Another month, another viral TikTok fitness challenge. The latest one? Doing 100 kettlebell swings a day for 30 days. Proponents say that this routine can make you “leaner, stronger, and faster,” in the words of one fan, but as we know from previous social media fitness trends (looking at you, 75 Hard), online fitness advice isn’t always up to snuff.
Kettlebell swings, to be clear, are 100% legit—they’re a staple lower-body exercise for good reason. “Kettlebells are one of the best tools for both mobility and strength, so you get a double whammy [of workout benefits],” Maggi Gao, CPT, a certified kettlebell instructor and fitness coach based in New York City, tells SELF. The kettlebell swing works the muscles on the back of your body (referred to as the posterior chain), particularly your glutes and hamstrings, which makes it an especially great exercise for anyone who spends most of their day sitting. The motion of the swing also trains hip mobility and lumbar (back) stability, which means that when you’re doing it properly, this exercise will strengthen your back in a safe way—no bending, flexing, or twisting required. As an explosive movement, it also helps train power and gives you a good cardio workout. And finally, it’s a great lower-body exercise to do if you have knee pain. Unlike lunges and squats, which involve a lot of bending and straightening of the knees, the movement in the kettlebell swing comes from your hips.
But…should you do 100 of ’em? Long story short: It depends on your level of experience, Gao says. If you’re familiar with kettlebells—say, you frequently include them in your workouts and feel like you’ve got the form down pat—doing 100 swings a day isn’t a half-bad idea, she says. In fact, it’s even something she recommends to clients, particularly those with packed schedules: “It’s great for increasing endurance and strength, especially if you just want to get a little bit of movement in every day, because it’s not going to take up a lot of time,” Gao says. “You get really good bang for your buck.”
For people simply scrolling through TikTok, seeing the challenge, and thinking it would be a great way to add new movement into their day? Well, that’s another story. If you aren’t already working with kettlebells, doing 100 swings a day is inadvisable, according to Gao. “It’s like starting to run five miles every day when you haven’t done any running before,” she says. For one, you’ll be setting yourself up for burnout. When it comes to any kind of workout, going from zero to one hundred (literally, in this case) is not sustainable.
What’s more, it can also be dangerous, according to Gao—it’s putting a ton of new strain on your body and potentially setting you up for injury. That’s because a kettlebell swing is a pretty advanced movement, and if you start cranking out reps before you get the form down, you could hurt your lower back and neck, or strain your shoulders.
