It was time to step things up a notch early last week. My approach to conditioning is very similar to my approach to abdominal training… it just kind of happens (very well) in the course of our general training. For instance with the kettlebell swing, there’s skill, timing, acceleration/deceleration, strength, and conditioning components just to start. There’s also a whole lot of abdominal involvement. Performed correctly, kettlebell swings really take care of a LOT in and of themselves. And while I like to do things like play with battling ropes, etc. for some reason it never mentally registers as “cardio”. So I forget that I’ve been working on conditioning all along, only realizing these after habitually running up several flights of stairs two at a time with both hands full of groceries and not getting out of breath. Then there’s the days that it’s fun to find out “what we can really do.”
There are several workouts I think of as conditioning “benchmarks”:
1. The RKC 5 minute kettlebell snatch test
2. Any form of “Sissy Test”
3. Any form of DOE Manmaker or variant
4. Any form of the somewhat innocent sounding thing I generically label as “track day”
5. Some of the better versions of “300” workouts we do in small group for fun.
Since I was still enamored with the Under Armour Armor39 heart rate monitor—distinctive winner of the “I have NOT felt the need to tear this off of myself in rage mid-workout” award for chest-strap-based heart rate monitors—I thought it would be fun to gather some data.
It was benchmark time again, and a weird mood prompted the 300 Nightmare. After a good warm up featuring Primal Move, the CC2 Trifecta, and some light kettlebell get ups it was time for 10 rounds of… (active rest as needed, safety and form first always)
- 30 kettlebell swings (any kb, 1 arm or 2 arm swings)
- 30 battling rope throws (we used our lovely one from Muscle Ropes)
- 30 jump rope turns (which feels like a break)
It’s easy math, but at the end of it 300 swings, 300 rope throws, and 300 jump rope turns have happened—which is pretty darned cool! This image below includes timing from loading the car, taking it 2 blocks to the park, and unloading the car (plus warmup etc etc), then reloading the car, so the actual workout was less than the recorded time, but as you can see things got intense and there was definitely a reason for a substantial dinner:
Got into it a lil bit earlier…. Still loving that @UnderArmour #Armour39 #IWill #FitFluential pic.twitter.com/VO99vO1Ihz
— GiryaGirl (@GiryaGirl) February 7, 2014
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