As many of you know, I’m not one to publicly complain. But I’m frustrated to see that there’s been a trend towards flashy (and fussy) kettlebell workouts online. In my opinion, the beauty of the kettlebell–and what first got me interested in them in the first place–was their utilitarian nature. I’m old enough to have experienced aerobics and the 90s step craze with the awful leotards. I don’t need or want “dance” in my lifting or conditioning. VERY happy to continue to get stronger and more resilient with a minimum of fussy little moves… and ZERO choreography.

The workout we did today is a solid example of the powerful simplicity of just a few moves and correct form. ACTUALLY, true Hardstyle form–not just the kind that looks good for social media. The type of good form that builds you up to deal with life, odd object lifting, moving all manner of furniture by yourself, and other random feats of strength. When faced with a challenge I find that simple, utilitarian training has prepared me very well.

Simple workouts like the one below can be a really good way to work off some steam after a particularly stressful or annoying week too. My Sunday workout partner averages 30-40+ hours each week on high stress Zoom meetings, so… you’ll see why I wrote what I did. After a full week, the last thing she (or I) need is trying to keep up with a lightweight flashy flow. We’re ready to HULK SMASH THINGS… for at least a solid hour or more. We wear ragged workout outfits, and our Chuck Taylors are falling apart. There’s no mascara within a mile of us.

By the way, the sandbag on the burpees is optional. We use a light (25lbs) one for that and it’s mainly psychological – we love to FLING it overhead on each rep, it’s ridiculously fun. The push-ups are short sets so it’s a great way to get 100 quality reps in while resting your grip. We just stuck with standard “regulation” push-ups this time with a full lockout at the top and full range of motion. If you’re working towards more reps in standard pushups, you may wish to swap out half and half with knee pushups or hands on a platform pushups too. While the totals at the end of the workout might seem formidable (300 swings, 100 push-ups, 50 squats, 30 sandbag burpees) this workout minimizes wear and tear — at least in my opinion. At some point today I will have entirely forgotten that we even did this. Some of you wild folks may wish to do the main section twice as a benchmark challenge. I chose “medium heavy” for me, but choose a kettlebell that you can do a LOT of absolutely great kettlebell swings with–and with excellent form. Don’t go heavier for heavier’s sake… if you can manage it, do it, if not then you’ll end up practicing a bunch of crummy reps and that’s not a winning strategy.

Anyhow here’s what we did: