There’s a lot more to write and a lot more adventures to share, but I wanted to put this little workout here to tide you over. It’s an appropriate interlude since it was designed to help out on a day when I figured that at least one member of the kettlebell small group (including myself) would be experiencing or approaching “decision fatigue”. It’s just that kind of week, so when I get that feeling its time to stack the deck in the favor of good outcomes and default situations of an optimal nature. Also wanted to choose something that would “self-scale” to everyone’s abilites and energy levels. Since the people showing up all really know what they’re doing, I can count on them to know when to really dive in, and when to back off. This workout allows for that nicely. This sort of workout was originally inspired by some of the workouts Mike Krivka has in Code Name: Indestructible some of which are smart/sane versions of AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) workouts.
We’ve recently added some extra fun to our outdoor warmups too. After going to Zach Even-Esh’s Underground Strength Coach certification workshop a few weeks ago (speaking of things I want to write about asap!) we’ve added in an abbreviated form of his basic warmup right after our mobility drills. One of the things I loved about the workshop (and Zach’s book) is how adaptable the programming is. While the cert and book may LOOK like they’re best for high school or collegiate athletes, all the programming is easily adapted and customized to any situation. It’s fast, fun and has a kind of sports-team feel to it that tends to lead to some smiling and laughing… which is always a great way to start a workout I think. The distances chosen for the moving drills will also depend on what else we’re doing that day, and how much clear, obstacle-free space we have. We also make sure to do this together so that if we look silly, we’ll look silly together as a kind of bonding experience.
So after our mobility drills and the CC2 Trifecta, we started in with the following in a set short distance free of holes or tripping hazards:
- light jog out, backwards jog back
- side shuffle out and back
- skip forward out, skip backwards (carefully) back
- buttkicks out, light jog back
- power skip out, light jog back
That’s not always the order of things and sometimes more is added but that’s the basic idea.
Next, I set the time for 20 minutes and set out the box of poker chips so that everyone could keep track of how many rounds they did this time–when we repeat the workout in a few months it’ll be fun to see how much we’ve progressed.
- 10 push ups (or relevant variation)
- 10/10 step ups
- 10 burpees (minus push up)
- 20 kettlebell swings (choice of reasonable weights)
A fun and somewhat simple challenge, but definitely a challenge.
Following a brief water break we chose a kettlebell to use for either 1 arm swings or snatches and did the next little interval routine for a total of 4 minutes:
- 20 seconds right hand one arm swings or snatches
- 10 seconds rest/transition
- 20 seconds left hand one arm swings or snatches
- 10 seconds rest/transition
Finally we ended with some pump stretches (similar to up dog, down dog) some crawling and mobility. Good stuff!
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