Hi all,
Can you believe it’s Christmas Eve already!! I will be so sad when it’s all over because I love Christmas so much – guess I love rekindling those feelings of family you had when you are a child. And I love getting to see all my family; Big bro Matthew, Wee bro Richard and Wee Sis Barbara; our original cats at home (Furball and Aslan); and my Mother Dear (aka MD) too of course 😀 I just love it. The day used to be full of more excitement as our Granny and Granda would arrive after dinner to see us all – but they are never forgotten! Family and fun – I hope you all have fond memories or positive experiences to think about and be grateful for too.
I was very fortunate in getting Wednesday night off work, so I was able to squeeze in this workout yesterday. AND it’s a good one 😀
The Workout
This workout has 2 sections. The first is interval-based cardio using a mixture of kettlebells and body weight. There are 4 rounds of 5 exercises, lasting 20 minutes. The second section is more laid back and focuses on abs and core. I used my stability ball and a kettlebell for most of these exercises. There are 2 rounds of 6 exercises, switching between set reps and set time depending on the exercise.
For the first section set your Gymboss Interval Timer for 20 cycles of 20 seconds recovery and 40 seconds effort, and complete 4 rounds of the following 5 exercises. My reps per exercise are in brackets:
- Kettlebell Vertical Swing Burpee (8, 7.5, 6, 6.5)
- Kettlebell Alternating Swing (25, 24, 26, 25)
- Side to Side Step-Ups (39, 37, 37, 35)
- Dynamic Push Ups (13, 12, 10, 9)
- Two-Handed Kettlebell Swing (32, 29, 30, 29)
Now, reset your timer for one manual interval of 45 seconds and use it for the timed exercises in section 2. I got totally distracted by the farting noise of my mat during the 4th exercise, it made me forget to count, so I just gave up at that point and just did 2 rounds the exercises as follows:
- Stability Ball Jack-knife x 45 sec
- KB Windmill (right) x 6 reps
- KB Windmill (left) x 6 reps
- Stability Ball Hand-to-feet Pass (this is the one that made my mat fart) x 45 sec
- Stability Ball Oblique Jack-knife x 45 sec
- Plank Climber x 45 sec
Had a lot of fun with this one! The cardio was great, and loved the dynamic push ups, I have improved so much. But I realised I need to work on my windmills, especially for my left side.
I hope you all get a chance to come and visit if you can for my Christmas Rant/message will be up soon too. I understand you all are very busy today and tomorrow, so if you don’t get back then a BIG HAPPY CHRISTMAS from me, Andrew, Cutie, Tim and Squirt! xo
Cheers
Marianne
What is your opinion of this 10,ooo swing kettlebell challenge? I started it today and managed 340 using 15 pounds. Is it a good or a bad thing? http://nofearfitness.com/articles/10000-swing-challenge.php
Laurie I don’t know, I hadn’t heard of it. It would be hard enough for me to complete this without over-training. What about other training, can you still balance this out over the month? Would you have any energy left to do anything else?? Just because it is a high repitition challenge, doesn’t mean it’s going to be good for you. Especially as it’s pretty constant over 30 days. But if you want to try it, just be sure to watch your back 🙂
It’s like running a marathon, it’s a great challenge, but it can be a nightmare for your body.
This is just my initial reaction, sorry.
Marianne
It was tough. I can see how one might get injured from overtraining. I’m feeling it now for sure. No pain but more like I worked out. The pain might come tomorrow..lol… I broke it up into sets and did other exercises between the sets to get a full workout. I’m not sure I’ll be able to complete them all in 30 days but I do think I will keep up with my swing reps and see where I’m at after 30 days or how long it actually takes to get to 10,ooo. Should be interesting.
Good luck 😀
I did this workout on Tuesday (this morning.) I really liked it — its a great all body routine without too much stress anywhere (no bouncing on the knees!) Another one to highlight in my log book. I was sweating like crazy after this, which is always my test for how much I really worked. In a 60 degree room, that is very good!
1. KB Vertical Swing to burpee 12Kg: 8, 8 1/2, 8, 8 1/2
2. Alt KB Swing 14 Kg: 22, 21, 23, 22
3. Side to side step ups 40, 40, 41, 41
4. Dyno Pushups 11 (mental block – thought I had to do full burpees), 15, 17, 17
5. 2 Hand KB Swing 16 Kg 22, 23, 22, 23
1. Ball Jack-Knife 21, 20
2. KB Windmill 10Kg 6 each side (I think I played it too safe, so I will try going up next time.) (This is an interesting trade-off: R side is stronger but left knee is weak, so my L side was better in this!)
3. Ball hand to feet pass 16, 16 (no farting mats)
4. Ball oblique jacknife 11 (kept fallign off the ball! ), 18
5. Plank Climber 20, 18
This was harder than it looked, especially on the core. I loved the pushups! Just long enough to start making me wonder when it was going to end, but short enough to make it through! I am using my heavier bells with some caution — yes it is a little easier to swing heavier bells, but its also harder!
Thank you Marianne for another fantastic workout!!!
~ Gillian
Great stuff Gillian, glad you like it, I really like this one. Go you with the heavier bells!! You’re right to take care though, but I’m so pleased to hear you increasing the weight 🙂
Gillian, whenever you post your scores I always feel so weak!!!!! Your numbers are always so good.
And, yes, I am still the only person here who can’t do a proper push-up. YET. YET. YET.
Thanks for recommending that push-ups site: I am working on it. I seem to be better with words (as Marianne says) than with push-ups!
Bianca
I feel my numbers pale in comparison to Marianne’s, so its all relative. I have been working on my pushups in earnest since March and when I started, I could do 10 from the knees but not one regular one. Just keep at it. As for the weights I do manage to lift, I used to be really strong in my twenties and early thirties, so I do have a base that I think I am pulling from. Its been a while, but I am getting much of my strength back. If you never lifted weights before, I would allow for a development curve. And you do wan to be careful not to overdo it and then pull something.
The fact that you are doing something and sticking with it is what counts! Good for you! We all compete only against ourselves.
Everyone, keep up the good work!
~ Gillian
I was gonna do this whole thing but my stability ball got um a little warm (gotta love a 3 yr old playing with the fun big ball n leaving it by the hot water base-board heat register in the room) and it is no longer with me so I was able to do the first half Christmas eve. I guilt tripped my hubby into doing it too. He was all set to just veg out and I was not satisfied with that so I figured I would get a nice workout really quick while the house was quiet. When I get a new ball and do the ACTUAL workout I will share my score. For now I just wanted to say I enjoyed this workout (what I did of it). I am shocked that he has stuck it out this long with me. He has been working out at home with me for almost 2 months and I swear I can see more results in him using your workouts :o) than he had seen working out with his fledgling trainer brother. He does this along with 2-3 hours of basketball a week. So I just wanna say a THANK YOU from the both of us. Now I just gotta clean up my eating and I know I will start to see my results cuz I sure can feel a difference inside and while I am working out. I just find it so hard to stick with things cuz well the hubby is smaller and can eat whatever. I know I know what to do I just gotta commit to it myself so I guess I know what I need to work on cuz I have the working out down. Thanks for keeping us motivated.
That’s great news Kera that both of you are seeing improvements. The diet side of things is always hard to get right, but even when you slip here and there, always remember you can get back to it. We all put too much pressure on ourselves in life as it is, and while eating healthy is beneficial, we really can’t get stressed over mistakes along the way. It is a long journey, for life, so we need to be fair to ourselves and expect mishaps. You sound determined, so i am sure you will see great results once the diet improves, and you have your hubby there to help motivate you 🙂
Thanks
Marianne
Hi Marianne: I am excited about doing this workout, and I requested a Gymboss for Christmas, and I believe my son got me one. Yay. I just wanted to say that I so enjoy your demeanor as a trainer/instructor. You are so genuine, and I loved your laughing in this video. You are such a delight. You make me proud of my Irish heritage (my dad’s family was from County Clare). I hope to visit one day. I was born in CA and have spent most of my life here, but did travel to Dublin and Belfast for a day each time. I am rambling, but I did enjoy your video on diet, which I just watched. So very true, and we all need to recognize this in order to enjoy our lives. Thanks again for your time in giving workouts for us. You are truly inspiring for this old lady. LOL.
Thanks Mary, Happy Happy Christmas!
Cheers
Marianne
I meant Tuesday
Thanks for the evil Christmas gift Marianne 😉 I seriously appreciate it.
i changed some of the moves because my shoulders are still sore from all the swinging yesterday.
KB vertical swings burpee 4,6,7,7 12KG
alt swing with KB 24,20,20,23 12KG
Jump squats ?,? 15,16
dynamic push up 12,9,8,8 I love these killers
over head squat with 8KG 6 only set I could do 6,9,7 goblet squats with 8KG
KB windmill 2x 12kg 6x 8KG
same for both
side crunch 23,23
plank climbers 13
leg raises 7
I was pretty fried by the end of the first round of this, I still have to put a lot of concentration to my form when working with kettlebells which I really enjoy,but it also kills me.
Merry Christmas from sweaty Mickela
Hi Marianne,
On your first section, you mentioned using the Gymboss Timer for 20 sec. recovery and 40 sec. rest. Do you mean 40 sec. work and 20 sec. rest? I’m a little bit confused.
Thanks and Merry Christmas!!
OOPS typo 🙂 20 rest and 40 effort
That was hilarious Marianne. Why is it that farting sounds make people laugh. LOL
This is going to be fun although I don’t have a stability ball or farting mat. Ha, ha 🙂 so I’ll have to improvise with the workout.
This will be my afternoon workout and then off to my sisters for a big feast. will post my results later.
Merry Christmas!!!
LOL, everyone needs a farting mat, it’s so much fun 😉 Life is boring without one LOL
Enjoy your feast!
Marianne
ya, they are a real gas!!