Monday Madness – Strength and Conditioning Workout

Hi everyone,

Well I had a great weekend! The cottage where we stayed was in a beautiful location and the weather was amazing. It was relaxing and fun at the same time. Way too much food, but nothing I can’t “undo” with just getting back to normal this week.

On the first night we played table tennis and pool for a while, then watched chick flicks and ate lots of yummy food, had some wine of course. We had quite a sensible time that night as we all got settled in.

The second day began with a massive breakfast 🙂 then we headed to Eden Pottery to paint our own mugs and plates etc which was great fun. Later on we played “make the bridal dress with random materials” – this was hilarious and involved some more wine 😉 We were divided into 2 teams and we had to design and make a dress to fit one member of the team – I was on the bride-to-be’s team (the best one) – and we won of course!! The other team’s dress just looked like a clown – I was half expecting the bouquet to sqirt water at me! 😛

After more games of really badly played table tennis and competitively played pool (by me), we had dinner and got dressed up to play “Murder on the Ghost Train” – as you can see, the theme was Halloween and we each had our characters to play in the murder mystery … my character was not the murderer btw – it was the freaky ghost girl “Flow Ting”! Following this game we brought our glasses of wine down to the games room and had some more tipsy fun … this is when I lost my status as pool champion – I was not impressed :/ lol Here are some Pictures:

What a weekend!

On my last post I mentioned my personal situation and I just want to thank you all for your words of advice and support. I appreciate all the heart-felt best wishes from all over the world, it really is amazing what we have here.

Now, back to business.  Today’s workout is a tough one, in me trying to get things back on track, so I apologise in advance!

There are 3 sections of 3 exercises (triplets). There are 2 rounds of each triplet. After the second round of each Triplet, complete one Turkish Get Up on each side, before moving on to the next section.  After the 3rd set of TGUs, there is an evil Tabata waiting for you to end the workout on a high (heart rate).

The exercises are more strength-based today, although the reps are slightly higher. Choose a challenging weight that you can manage these reps with. If you want you can increase the weight and drop the reps in the second round. For me I kept the weight and reps the same.

Where you see * in the workout breakdown below, this is where I offer an alternative exercise for beginners and intermediates.  All of the other exercises are suitable for all levels (modifying the weight slightly). An alternative for pull ups is the horizontal pull up – but the direction of the pull is different, so you will be using slightly different muscles.

Workout Breakdown

Set your Gymboss Interval Timer for either 30 seconds (beginners), 45 seconds (intermediates) or 1 min (advanced). This time interval is for exercise 3 or each section, all the others are set reps.

Triplet 1

1. KB Halo x 12 rotations each direction (14kg)
2. *Double Kettlebell Front Squat into Military Press x 8 – 12 reps (2 x 14kg)
3. *Squat Jumps x 1 min (31, 28)

• TGU x 1 rep each side (16kg)

Triplet 2

1. Pull Ups x 3 – 5 reps (5, 5) 😀
2. Kettlebell Sumo Deadlift x 8 – 12 reps (2 x 24kg)
3. Two-Handed KB Swing x 1 min (20kg – 38, 36)

• TGU x 1 rep each side (20kg) – just about!

Triplet 3

1. *Single-Leg Hip Thrust (right) x 12 – 15 reps (15, 13)
2. *Single-Leg Hip Thrust (left) x 12 – 15 reps (15, 12)
3. *KB Renegade Row x 1 min (24, 23)

• TGU x 1 each side (didn’t happen – grr)

Tabata

Reset your Gymboss Interval Timer for 8 cycles of 10 seconds rest and 20 seconds effort and complete 2 rounds of the following 4 exercises. For the thrusters use a moderate weight that you can do fast-paced reps (with good form – I used 12kg).  Beginners, split the Tabata into 2 separate rounds and take an extra breather in between:

1. Burpees
2. Side to Side Step Ups
3. KB Thruster (right)
4. KB Thruster (left)

Now curl up and die 😛

*Alternative exercises:

1. Replace the Double Front Squat to Press with either Goblet Squat to Press, or Single Front Squat to Press (right then left)
2. Replace the Squat Jumps with Dynamic Squats, High Knees, Step Ups
3. Replace Single-Leg Hip Thrusts with Glute Bridge, Single-Leg Glute Bridge or Double Hip Thrusts – if you want to wait until I have my “Progression Video” up about how/when to move from one version of this movement to the next, you can. Otherwise, you can see it explained HERE . Remember that you are best to master the double leg versions first, then progress to single-leg.
4. Replace Renegade Rows with Single Arm Row or Bent Over Rows.

When I have more time on my hands I promise to run through the sequences again in the video to illustrate the different workout levels. If you have any problems with understanding this workout, or any of these exercises, just leave me a comment below, or even start a thread in the Forum. I will endeavour to help how and when I can 🙂

Just a little tip – one of the worst things you can do when you are training (especially as a beginner) is: Try to run before you can walk – you must master the body-weight or minimally loaded versions of exercises first, before adding anything to it. Look at this like sketching the outline of a drawing before adding the detail, shading or colour.

I hope you all enjoy this workout and I hope to hear your feedback.

Cheers

Marianne