Hi everyone,
This whole week hasn’t exactly gone to plan. After Monday’s workout, this is the first day I have been able to do anything! Although last night I went to one of Andrew’s classes, it was still pretty tough 🙁 My quads are angry with me, but I am FIGHTING fit today! And I am back to work tonight after 2 weeks off on holiday, so I needed to make this a good one 🙂
In total this workout is about 30 minutes, the main section is 24 minutes, but there’s a wee surprise at the end for you to practice – a challenge as I introduce you to Kettlebell Bear (tutorial to follow)! And no this is not a nickname for me in a bad mood 😉
As per usual, because Kettlebell (and my) workouts contain all elements of training, I have indicated in brackets, both my reps per exercise, and whether the exercise has elements of cardio (c), strength (s), resistance (r), stability (st), plyometrics (p) or is a core activating exercise (cae). You will see that many of the exercises have overlaping benefits, which is the beauty of Kettlebell workouts.
There are 3 rounds of 8 exercises, all using Kettlebells. If you have one, set your Gymboss Interval Timer for 24 cycles of 15 seconds recovery and 45 effort. Or, if you prefer, you can set the timer for 8 cycles at a time to allow a slightly longer recovery period between rounds, but this is up to you. The 8 exercises are:
- Kettlebell Deadlift to Squat Thrust (s,r,cae,c) (9,8,8 )
- Kettlebell Bent Over Row (s,r,cae) (14,14,12)
- Kettlebell Passing Reverse Lunge (right) (r,st,c,cae) (19,17,17)
- Kettlebell Passing Reverse Lunge (left) (r,st,c,cae) (18,17,16)
- Kettlebell Renegade Row with Push Up (2 rows and 1 push up = 1 rep) (s,r,cae) (9,7,5)
- Kettlebell Push Press (right) (s,r,p,st,cae,c) (15,13,12)
- Kettlebell Push Press (left) (s,r,p,st,cae,c) (14,12,11)
- Kettlebell Alternating Swing (c,r,cae) (26,27,25)
For the first section I used my 16kg (yellows), and 20kg (grey) Kettlebells. The blues for the Bear are 12kg, I was playing it safe for the new exercise 🙂
If you’re faint-hearted, look away now as I introduce THE BEAR! The Kettlebell Bear is a combination of exercises all put together to make one rep of the Bear. I saw this exercise performed by Tommy from Optimal Life Fitness. He adapted this exercise from the original “Bear” which is a Barbell Strength and Conditioning Complex. One rep of the Kettlebell Bear is:
- Double Dead Clean
- Double Front Squat to Press
- Double Back Squat to Press (tough)
- Stiff-Leg Deadlift
- Double Bent Over Row
I tried this with two 16kg kettlebells, but the back squat was really hard on my shoulders, so I had to drop to my 12kg. I intend to build up to the 16’s of course. If you only have one kettlebell, you can still give this a go, but do half a rep on one side, then swap. Just be careful that the single sided back squat doesn’t knock you off balance. I will be posting a tutorial for the bear soon.
For me, the back squat with kettlebells doesn’t really work, the position of the kettlebell makes it very awkward, so be careful. Also I didn’t like the order of the last 2 exercises, I think it would work a little smoother if the Row came before the Stiff-leg Deadlift, but that’s just my humble opinion 🙂
Anyway, play around with this exercise and try and complete 5 reps, taking 20-30 seconds recovery between each rep, this will get your heart rate going and it is a full body complex, so an excellent challenge 😀 Enjoy!!
As always I welcome feedback and comments.
Cheers
Marianne
