Heavy Duty At Home: A Kettlebell and Bodyweight Workout

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Home Workouts

I’ve been working out at home or in parks for years… so even with everything happening, it has been business as usual for my own training. But while this is all old hat for me, I do have a few ideas to share if you’re used to a more traditional gym setting. Skip to the crazy kettlebell workout.

Pros:

• You pick the soundtrack (or lack thereof)
• Open 24/7
• You control the HVAC!
• No driving, traffic, parking lot hassles
• No membership fees or predatory billing policies
• Privacy (Bonus for ladies: no unsolicited condescending advice!)
• Snacks, dinner, etc. at the ready!

Cons:

• You’re still at home – some folks really benefit from working out in a different place
• The accountability is 100% on you. (I’d argue this is the case anyway)
• You have to bring all the motivation
• Working out alone doesn’t appeal to everyone, or you may need to recruit family to spot you
• Limited equipment (in some cases)
• No coaches or trainers at the ready (unless you find them and have them show up in person or online)
• No in-person supportive community

Workarounds…

Obviously there’s more than a few ways to mitigate the cons in the list above. Some of them involve ways to get others involved – even if only online. Here’s some ways you can boost your accountability and sense of community to your at home or out in a park workouts:

• Meet with a friend or family member on a particular day at a particular time every week to train.
• Start a “challenge” day either in person at a park or with everyone getting on zoom and working out together. Again – creating accountability. In addition to parks, front yards, backyards and garages are great for this.
• Put your own workouts in your calendar, add them to your schedule and stick to it.
• Don’t be afraid to ramp your workouts up or down on a given day – even in the best situations, everyone is dealing with more stress and uncertainty than normal. Get in there on time and do the work — but listen to your body and adjust the programs as necessary.
• Consider joining an online program with a coach you like, or checking out a program on a self-driven app like TriadXP
• Join a Facebook group of like minded folks you resonate with and hold each other accountable. There’s so many great groups out there!
• Design an audio playlist that gets you going! Be sure to update it regularly

The Workout in this Post is an Example of My Typical Training…

It’s a little longer than usual, but sometimes I like to really get into it. Most of my actual factual workouts (not the recreational fast walking around and/or hiking that my Apple Watch records and calls “workouts”) are about 45-60 minutes in total. With the exception of the pullup bar, this workout can be done about anywhere with the right kettlebells, a flat surface, and a mat.

The basic ideas behind most (but not all) of my training sessions:

• They include a mobility warmup, cool down and moves that have a mobility component throughout
• If there’s a near-max strength challenge, I put that in the first third of the workout
• Metabolic conditioning is always part of it at least a little bit
• Full body workouts almost every time (though I vary the moves session to session in an odd approximation of the old “split” style workouts – it’s just not as ridged)
• If I’m short on time I’ll sub in a bit of a burnout and go for it
• Abdominal training section as weird form of pre-cooldown
• I often use my own workouts to figure out timing and intensity variables for the workouts I share with others
• I have a general goal and a specific goal for each session

The Whys Of This Workout…

For the following somewhat advanced workout, the choices of exercises and format were all chosen to support some of my current goals. In the following full body workout I’m also increasing my volume with pullups and “heavy” (for my size) kettlebell presses. On different days I may go for a lighter submaximal press than the one in the example below with the short sets of submax 22kg kettlebell presses. I chose this weight because it will allow me to perform ALL of the presses with strict form and no compromises even though it is a weight that will require my full attention. The floor tap lunges between each set of presses are essentially active rest. The two EMOM sections allow me to perform a total of 40 pull-ups with absolute strict form while conserving time and getting in other moves for conditioning. The abs portion was to test out a new rep range to use at our group challenge. You’ll also notice that mobility features strongly with the extended warmup, and I conclude the workout with a few minutes of additional mobility and joint circling as well.

Anyway – here’s what I did:

Reasonably Advanced Home or Backyard Kettlebell Workout

Warmup with Joint Mobility (joint circling) sequence

Additional Mobility sequence 3x:

• 3x “pump stretch” aka downward dog, upward dog combo
• Instep stretch* (at least 4 “reaches)
• Cat-Cow (at least 3)

Get-Up Practice

• Set a timer for 5 minutes to practice continuous kettlebell get-ups (switching sides between each rep, submaximal weight – in this case 16kg)

Kettlebell Press Practice Mini Circuit 5x

• 3/3 22kg Kettlebell Presses (choose a reasonably challenging weight that you can press correctly)
• 12/12/ Floor Tap Lunges with Knee Raise

EMOM 1 (Every Minute on the Minute): 10 Minutes

• 2x Dead Hang Pullups
• 5x Tuckups
• 10x 24kg Kettlebell swings (Choose a kettlebell that’s moderately heavy that requires power)

EMOM 2 (Every Minute on the Minute): 10 Minutes

• 2x Dead Hang Pullups
• 5x Push-Ups (basically to give the grip a rest!)
• 10x Bodyweight Squats

Abs Sequence 3x:

• 20 Crossreach Situps
• 20 Scissor Kicks
• Bridge breaks
• 20 Alternate one arm one leg plank switches

Mobility Cooldown

*Instep Stretch: https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx8kxD7W-pqnzdckQTicaiFMRt0eKFgSZ0