Myomy Fitness

Up in the Air | Kettlebell Triplet Workout Routine

Monster Workout | Kettlebell and Body Weight Strength Routine

Lucky Dip Kettlebell Circuit Routine | HIIT Training Workout

Hi everyone,

Today I have a real treat of a variety workout for you.  It’s a Lucky Dip Kettlebell (and body weight) Circuit Routine! It may only be 18 minutes of HIIT Training, but there are also 18 or so different exercises to keep the fun times flowing 😀

Before I get on to explaining the workout, I just wanted to touch very briefly on what I was talking about the other day … “Amend Your Mind, Not Your Body“.   Since I realised the error of my thinking, I have felt so much better about things! I have been enjoying going into the gym and refocusing on my performance goals, rather than my fat loss goal.  It has caused a great sense of calm about things again and I feel relieved that I am not putting that pressure on  myself to be any happier than I am today 😀 I thought for a while there I was stuck again in that obsessive thinking and constant tracking – I’m freeeeeeeeeee !

Now for something else that ties in with what I have just re-realised 😉  My good friend Nia Shanks (from Beautiful Badass) has just released an awesome product – actually, I’d call it a comprehensive Training Resource.

The “Lift Like a Girl Guide” is:

“the Ultimate Resource to Lift Like a Girl & Look Absolutely Awesome with Simple, No Nonsense Strength Training and Nutrition information. The Guide gives YOU the power and control to create workout programs and eating patterns that work for YOU. You’ll get all the tools you need to design customized training programs based on your training experience level, personal goals, equipment, and preferences.”

Now, I am not one for just selling you stuff willy nilly; I will only recommend the highest quality products and I am so proud of Nia because I personally know (from several rescheduled Skype chats), that she worked her southern butt off on this.  The cool thing about it is that it’s a VIDEO product and you get to learn by visual slides and have Nia explaining it all too.  Anyway, I recommend following the link above or by clicking on the photo below to take you straight to the Introduction page, which explains it more. Plus there’s 40% off until this Sunday (30th Sept 2012).

Last night I sat and listened to a portion of this jam-packed series and I can’t wait to listen to the rest and check out all the additional PDFs that come with it.  You actually won’t need to ask me any training or diet questions ever again LOL, because Nia has provided so much information for trainees at all levels (including programs).

Definitely worth checking out.

The Workout

I wrote out a bunch of exercises onto cut-outs of paper, rolled them up and then picked 6 exercises at random.  I then had to perform the exercises IN THE ORDER they were picked :/ eek!  I repeated this process until there were no rolled up bits of paper left.

Basically, I set my Gymboss Interval Timer for 6 cycles of 15 seconds rest and 45 effort. I performed the first 6 exercises, then stopped to chose the next 6 etc. My workout looked like this:

Round 1

1. Renegade Row (2x16kg) x 19 reps
2. Vertical Pull Burpee (20kg) x 9.5 reps
3. Thruster (Right) (14kg) x 15 reps
4. Thruster (Left) (14kg) x 14 reps
5. Two-Jump Burpees x 8 reps
6. Tactical Reverse Lunges (16kg) x 18 reps

Round 2

1. Side to Side Step Over x 44 reps
2. Staggered Push Ups x 16 reps
3. Roundabout Swing (20kg) x about 29 reps??
4. Push Press (right) (14kg) x 15 reps
5. Push Press (left) (14kg) x 17 reps
6. Divebombers (eeek) x 8 reps 🙁

Round 3

1. Side Lunge (right) (12kg) x 14 reps
2. Side Lunge (left) (12kg) x 12 reps
3. Jungle Gym Inverted Row x 13 reps
4. Goblet Squat (20kg) x 17 reps
5. Alternating KB Swing (20kg) x 29 reps
6. Skater Jumps (or my version LOL) x 16 reps – I have the WORST balance haha!

There you have it! I LOVED this workout 😀 And I can’t wait to do something like this again – maybe using dice, or a pack of cards – I have a few cool ideas already.

I am NOT going to slog my way through workouts for the sole purpose of burning fat – I want to improve my performance and have more fun workouts like this!

Who’s with me?  Could this be an idea for an October 31 Day Pledge? Maybe we could end the month with a Halloween fancy dress workout LOL!  AND Rog Lawson will be over visiting me that week, so I am sure he will know exactly how to make the workout more fun!

Have a great day!

Cheers,

Marianne.

My Come-Back Workout! Home Kettlebell Workouts

Hi everyone,

It pleases me to no end to say “I’M BACK!”.  Thank you all so much for all your kind words of support and endless patience over the past few weeks.  It really does mean a lot to me 🙂

In the lead up to this new workout I was limited to doing a few basic lower body exercises and mobility work to really “free up” my ankles, hips and lower back that had become tight from years of paying them little attention outside of loading them up and jumping a lot! Out of everything I have done over the last few months, three recent additions have made the biggest difference:

1. Hip Mobility
2. Introducing spinal mobility work (moving the spine in all its intended directions)
3. Foam Rolling: calves, quads, IT Band, hips, glutes, and my whole back.

I have been so focused on “protecting” my lower back by keeping it rigidly neutral ALL THE TIME, in the same plane of movement, that there is no give in it when I have to move suddenly and/or awkwardly (which I often do in work).  By back extends, but poorly flexes (both anterior and lateral flexion).  Perhaps my SI Joint has had to pick up the slack?? Who knows, but I think that most of us could do with remembering that, while spinal STABILITY is very important during many activities, the design of the spine suggests it was meant to move, and move in more than 2 directions.  Like everything, you must not load these movements until you have achieved good range of movement.  Otherwise you will risk injury.  You will notice that I perform 2 new exercises in today’s workout.  I caution you to take the advice I offer at the end of the video, and use body weight first.

Another small thing I want to talk about now is something else that caused more stress while I was “off training” than I am happy to admit …. I worried about getting fat more than I have for a long time 🙁  I can tell by how I look on camera and how my clothes fit now that I have gained a little weight.  I struggle with adjusting my calories to suit my activity levels, and I tend to be an emotional eater – not a good combo when you’re less active and depressed about it LOL! Anyway, I have spent quite a long time “preaching” that by focusing on performance goals, aesthetic goals become less important … hmm, until you are out of action with an injury! Yes, I worried about losing strength, but if I’m honest, I worried more about my body fat and my cellulite than how many pull ups I could still do.  Luckily, I resisted the temptation to weigh myself, or that could have made things even uglier, as I dove further into self-pity!

That being said, now that I am back in full swing, I am not going on some fat loss journey (this breeds the fat loss mentality quicker than rabbits on caffine). I worried that my obsession to be lean had come back, and that I would go to extremes with my training and eating to undo the PERCEIVED fat gain. Thankfully, my rational mind has returned and I am simply doing what I was doing (training to reach strength and performance goals) with the PEACE OF MIND that fat loss will be a SIDE EFFECT.  What I did learn from the past is that having fat loss as your only goal/main (for me) makes it encompass your thoughts, and your actions become irrational: Like you start doing loads of cardio again, start depriving yourself of the foods you love, cutting carbs (things that you haven’t done in years) … all because you panic that what you did before might not work.

Now I know (in my 30 years wise 😉 ) that I had found what works for me. Strength Training + Intermittent Fasting + relaxed attitude = Best body for Marianne 🙂  This combo worked for me before, so why not again. I now know how important the training is and how, if I am inactive again, I MUST adjust my eating temporarily if I want to look the same.

Fellow Girls Gone Strong Co-Found Jen Comas Keck wrote a great article last week on a similar topic. I highly recommend you read it if you have a tendency to panic at the slight hint that things aren’t working. I found myself nodding in agreement throughout.

ANYWAY – with all of that off my chest, let’s get back to business!

The Workout

There are 4 Triplets in today’s workout.  I set the reps and used my Gymboss Interval Timer for some exercises that I set for 40 seconds. I performed 2 rounds of each Triplet before moving on. Of course feel free to adjust the reps, times and rounds to suit yourselves, but this was enough for me today!

Triplet 1

1. 1.5 Rep Double KB Front Squats x 5 – 7 reps (I used 2x14kg)
2. Burpees x 40 seconds
3. Side Bends x 12 – 15 reps each side (I used 6kg, but started a few weeks back with body weight only)

Triplet 2

1. 1.5 Rep Single Arm Row (Right and Left) x 5-7 reps (I used 16kg)
2. Dynamic Squats x 40 seconds
3. RKC Plank x 40 seconds (legs together method)

Triplet 3

1. *Russian Hockey Deadlift (aka Rotational Deadlift) x 20 total reps (I used 16kg)
2. Double KB Military Press x 5 – 7 reps (I used 2x14kg)
3. Hanging Knee Raises x 12 – 15 reps (purpose to work on unloaded lumbar flexion)

*David Dellanave wrote this very interesting article on different lifts such as the Rotational Deadlift and I will be writing more about my experiences in relation to the improvement in my SI Joint issues.

Triplet 4

1. Pull Ups x 5 – 7 reps (only managing 5 of these)
2. Two-Handed KB Swing x 40 seconds (I used 20kg)
3. Side to Side Bench Jump Overs x 40 Seconds (trying to avoid single leg exercises, plus this is a great core workout!)

Well folks, that is it for today. I felt great after this workout, and I was so happy to have the lovely weather with it.  Hope you all enjoy it too!

See you soon!

Marianne

A Laugh a Day! Kettlebell and Body Weight Couplet Home Workout