Battle of the Sexes – Ultimate Kettlebell Challenge!

Hi All,

This was an exciting workout for me, because I FINALLY got Andrew to try one! And it killed him LOL 😉 Not that I’m being smug or anything, but our numbers were pretty similar, and we used the same weights … oh and did I mention that he’s 4 stone heavier than me 😀

Anywho enough gloating, let’s get serious and talk about this amazing workout.  I returned to the couplet format I did last week, followed by another brutal Tabata. I love mixing resistance combinations and cardio together like this.

The Workout

There are 3 couplets altogether and you do 3 rounds of each before taking a short break and moving to the next one. Therefore set your Gymboss Interval Timer for 6 cycles of 20 seconds recovery and 40 seconds effort. I should mention that for Andrew’s workout he did one round at a time and took longer rests in between as “he is bigger” LOL, but I did 3 rounds with these intervals before a longer recovery. The couplets and our reps per exercise are below:

1. Double KB Front Squat into Alternating Reverse Lunge (r & l) into Double Press (Andrew – 3,3,4) (Me – 3, 2.5, 2.5)
2. Elevated Plank Climbers (Andrew – 16,18,16) (Me – 19,17,17)

1. KB Vertical Swing Burpee (Andrew – 8,8,7) (Me – 10,9,9)
2. DiveBombers (Andrew – 6,9,7) (Me – 9,7,6)

1. KB Renegade Row (Andrew – 10,17,19) (Me – 17,15,14)
2. Two-Handed KB Swing (Andrew – 28,29,28) (Me – 26,25,24)

Reset the Gymboss Interval Timer for 8 cycles of 10 seconds rest and 20 seconds MAX effort. A mixture between KB Swings and Body Weight exercises. The only thing I changed was the second swing I did the two-handed, while Andrew did the Alternating.  Here’s the Tabata exercises and our reps again:

1. Sumo Squat Jumps (Andrew – 18) (Me – 18)
2. Two-Handed KB Swing (Andrew – 14) (Me – 12)
3. Mountain Climbers (Andrew – 40) (Me – 47)
4. Alternating / Two-Handed KB Swing (Andrew – 12) (Me – 12)
5. Burpees (Andrew – 5) (Me – 8 )
6. Two-Handed KB Swing (Andrew – 14) (Me – 13)
7. Squat Jumps (Andrew – 16) (Me – 16)
8. Two-Handed KB Swing (Andrew – 14) (Me – 12)

So there you can see that this was a great way to see how much strength, endurance and power I have compared to Andrew, who is a pretty strong guy. Only difference is the type of training we do.  My workouts are a more condensed and intense version of what is involved in our KB Classes. Only difference is they work more on endurance than my workouts would.

You have got to try this workout, let me know what you think. And I hope you will push yourselves hard!

Until next time, see you soon

Marianne … and Andrew