This 8-Minute Kettlebell Swing Workout Crushes Calories and Builds Strength

Do you have a heavy kettlebell and exactly eight minutes? If so, then you have everything you need for a full-body workout that’ll burn plenty of calories and help you pile up glute, hamstring, and core strength, too.

Get ready for a “cardio” workout that takes place far from the treadmill or the track and prep for Kettlebell Swing Conditioning Hell, a fire-breathing workout that’ll have your entire body gassed in less than 10 minutes from Men’s Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S. The session builds around the classic kettlebell swing to help you make serious gains, and it’s the kind of session you can do anywhere.

“Obviously, a kettlebell is ideal for this workout,” says Samuel. “But you can do it with any alternate load too, from a big water jug to a backpack filled with books, to a dumbbell.”

Either way, over the course of 8 minutes, you’ll pile up 160 total kettlebell swings. You’ll do it from a variety of angles too, mixing classic Russian swings with offset-stance swings. And the constant alternating between those swing varieties means you’re training from athletic stances too. “We’re not just becoming explosive with this workout,” says Samuel. “You’re becoming explosive in ways that mirror the actions you might take on a sporting field of play.”

You’ll do it all with just enough rest to catch your breath, not quite enough rest to fully recover. You’re working 30-second intervals in this workout, piling up 10 swings in each interval. That’s enough to ramp up your heart rate, says Samuel, and by the final sequence, your body will be at its limits.

You’re also challenging total-body strength more than you may think, pushing glutes, abs, and grip strength. “If you use a heavy enough bell,” says Samuel, “your forearms are going to feel this.”

Do this 8-minute workout anytime, anywhere. Just be ready to be pushed to your limits.

The best part of the Kettlebell Swing Conditioning Hell workout is that it can be used in so many situations. You can do this as a quick standalone sweat session, in a hotel gym or hotel room, using a backpack or a dumbbell. Or you can grab a kettlebell and work through the sequence as a finisher at the end of a full-body workout or leg workout.

Either way, you’ll be smoking your entire posterior chain, building strength, challenging your lungs, and incinerating calories. Get to work.

For more tips and routines from Samuel, check out our full slate of Eb and Swole workouts. If you want to try an even more dedicated routine, consider Eb’s New Rules of Muscle program.

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