Kettlebell and Bodyweight Circuit Workout – Descent into Madness (Descending Ladder)

Here’s a fun one from the kettlebell small group yesterday.   We reinforced the “kettlebell wagon” to make it more heavy duty – while it’s rated for 700lbs, the manufacturers seem to have thought we’d only use it for bags of mulch, not heavy iron kettlebells… a precision cut piece of plywood did the trick, so look for more heavy swing/deadlift workouts in the near future.

We started with a Primal Move warmup then everyone chose 2 kettlebells – 1 moderate or moderate to heavy, and a kettlebell which could be pressed at least 6-8 times well (we wouldn’t be going that high with the reps, but are using that number as a reference.. right now I’m pressing the 18kg for 8 reps pretty consistantly, so I’d choose that for my presses, the moderate to heavy for me would be the 24kg or 28kg — other combos were 16kg press bell and 20kg for moderate to heavy, 12kg press bell, 16kg moderate to heavy, etc.   The focus here of course is on form and quality, so don’t go heavier in the attempt to “prove” something.  That never ends up well.)

Descent into Madness Descending Ladder Combo:

• 30 2-hand kettlebell swings (the heavier bell), 5 strict military presses per side, 5 kettlebell rows per side, 5 push ups (go to an advanced variation if appropriate)
• 20 2-hand kettlebell swings (the heavier bell), 3 strict military presses per side, 3 kettlebell rows per side, 3 push ups (go to an advanced variation if appropriate)
• 10 2-hand kettlebell swings (the heavier bell), 2 strict military presses per side, 2 kettlebell rows per side, 2 push ups (go to an advanced variation if appropriate)
• extra credit – repeat the combination after a short rest

Since I’m a stickler for the kettlebell clean (quite possibly one of the most underrated super awesome kettlebell exercises out there) we did a small combo to practice NOT forgetting to use our hips in this movement:

• Right side – 1 1-arm kettlebell swing, 1 clean
• Left side – 1 1-arm kettlebell swing, 1 clean
• Right side – 3 1-arm kettlebell swings, 1 clean
• Left side – 3 1-arm kettlebell swings, 1 clean
• Repeat as necessary.

This was a fun transition…
4 rounds of:

• 20 seconds goblet squat (moderate to heavy)
• 10 seconds rest/transition
• 20 seconds kettlebell swings (moderate to heavy)
• 10 seconds rest/transition

Finally we worked on our get ups and general mobility with this strange combo:
3 rounds of:

• Get up right, get up left, 2 full bridges (or wherever you are on your route to the full bridge)

Following that combo, it was interesting to see the improvements in everyone’s Primal Move cool down… pretty neat!!