When done correctly, the humble kettlebell swing is a full-body workout. Not only does it strengthen the posterior chain (muscles along the back of the body) and get your heart rate up in a short time, it targets the legs, arms, and trunk. It's a high-intensity, low-impact movement, but what would 100 times a day do to my body?

To find out more, I grabbed a kettlebell to get started. Would swinging the kettlebell 100 times a day for two weeks improve my posture and strengthen my back muscles? Click here to read about my hamstring curls 50 times a day for a week, and here to read about my deadbugs 100 times a day for a week. Read on to find out what happened.

Before I cut to the chase, I want to remind you that doing 100 reps of anything is a lot of work, and targeting the same muscle group every day is not recommended. If you are new to kettlebell swings or returning to exercising after an injury, you may want to have a personal trainer check your form before adding more reps or weight to an exercise.

The first thing to remember before performing kettlebell swings is that the swing portion of the movement should be performed from the legs, not the arms.

1. To perform the kettlebell swing, first stand on an exercise mat (we have a list of the best yoga mats that also double as exercise mats) with your feet shoulder-width apart and a kettlebell in front of you.

2. Bend your knees and grasp the kettlebell with both hands.

3. While engaging your core, swing the kettlebell back between your legs, engaging your glutes and abs as you swing upward, keeping your arms extended.

4. Aim to raise the kettlebell to chest height while keeping the arms extended. Squeeze the glutes and snap the hips at the apex of the motion.

5. let the kettlebell descend naturally and swing it between both legs again for the next rep. [Of course, kettlebell swings can also be performed with dumbbells.

Remember that the kettlebell swing movement comes from the hips. The lower body remains fixed to the ground, the weight is returned from the heels, and the torso is moved back and forth to swing the weights. With the lower body still planted on the ground, return the weight from the heels and swing the weights by moving the torso back and forth.

Be careful not to bend the knees too much during this movement (again, this is not a squat) and avoid leaning backward at the apex of the movement as this will increase the load on the lower back.

For more information on how to do kettlebell swings and variations to try, see.

To master this movement, I began the swing with a kettlebell.

I never expected to feel this movement so intensely. As I swung the kettlebell back and forth, I felt my glutes and abdominal muscles move violently.

Doing 100 reps in a day meant that I tended to rush to finish the reps, but if I moved too fast on the kettlebell swings, I would focus too much on my upper body when I should be moving from my legs.

Not only did I feel this exercise in my glutes and abs, but after a couple of days of 100 reps, I really felt it in my lower back. I was concerned that my back was arching during the exercise, so I videotaped my form and sent it to a personal trainer friend, who assured me that I was not doing anything wrong. Over the next few days, I divided the task into four sets of 25 reps, placed the kettlebells by my desk, and did 25 reps each at different times of the day rather than all at one time.

As a reminder, to avoid lower back pain during kettlebell swings, be aware of your core strength during the exercise. To do this, think about sucking your belly button into your spine, or putting pressure on your abdomen as if you were taking a punch. For more information on core training and why it is important, click here.

Kettlebell swings are said to help build grip strength. By day 5 or 6 of the Challenge, I started getting blisters on my hands from the kettlebells. This was evidence that I wasn't lifting them half as often as I do weightlifting, but I was surprised nonetheless.

On the days I sneakily swung the kettlebells before heading out for a run, I could definitely feel my glutes activating as I racked up the miles. Like many runners, I tend to have lazy glutes while running. Doing kettlebell swings before heading out the door can help activate the glutes while running, according to one study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research (opens in a new tab), which found that six weeks of kettlebell training increased explosive power by nearly 20%.

At the end of the two-week challenge, the participants were able to perform a couple of days of single-arm kettlebell swings, a step up in both techniques. These workouts helped to increase the demands on the stabilizer muscles and I definitely felt my shoulders working harder. [The 100 kettlebell swings were one of the most tedious challenges for me. But despite the sore back and blisters on my palms, I felt the benefits to my body. Of course, two weeks is not long enough to really see a physical difference, but I worked my lower body and core hard and felt that I was able to run stronger because of it.

I will definitely continue to make kettlebell training a part of my routine, but I am looking forward to not having to do 100 swings tomorrow morning.

I need more inspiration. Read what happened when this fitness writer did 100 kettlebell snatches a day for a week, plus check out this 15-minute kettlebell abs workout.

Next: are you doing pull-ups wrong?