The weather was supposed to be completely terrible – so we made plans to have the kettlebell small group class meet at the venerable martial arts hub known as East Coast Martial Arts Supply on Colonial. This store has been there forever, and recently we’ve begun a very nice friendship. Earlier in the week, I had a very fascinating intro to Systema lesson there and plan to continue training. The place has a great feel anyway – and lots of great books, stuff, and those super simple “Kung Fu shoes” that I always seem to need to have around. Seeing as we didn’t want to splinter the nice heavy duty wood floor, I opted to stick with our lighter kettlebells, but designed a fun program that we would enjoy indoors. Everyone brought their mats and lost their shoes (on purpose). Arriving early, I was having a whole lot of fun using the open space to practice some of my favorite Primal Move combos and of course the rolling. We would end up using one of the simple rolls as a transition in a later bodyweight combo.
The feeling of this particular dojo is very good, it’s a surprisingly larger space than it would first appear. I love the vibe of a space where a whole lot of learning and mindful practice has taken place. All ages have trained here in many many different disciplines, and today we had the honor of adding ours. We’re planning a special Saturday kettlebell seminar, watch for more details as soon as possible. For now – here’s what we did: (brought multiple light kettlebells – 8kg, 12kg, 14kg, 16kg, and 18kg some of which are pictured above – I took that photo after moving some of the kettlebells out of the main area where we’d be doing our Primal Move warm up). Everyone worked at their own pace – the emphasis being on form, breath and intention. This seemed a little easier given the influence of our surroundings.
First we warmed up with Primal Move and made full use of the very fun floor.
Next was 3 rounds of:
- Kettlebell halo (light – mobility drill) 5 rotations in each direction
- Kettlebell front squat: 8 right, 8 left
- Military press 5 on the right, last rep leaving the kettlebell locked out overhead and perform 5 back lunges (think last half of the get up, step back with left foot)
- Military press 5 on the left, last rep leaving the kettlebell locked out overhead and perform 5 back lunges (stepping back with right foot)
- 20 kettlebell swings (2 hand or alternating 1 arm swings)
Next, we spent about 10 minutes very focused on practicing get ups – with or without weight as appropriate.
Last an unusual little bodyweight mini circuit for fun, we performed this three times at our own paces:
- Pick a push up variation (within your ability from Convict Conditioning) and perform 5 reps
- X-roll to skillfully turn over
- 10 tuck-ups
- X-roll to turn over yet again
- 10 burpees
Finally we finished up with Primal Move – a children’s karate class had arrived early and were amused and curious about our kettlebell and bodyweight drills!
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