Man who did 300 kettlebell swings every day for 30 days reveals what it did to his body

Move over Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, because it looks like we've found someone new to play The Mountain in the inevitable Game of Thrones reboot.

As we tick off the glum month of January, it's time to look back at what we've accomplished in the first 31 days of 2026.

Did you stick to Dry January and manage to avoid a glass of wine to get you through 'Blue Monday', or did you manage to stub out your last cigarette on December 31 and keep to it?

Did that Veganuary trial give you a taste for a different type of diet, or did you drag your tired carcass to the gym every day?

While they say that up to 90% of people give up their New Year's resolutions by the time they get to February 1, you've got to admire the likes of Gary McKee, who stuck to his plan of running 365 marathons in a year.

Fitness endeavours are some of the most popular, with us having previously covered the amazing effects they can have on your body in terms of running 5k every day, doing 100 pushups every day, and cycling every day.

Someone else has been putting us couch potatoes to shame, with Men's Health writer Sam Ryder explaining what happened when he tried 300 kettlebell swings every day for 30 days.

When you crunch the numbers, 9,000 kettlebell swings sounds like a daunting task – especially when it's some people's most-hated exercise at the gym. Still, Ryder sucked it up and undertook the challenge for science.

Taking inspiration from a 2017 post on StrongFirst, Ryder was spurred on by claims that body fat would supposedly 'melt' off him and his abs would become more visible. Still, there were concerns that the OP said their immune system also collapsed, and they couldn't even keep water down for three days.

Picking up his trusty 16kg kettlebell before working up to a hefty 24kg, Ryder simply set himself the challenge of completing 300 a day, as long as they were done by the time the clock hit midnight.

For those thinking this one would be 'easy', Ryder's own osteopath warned that one bad night's sleep or poor intake of protein and carbs could stop him in his tracks: "Your body would stop building and instead flip into survival mode, trying to hold onto what you have.

"You’ll feel run down, possibly have flu-like symptoms as your immune system shuts down. You might notice your nails or hair weaken as your body diverts collagen and protein away to repair your muscles."

Splitting the 300 into blocks of 50 and taking a minute's rest between each, he started confidently and said the whole thing took about 15 minutes to complete.

This early optimism was soon shattered when Ryder admitted that delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) quickly hit.

As the challenge progressed, he added squats, push-ups, overhead presses, and side planks to keep on top of those parts of his body he was neglecting, then upped his kettlebell to the infamous 24kg.

But what did he think of it all at the end of the challenge? Referring to 300 kettlebells a day for 30 days as a bit of a 'slog', Ryder said the biggest obstacle was simply finding time to fit them all in.

He also gave his own warning as he told wannabe lifters: "I've largely neglected upper-body strength exercises and while hurling a cast iron kettlebell betwixt my thighs now feels like a walk in the park, I've likely deconditioned myself in myriad other ways."

As for those rock-hard abs, he admits that he didn’t notice much of a difference in terms of fat loss or muscle mass, meaning this might not be one for those expecting to suddenly become an Adonis.