Hi everyone,
Today’s workout changes pace throughout. The goals for this one include cardio, resistance, a strength challenge, abs and more cardio. It’s a great workout!
If you’re looking for full body conditioning and / fat loss, this type of workout will suit your goals. It is also a great workout to add into your training week to spice things up a bit.
I love this type of workout because you think you’re nearly finished, then you have to challenge your strength and more endurance!
In the video I have edited it slightly differently today and haven’t imcluded all the rounds, just to same my time, plus I’m sure you get the drift from the clips I show.
The Workout
Section 1 – Cardio and resistance, with Kettlebell and Bodyweight. I set my Gymboss Interval Timer for 30 cycles of 10 seconds rest and 30 seconds effort. Beginners can add more recovery time if needed, as this is very fast paced. Remember to let the heart rate recover. There are 5 rounds of the following 6 exercises and my reps are in brackets:
- Burpees with Dynamic Push Ups (beginners leave out the push ups and/or jumps) (8,8,7,7,7)
- Kettlebell Bent Over Alternating Row (13,13,12,10,11)
- Plank Climbers (Beginners wider stance, or static plank) (16,15,14,14,14)
- Kettlebell Reverse Passing Lunge (right) (13,14,13,12,12)
- KB Reverse Passing Lunge (left) (14,14,12,12,12)
- Two-Handed Kettlebell Swing (23,22,23,22,22)
Section 2 – 3 sets of 3 Pull Ups not to failure.
Section 3 – Abs, resistance and Cardio, using one of the best types of ab exercises, hanging leg/knee raises! Set your timer for 12 cycles of 10 seconds rest and 30 effort. Now complete 3 rounds of the following 4 exercises:
- Hanging Leg/ Knee Raises (12,11,11)
- Kettlebell Goblet Squat (12,10,11)
- Hanging Oblique Raises (11,12,10)
- Dynamic Squats (23,22,24)
Now cool down, stretch and give yourself a pat on the back. Today I am feeling up-beat, yet tired from work. But, it’s sunny here, so that makes me happy 😀
Beginners, who want to try this workout, you may benefit from the longer rests, and maybe just set your timer for one round at a time to allow for added recovery in between. I want intensity, but I don’t want anyone passing out from their heart rate being too high, so listen to your body. You can push through, but remember you have several rounds!
I know I do a lot of variety workouts, but I find them really fun and I love to do a bit of everything. I will begin structuring the workouts better and tailoring them all soon, but after work I just want to be creative and get excited about a workout – that is great motivation.
Let me know what you think if you try this, and any subs you make etc, the usual feedback.
Cheers
Marianne
Did it! I had trouble with section 3 tho. I can’t hang there very long b/c it hurts my hands. I groom dogs and they are somewhat arthritic from years of abuse. Still a great workout!!
Aw sorry for your poor hands Laurie 🙁 Glad you still enjoyed it though.
Marianne
Thanks Marianne for another great workout! I did this one yesterday and it was a killer! I swear I almost threw up! Sorry for the TMI! You are one strong lady!
all my best,
Lori =)
Nice! LOL 🙂
Hi Marianne!
I gave this workout a go this morning and really loved it. I was in a great mood all day 🙂 I found it really tough though and I was too pooped to do the last section and had to increase the rest time in the first section! But as my motivation has been seriously lacking lately the fact I did this much gave me a boost.
Used 16kg
Rounds 3-5 increased the rest time to 15seconds
Burpees with Dynamic Push Ups (6,5,4,4,4)
Kettlebell Bent Over Alternating Row (18,17,18,18,19)
Plank Climbers (11,9,9,7,7)
Kettlebell Reverse Passing Lunge (right) (all 12)
KB Reverse Passing Lunge (left) (11,10,11,12,12)
Two-Handed Kettlebell Swing (20,19,20,20,19)
3×3 pull-ups (one legged) working on these!
Thanks for another great workout!!
Hey there stranger 🙂 Glad to see your motivation is back. I totally understand though. Good Job!
Cheers
Marianne
I haven’t tried this workout yet — I just want to say that I love the variety in your workouts! It keeps me from getting bored!
Thanks Jordan, just wait for my next one – I have it planned and all 🙂 All I need now is the time and energy to do it. After work in the morning I’m going to film it, think it’ll be right up your street.
Cheers
Marianne
Great workout, Marianne! I like the change in pace; variety is the key, no doubt about it.
Today I’m still under the weather but nevertheless did this workout. The boyfriend and I are debating upon how wise this decision was – I stand by the rule “if symptoms are above the neck, its alright to exercise” but he thinks its best to rest, even if its just a cold. Any advice on this?!
Anywaaaaay! My numbers aren’t particularly impressive this evening 🙁 Not beating myself up though, I have an excuse in the form of a cold.
Section 1: 5 rounds at 30s effort, 10s rest (rested longer between rounds!)
1. Burpees with Dynamic Push ups – 9, 8, 7, 8.5, 8.5
2. KB Bent Over Alternating Row (16kg first 3 rounds, then 12kg) –
10, 12, 12, 14, 13
3. Plank Climbers – 15.5, 14, 16, 14.5, 14
4. KB Reverse Passing Lunge R(16kg) – 11, 10, 10, 11, 12
5. KB Reverse Passing Lunge L (16Kg) – 11, 11, 10, 11.5, 9
6. 2 Handed KB Swing (16kg) – 20, 19, 21, 24, 21
Section 2: 2 sets of 3 Pull ups (3rd set I only managed 1!)
Section 3: 3 rounds at 30s effort, 10s rest (no extra rest between rounds)
1. Hanging Knee Raises – 7, 8, 7
2. KB Goblet Squat (12kg) – 13, 14, 15
3. Hanging Oblique Raises – 10, 9, 9
4. Dynamic Squats – 22, 24, 25
That’s all from me! I hope to be feeling better by the weekend to resume training!
Ruth
Ruth, re: training with a head cold, I guess it depends how energetic you feel. If you are doing it out of guilt, then it’s best to rest, because you won’t be on top form and you probably won’t enjoy it as much. After an intense CV session you are more vulnerable to bugs as your body is working over-time, so if you already have a bug, you might be asking too much. Then again the body is pretty amazing. I make so much sense after work LOL – guess it’s down to listening to what your body needs. Rest is good too 🙂
Still, despite feeling under the weather you did well in your workout, so don’t bash your numbers 🙂
Cheers
Marianne
Ruth, im always impressed by your numbers! Especially your burpee numbers!!
Here are mine for the workout:
Section 1: 5 rounds at 30s effort, 10s rest(I changed the rest to 15s after the first round)
1. Burpees with Dynamic Push ups – 7, 7, 6,5,6
2. KB Bent Over Alternating Row(25lbs)12 all rounds
3. Plank Climbers – 15, 16, 15, 14,14 -I was happy with my #’s here,this is something i’ve been working on..
4. KB Reverse Passing Lunge R(25lb) –15 all rounds
5. KB Reverse Passing Lunge L (25lbKg)–15 all round but 14 last round
6. 2 Handed KB Swing (16kg) – 19, 19, 20, 19, 18
Section 2: 3 sets of 3 Pull ups(all from standing)
Section 3: 3 rounds at 30s effort, 10s rest
1. Hanging Knee Raises – 10, 9, 9
2. KB Goblet Squat (25lb) – 7,7,7(went SLOW to concentrate of form)
3. Bycle – Didnt count reps
4. Dynamic Squats – 19, 19, 18
Looking forward to the next workout:)
Nice work Rashelle!! You’ll be gald to know my new workout is on its way. It’s been so frustrating because I actually wanted to do this yesterday, be I was just too tired. I am determined to film it today and hopefully have it up today or tomorrow.
Thanks for sharing your numbers 🙂
Ruth, those are awesome numbers! Just think how great they will be when you feel good! Wow! I don’t know how anyone can do burpees so fast, you must have a ton of energy!
Well, I decided to do this at the last minute as I wanted something fun to do. Needless to say, I set it up a little wrong, as you will see…
Burpees, Dynamic Pushups 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6,
Bent over Alt Row 14Kg: 14, 13, 14, 13, 14 ,14
Plank Climber 13, 15,15, 15,15, 14
Alt Tactical Lunge 12 Kg: 12, 15, 16, 14, 14 ,16
KB Swing 16 Kg: 17, 18, 19, 19, 19, 19
after 5 rounds and the clock was still going, I realized I had done something wrong, so I kept going — I ended up with 6 rounds of each exercise. To make up for the fact that I did alternating lunges instead of single leg lunges, I threw in 6 more rounds, but sets with one leg only, alternating legs on each set: 12kg, 12 reps each every time.
Pullups: 4 neutral grip (No cheating – starting from hanging), 30 sec rest, 4, 45 sec rest, 4.
Hanging leg raises 12, 12, 12
Goblet squat 12 Kg 12, 11, 12
Oblique raises 14, 15,15
Dyno Squats 20, 20 ,20
So, way more fun than what I was planning — I spent extra time warming up and cooling down, so it took about 90 minutes total. A great way to start the day!
Thank you Marianne for a great workout routine. You were right, it varied in tempo just the perfect amount to trick my body. Nice idea!
~ Gillian
Thanks Gillian, glad you had fun with it too 😀 Even if it was accidental he he
BTW, instead of handing off that beam and getting splinters in your hands, how about getting a piece of hollow pipe and some rope and tying it to the beam? It would be a round smoother surface, which would be easier on your hands. It might not even cost you anything.
~ Gillian
Yes, somthing like that would help. Will be great out there in the summer doing workouts and a homemade pull up bar LOL 😀
Thank you all for your kind words of encouragement. I think I believed my efforts weren’t great as I felt way more exhausted than usual post-workout! Damn cold!
Feeling much better today so I’ll be heading to the gym later this morning – some good old fashioned Squats and Deadlifts are on the agenda 🙂
Ruth
Sounds good. I’m resting today, as I am rather sore from yesterday’s workout. Which will be up later.
Enjoy the gym 🙂
Gillian,
I have done the same thing! Accidently set my timer with an extra round…i’ll be waiting for the double beep to signal the end and it shows another round. Good for you for continuing your workout, I usualy stop the timer at that point.
Nice work with the pull ups too! I am determined to start from a hanging position one day:)
This is a great workout that works your entire body. I will do it tomorrow. You have to be very strong to do so many pull ups. Thanks
Thanks Cindy, lets us know what you think when you do it. Have fun 😀
I’m definitely doing this workout tomorrow. A little question: I’m not very strong at pull ups and when I do them after other upper body exercises I have to use bands even more, do you think it is better to do them when I’m still fresh at the very beginning of the workout or leave them as they are and try to push myself? Does it make a difference, not only with pull ups but any difficult exercises? On the other hand, doing them afer the first section of your workout I’m going to be well wormed up so it might be better. Or am I just being silly and trying to complicate things. What is your experience and opinion on this one?
Jussa, this is a great question actually. Normally I would say do these types of exercises at the start of a workout, making sure you are well warmed up and that you get adequate recovery in between sets, and before you do the rest of the workout. I decided just to change it about this time because I know once I’m fresh I can pull through. I was testing myself and my ability to pull extra strength out of nowhere.
You can decide which way to do it for this workout, but trying to “trip” yourself up is good, because knowing where to pull extra strength from, might be useful 😀 But don’t hold back in the rest of the workout just to conserve energy though. I deliberately left only the alternating row in the main workout because I knew my pulling muscles needed warmed up, but not exhausted 🙂
There are “rules” to making workouts efficient, but there’s also fun in breaking them too 😉
Cheers
Marianne
Hi Marianne,
thanks for another excellent workout 🙂
As I don’t have a pull up-bar, what do you suggest as an alternative to any ‘hanging’ exercise?
Thanks!
Cheers, Ruth
Hey Ruth, I think I answered this one yesterday for someone else, but for the hanging ab exercises you can: Do Lying leg raises or V-crunches? If you have a stability ball, you could do SB Jacknife and oblique jacknife. Or KB L-sit / KB leg raise, plus KB Russian twists? Just a few.
For the pull ups, any of the rows, or even Pike push ups. If you can do full Dive Bombers, the reverse part is good for the lats. Unfortunately, nothing beats a pull up like a pull up does 🙁 I annoyed at not having a pull up bar, I might need to invest in one for the wall, but the ones I have seen aren’t very good. The one I have for the doorframe is great, but it doesn’t fit :'( The UK really sucks for good fitness equipment at times!!
Anyway, I hope these suggestions help.
Marianne
Hey Marianne,
Thanks for another killer workout. I have a question; is it better to work through a movementthat you are having difficulty with at low reps than substitute for one that you are more proficient at and can complete higher reps? On the one hand, you are practicing an integral part of the workout, but if you dont do it well, are you cheating yourself? (am i I making sense? lol..)..secondly, how many reps would constitute a bump in weight? I have a set of 35lb kbs and the alternating rows are less than a challenge…19,19,18,17,18..i feel I could be getting more from the upper body movements..
Thanks for the workout!
John
Hi John,
I think, unless the sub is using the same muscles then it wouldn’t be as good, plus it’s better to keep trying an exercise than always replace it with an easier one. There is a way to do both though. When you run into problems with an exercise, while you want to remain injury free, and you want the most from the workout, then you could replace that exercise in the fast section of the workout, but add the difficult exercise back in for a “challenge section” like I did with my pull ups. Then you can slow the pace down and concentrate on proper form. If there’s an exercise that is more technically challenging for me, I rarely put it into an interval section, but rather set the reps instead. Like the windmill, I never put it in an interval because the message that comes with that is, “rush”.
Can I ask which exercise you are referring to?
As for when to bump the weight. If you are starting to find 15 reps in a row easy, then it’s time to increase the weight. The alternating rows are a less challenging exercise anyway, but are you keeping the tempo the same on both the upward and lower phases of the exercise? The lowering section (eccentric) movement of any exercise is actually more important for muscle growth that the actual lifting phase. So if you row up under control but then let it drop, you won’t be doing yourself any favours. I’m not saying you are btw, this is just a btw comment to help anyone else who’s reading too 😀
If you are getting that many reps John, I’d say it’s time for an upgrade.
Cheers
Marianne
Hi Marianne,
Thanks for the advice, it makes perfect sense…the movements I have been having trouble with are the squat movements..though under your tutelage for 2 weeks I have notcied significant (for me) gains in this area. I think, with this workout, If I switched the pullups with the burpees, I would gain on both ends. The pullups would make me a bit more tired for the rows, and if i did burpees for reps as opposed to time, i’d get more out of it, I think.
As for controlling the down movement on the rows, I box when not KBing, and do alot of bag work, so protecting my elbow joints is important, and I know the negative movement of any excersise is important..
Thanks again for the advice, coach..much appreciated..
John
No worries John, I didn’t mean to tell you stuff you already knew, I guess I have to assume that, even if you know, someone else may be reading that doesn’t. Swap it about and see how it goes 🙂
Cheers
Marianne
PS Keep an eye out for my new article/tutorial on the squat. It gives a lot more info and advice about correcting the common problems associated with the squat.
I didnt take it that way at all, even things that are practically second nature need to be kept fresh, and i appreciate the mention. Looking forward to the tutorial!
John
ps- I have been reading Pavel T.’s book and found a tip that helped me, and it was pushing in at the crease on your hips and pushing back..have you read any of his stuff? I’d be interested in hearing your opinion..
I haven’t read it, but I have heard good things about his stuff. If only I had more time 😀 His advice sounds good though.
Marianne
Hi Marrianne,
This will be my workout for tomorrow night. I was wondering how come you don’t wear your heart rate monitor anymore?
Jim
Jim I think I broke it 🙁 It has maxed out at the stopwatch setting and I can get it to reset. Because it won’t count, none of the features work ! Grr, so I need probably reset the whole thing, just haven’t got round to it LOL
Hi
Well done on another great work out! Looking forward to trying it! What would you reccommend doing for your abs if you don’t have a pull up bar, what would be the next best alternative??
Thanks!
Hey, probably Lying leg raises or V-crunches? If you have a stability ball, you could do SB Jacknife and oblique jacknife. Or KB L-sit / KB leg raise, plus KB Russian twists? Just a few 😀
Hi there.
Marianne, I hope you won’t mind if I share my sub for knee or leg raises. 🙂
If you have two tall stools (like bar stools), you can do knee raises or leg raises if you stand in between them (as if you are in between too benches in the gym). I don’t have pull bar or dip station, so I use stools from the kitchen 🙂
Works okay so far, plus it also an exercise for your arms as you need to keep the balance.
My Best,
Ali
Of course I don’t mind 🙂 Nice suggestion !
Cheers
Marianne
Hi Marianne,
I have tried to watch your video, but it’s not available yet. So I will write a completely off-topic comment. After writing all day long (for my work) and with a headache because of it, I was wondering if somebody could hire me to work part-time in a flower shop. I might then be going on holiday to a tropical island 🙂
Bianca
LOL 😀