The Lab
Swing Minimalism: A Study
Last edited
I am a (social) scientist by training who specialised in 'information management'. I like numbers, statistics, graphs. You're looking at the data of my longest running science experiment. It started with a kettlebell and a theory that minimal equipment could be enough to see meaningful change. The data disagrees: real change needs a gym. Here is the whole record.
- 28 months
- tracked
- +12.3%
- glutes
- +25%
- arms
- +12%
- chest
Body Recomposition: Two Years Running
Each line is one body part's change from its April 2024 baseline. The dashed markers show when I joined a gym and when an IT-band injury stalled leg training. The kettlebell months are (mostly) flat; the gym months are not. I joined a gym on July 22nd, 2025.
Measurements from to .
The Scale Lies
Daily weigh-ins are noisy, just look at the faint line. It's all over the place. The 5-day rolling average in bold is the signal. Read alongside calorie intake below. You can see that my weight remained stable between 84 and 85kg until my intake shifted upwards and my weight began to climb. This was intentional! I was trying to gain muscle.
You can also clearly see that the weight gain lags a bit behind the increase in calories, which makes total sense. You don't immediately gain weight from eating more than usual. The reverse is true, too. You don't immediately lose weight when you start eating less. Losing weight requires eating less than maintenance over time.
Daily weigh-ins from to .
Body Weight
Calorie Intake
Protein Intake
Each dot is a day's protein against that day's target, the dashed line, which follows my body weight. Most people consume far too much for their goals, including me. The 1g per lb recommendation isn't supported by the science. There is no benefit beyond 0.64g per lbs. My target is based on my weight (1.41g per kg), which currently works out to 122g, but as you can see I'm consuming well beyond that. The goal here is to show that I'm consuming way above my needs on average. The data here tells me that I should reduce my protein intake and would likely benefit from increasing my carb intake.
An Average Day
Roughly 2617 kcal and 174g protein, split across the day.