swing like this:

Kettlebell Swing Workout 3

Two Handed Swings x 10 reps
Rest for as long as needed
Repeat 3 times
One Handed Swing x 5 reps each side
Rest for as long as needed
Repeat x 3 times

Finally, progress to this daily swing workout:

Kettlebell Swing Workout 4

One Handed Swing x 10 reps each side
Rest for as long as needed
Repeat x 3 times

As you can see the total amount of repetitions always equals 60 reps so you make sure to keep the volume down.

Once you can complete 60 repetitions using the workout above I’d look at increasing the kettlebell weight.

Conclusion of Can Kettlebell Swings be Done Everyday?

The kettlebell swing is a huge full body exercise that is good for strength, conditioning, fat loss and power.

Everyone responds different to exercise depending on their age, genetics, diet, occupation, experience, and the workout itself.

The volume of the workout needs to be kept low in order to perform kettlebell swings daily.

Listen to your body and take a days rest if your resting heart rate is higher in the morning or you have excessive fatigue in your muscles.

Want more? 5 smart ways to supercharge your kettlebell swing workouts

Good luck and happy swinging.

Do you swing a kettlebell daily? Let me know in the comments below…

Comments

Will says
September 6, 2018 at 3:58 am

I do a regular full upper body weight lifting workout 2-3 times a week (ideally mon/wed/fri) and then do a 30-20-10 rep (Squat, burpee, cycle of abs) HIIT lowerbody focused workout (tues/thurs).

Due to a chronic injury in my feet however, I’ve had to stop doing burpees because of the stress they put on my big toes…I know that KB swings are great cardio and was thinking of replacing burpees with KB swings.

My question is: is it harmful to your muscles to do the swings between upper body days? I’ve always been taught that you need to give your muscles a day to recover (ie. don’t bench two days in a row).

My ultimate goal with the burpees/swings is for the cardio element in a short amount of time, due to work constraints, I only have about 80 minutes of free time a day.

- Greg Brookes says
  September 6, 2018 at 5:28 am
  
  Hi Will, it looks like you have a full on schedule here. How you train will always depend on your goals. Your talk of upper body training is from the bodybuilding world and unless that is your goal then you would get better results by dividing your workouts into 3 full body workouts incorporating all the essential movement patterns: squat or lunge, deadlift, push and pull. If you put all these together into a circuit you could work your cardio as well as gaining muscle at the same time. You have now gained 4 off days where you can get outside and run, hike, cycle, row, climb etc.
  
- Jon says
  February 22, 2019 at 4:34 pm
  
  You should really strengthen your feet especialy your toes. Start doing workouts barefoot, do towel twist with toes, pickup towel with toes, pressdown on twisted towel with big toe. You will probably fall very often when you age if not.
  
Meredith says
April 12, 2018 at 3:28 pm

This is so interesting! On January 1st, I started a “kettle bell challenge” with a friend. The challenge was 100 swings a day for 100 consecutive days. Day 100 was Tuesday, April 10th. I completed the challenge and did 100 swings a day for 100 consecutive days. I am a 59 year old woman, and have been an avid kettle bell user for years, so I was up to the challenge — but, honestly, I had no idea just how “challenging” it would be. My swings ranged in sets of 10-25, with bell sizes of 14kg (single arm), 16kg, 18kg and 20kg. Of the 100 days in the challenge, there were 13 days when ALL I could manage was to get those swings in – but I did them!!! For the remaining 83 days, I did spin classes, ran, and did lots and lots of other weight training in addition to the 100 swings. It was an incredible experience — I am stronger for it and so proud!!! There is no question that my core has changed as a result. YES! You can swing every day.

- Rasmus says
  June 12, 2019 at 6:45 pm
  
  Yes, when you’re in great shape