Somewhat against my better judgement, I’ve joined a gym. The weather is getting hot, “summer is coming” (no, I don’t care about preparing to strut around on the beach, I just really hate hot weather). And the mosquitos are likely waiting for the earliest possible moment to start coverings me in welts. So, this year I am planning ahead with alternative workout locations that aren’t just at home. However, as I’m not so used to a regular gym, this has presented challenges. The good news is, the “unassisted” standard calisthenics equipment is usually pretty underused, and I’m more than happy to dust it off! The kettlebell selection is on the light side for myself and the usual readers of this blog, but I’m doing my serious kettlebell work and heavy swings etc. at home anyway. At least I was able to find a couple of 35lb kettlebells at the gym to use in this circuit – which is also why you see most of these moves are double kettlebell. feel free to adapt this all to your situation (for available equipment and otherwise). This workout is designed to go quickly and to have a little more variety on a day that you need that entertainment (or when you need to not monopolize equipment so much).
You may remember there’s an outdoor half and half workout on this site, and if you want to go check it out, please do!
Those of you familiar with this website or who have trained with me will recognize the familiar warmup pattern. Happy to report that literal years of doing mobility warmups like this has helped me stay strong and mobile even after a pretty intense career change these past two years – and even though I may be doing a little more sitting and am a little bit older, I don’t seem to be any worse for the wear! Hopefully you are experiencing the same!
OK, enough babbling here’s the workout!
Joint Mobility Warm-Up:
- Joint Mobility (joint circling) Sequence
- 3x Pump stretch/Prying Cobra, instep stretch, overhead squat sequence (more on this in a future post)
- TRX “I” “T” “Y” upper body mobility sequence (optional, I did it because there was a TRX and I miss these moves)
Mobility and Calisthenics Warmup 3x:
5x Pushups, then craw back (remember to bend knees) to a low squat, do 5 squats and stay down on the last one to reach back into a crab walk position – crab walk forward and backward a little before reaching forward to the squat position then walking the hands back out to the pushup position… repeat!
Warm-Up Kettlebell mini circuit 3x:
- 10 kettlebell swings
- 5x goblet squats
- 3/3 “round the worlds”
Circuit 1 3x:
On the first round do as many GOOD reps as you can with the pullups on that day, don’t go for a PR or to failure. I should have mentioned earlier that this is a submaximal workout in general. Each round it’s ok to drop a rep or two as the pull-ups can be considered a descending ladder here (on this particular day I did 8,7,5) If you’re not quite up to doing pull-ups, feel free to substitute bodyweight rows, or your favorite variety of assisted pullups that you find to be sufficiently challenging. I did the following circuit with minimum rest, if you do this too, don’t be surprised if your reps are a little lower than you like ’em! It’s OK! 🙂
- Dead Hang Pull-ups (you know, the only kind I do!)
- 10x Double Kettlebell Front Squats
- 20x Double Kettlebell Alternating Plank Rows
- 10x Double Kettlebell One Leg Deadlifts (alternating for a nice balance challenge)
Circuit 2 3x:
Same general approach, go for your max but not failure number of reps for the first round of dips then feel free to drop a rep or two on the subsequent rounds, for example I ended up doing 12, 11, 10. You can of course substitute self-assisted dips (one foot barely on the ground to help, etc.) or any alternative you’re comfortable with and which challenges you!
- Dips
- 10x Hanging Knee Raises – slow and controlled or what’s the point? 🙂
- 20x paces March in Place Double Kettlebell Overhead Hold (or rack hold if necessary – I was using kb that were light for me, so I kept this overhead for all three rounds then on the last round went right into a set of 10x see-saw presses for no particular reason other than a little fun. Gotta keep it creative?)
I finished up with a few pump stretches, a random handstand on the wall and marveled at how these Bose earbuds stayed in my ears the whole time! Fantastic!
Some more good news: there’s a backlog of workouts to share with you – and they’re coming along (with some new recipes too).
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