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