The Burpee is one of my favourite body weight exercises. It gets the heart rate going, it can help burn more calories, and it brings together many compound movements which improve strength, co-ordination, core stability, and hip mobility.
The problem is that, for most people, you don’t just start off being good at the Burpee, so you need a way to progress your way to a full version, or in times of reduced ability (when you’re fatigued, or during an injury, or pregnancy) you need a way to regress the exercise safely.
After several weeks of lifting heavy, and a slight flare of my “SI Joint” issues, I thought it would be wise to taper back on the heavy lifting and do some lighter stuff and body weight exercises. Since I have less than a month until I fly to the USA, I want my SIJ to be in tip top order before those long flights … no way do I want a repeat of last year!!
When we are wanting to reach certain fitness goals we often train without taking any break or any time to step back and just evaluate our progress. And this can sometimes impede our progress because we think we must keep going or we’ll lose it. It is important to stick to a program, but you also must try to program breaks from time to time.
As someone who has learned just about everything the hard way, I can tell you, that taking a “de-load” week every month or two, may actually do you the world of good. Since I decided to change things this week and go lighter, I feel amazing 🙂
Now I better get on with the workout …
The Workout
The workout is made up of 3 different superset couplets. Complete 3 rounds of each.
Superset 1:
1a) Lateral Lunge (I used 12kg): 3×8 reps
1b) Inverted Row: 3×8-12 reps
Superset 2:
2a) Single-Leg Stability Ball Leg Curl: 3 x 12 reps
2b) Clapping Push-Ups: 3×8-12 reps (I did 10 each round)
Superset 3:
3a) Single-Arm KB Clean (I used 20kg): 3×15 reps
3b) Windmill (I used 14kg): 3×8 reps (start light and stay moderate)
Hope you all enjoy the workout. Let me know how you get on.
Firstly, thank you to everyone for helping me reach 10,000 subscribers on my Youtube channel!
The other day I was messing about on the computer trying to create more workout slides for posting on Facebook and for me to use in a special collection I want to put together on the site. After I posted the picture below, I got a few comments asking what some of the exercises look like. What better way to demo the exercises than by actually doing the workout myself and filming it. So, here is another killer workout!
The Workout
The handy photo-slide explains the workout today!
Here are my numbers (reps and weight used):
Quad 1
16kg (18, 17)
Same (18, 16)
20kg (33, 32)
Didn’t count
Quad 2
16kg (16, 13)
16kg (15, 13)
Same (same)
Didn’t count
Quad 3
12kg (21, 18 )
20kg (28, 29)
Didn’t count
(11, 11)
That’s it for today everyone. I will leave you with a little challenge I have set myself. In the video below you will see 2 different sets of me swinging 2x20kg by 8 reps each time. I REALLY want to get 10 or even 15 reps soon, so I will be working on these HEAVY-ASS Swings every day. My goal is to swing the 2x24kg by 10 reps. We will see!
Next post will be the LONG AWAITED hip mobility “drill”/ advice.
Before I get on to describing the workout for today I have something to share. We all have our sources of inspiration and role-models in different areas of life. For me, I try to live by the standards and wisdom set out by my mum. A while ago, fellow GGS Alli McKee wrote a post called “Girls Gone Strong; it’s a movement and a mindset“. This post compiled a super-inspiring collection of quotations from people on their reasons for following Girls Gone Strong, or describing a GGS in their life that they respected and admired. My caption was the following:
“A vessel of inner strength, she is my example of how to live. She listens, she supports, she never judges and she always has faith. She is strong when I am not. She, is my mum!”
The reason I chose to write about my mum is because I would not be the person I am today, if it was not for her support along the way. Of course I am different to my mum in many ways, but she has instilled in me the best of what she stands for; things such as honesty, kindness, patience (a work in progress), tolerance, faith, love, the ability to think calmly, ask questions, be modest (although I think this is an Irish trait) and be forgiving. As you can see, I have a lot to be grateful for, but above all of this, she is my role-model for inner strength!
My mum happens to have a gift for writing (among other things), so a few weeks ago I offered to help her set up her very own blog so she could begin sharing her gift and wisdom with the world. If any of you wish to check it out and see what a wonderful mother I am blessed with 🙂 Then her blog is “Airing Wisdom” at PhyllisSloan.com.
Now for another training update. Yesterday I did an upper body routine of Wide-Grip Pull-Ups (which I never do), Bench Press, Seated Cable Rows and Weighted Dips.
First of all, I managed 4 sets of 5 Pull Ups (which I didn’t think I could do) followed by 2 final sets of Chin-Ups (8 and 6).
Next we did Bench Press (5 total work sets): Set 1 40kg x 5 reps, Set 2 45kg x 5 reps, Set 3 45kg x 5 reps, Sets 4&5 30kg x 12 reps
Seated Cable Rows (3 sets): Set 1 49kg x 8 reps, Sets 2&3 40kg x 8 – 10 reps
Weighted Dips (3 total work sets): Set 1 10kg x 5 reps, Set 2 12.5kg x 5 reps, set 3 10kg x 5 reps
Here’s the video:
Now for today’s Workout
Last week I posted a Double Kettlebell Complex workout with 16kg Kettlebells. This week I went a step further and progressed to the 20kg KBs for the workout. There is only one double KB exercise, but I did progress the snatches to the 20kg for the first time!
Anyway, I did three rounds of the following 5 exercises with set reps:
Double KB Front Squat x 5 reps (2 x 20kg)
KB Snatch (right and left) x 5 reps (20kg) – if the snatch is too difficult, then swap for Push Press 🙂
Clapping Push Ups x 6 reps (could’ve tried for 10, but just do as many as you can or switch to normal Push Ups)
Pull Ups x 5 reps
Single Arm Swing (right and left) (20kg) x 10 reps
You can set your Gymboss Interval Timer on the Stop-watch and time it, but I didn’t bother; I just went with how I felt. And since I was tired, I just stuck with 3 rounds.
Also feel free to adjust the reps to a safe range for YOU 🙂
That’s about it for today. Have a great workout everyone, and let me know how you get on!
Today’s workout felt great … afterwards of course. It’s only 21 minutes long and there was a lot of sweat! Great for full body conditioning and a quick workout when your are short for time.
Other news: I have now launched the FULL array of my Online Coaching Services. While I was away in the US, many of you will know I got to spend some invaluable time with Bret Contreras who taught me his Programming System. So I am very privileged to have this knowledge to apply to my programs. Anyway, feel free to check it out and ask any questions.
The Workout
Set your Gymboss miniMAX Interval Timer for 21 cycles of 15 seconds rest and 45 seconds effort and complete 3 rounds of the following 7 exercises. Remember there is no pressure to do the same as me. You can split the rounds up and have a longer break in between, or you can increase the rest interval to 20, or even 30 seconds if you need to. We are all different and we need to tailor our training to reflect that!
As usual my reps per exercise and weights used are noted inn brackets.
Goblet Squat to Press (20kg) (11, 10, 11) – I did this variation to reduce stress on my low back and pelvis, as other variations would be more increase the need for stability.
Renegade Row (2 x16kg) (18, 17, 18 )
Roundabout Swing (changed to 2H Swing in 3rd round, due to blood blister on my hand) (20kg) (29, 29, 31)
2 Jump Squat Burpee (11, 10, 10)
Stand-Kneel-Stand (right) (16kg) (13, 11, 10) – took my time with these, due to a little pain 🙁
The I did 2 sets of RKC Planks – SET 1: x about 30 seconds, SET 2: 40 seconds (below is a tutorial from Bret).
The only slight difference that has evolved from this variation is that Bret taught me to bend my knees slightly, rather than squeeze the legs together, to allow for greater contraction of the glutes and creating more of a posterior pelvic tilt … which is what I need. Give it a try, and remember to stop once your form starts to suck. The handy thing about this exercise is that you get a really great assessment of just how active your glutes really are. They should be solid and switched on throughout. You might feel one or both glutes starting to twitch or tremble as you try to contract it or as they tire. This is a sign you need to do more glute activation/strengthening drills, Hip mobility drills and more importantly – THINK ABOUT CONTRACTING YOUR GLUTES. Get your mind linked to those muscles and really focus on that movement. Once you do that, your RKC Plank endurance and lumbopelvic stability will sky-rocket!
Hope you enjoy today’s workout and will leave your feedback below.
PS – If you buy a gymboss through text or banner links on my pages, I will earn a wee bit of money for that. I have been a gymboss affiliate since 2010 because I loved them then and I love them now. Especially because it one more thing I can operate that’s not on my phone.
