This workout certainly isn’t for everyone since it uses a “found staircase” I suppose a stepmill could be used for it, but part of the “fun” of the workout is self-regulating how fast you’re taking the stairs, and sharing heckles with your training partner related to who has the inside or outside of the staircase…. Here in Florida we don’t have many buildings with a ton of stairs, but this particular location seems to fit the bill for this workout.
Also, I decided to up the “fun” factor and wear my 10lb Hyperwear weight vest (click here for exhaustive review, photos, etc.) for the first circuit… to many 10lbs might not sound like a whole lot, but I can tell you it’s very sneaky, especially during the… oh wait, during all of it. Towards the end, the kettlebell swings felt like ALMOST a “break” HAHA! It was about 80 degrees and humid last night so those of you up north might not be able to relate, but starting on the 3rd round I began to sweat so much that after taking a jokingly emphatic break after the sit-outs*, I left a sweaty ear print on the ground. Yes… the outline of my ear!
We started with a PrimalMove warm-up, and the Trifecta from Convict Conditioning Vol 2.
Then it was straight away with five rounds of:
- 20 Kettlebell swings (we shared a 16kg and 24kg kettlebell, alternating sets)
- 1 trip up and down the 5 flights of stairs! WHEEEEEEE!
- 10 Alternating Sit-Outs*
As much as I love that weight vest, I was very happy to take it off and get on with the next circuit…. definitely going to wash it… thoroughly.
After staggering around a little we got out some lighter kettlebells for three rounds of the next little circuit:
- 10 Climbing planks**
- 5/5 Bottom-up kettlebell presses (note: I chose a lighter bell than usual on this)
- 3/3 bodyweight pistols (or 6 total “pistol switches” as demonstrated in Al Kavadlo’s Pushing the Limits – hmmm another cool exercise to put on video soon)
- 10 straight leg raises from the ground (NIIICE and sloowww ouch)
Finally we strolled around a little then finished with some joint mobility.
GOOD TIMES. That weight vest really amped it up for me though, I must admit.
*Sit-outs were first brought to my attention by Senior RKC Mike Krivka who uses them in a few workouts in his ebook Code Name: Indestructible. Here’s Mike demonstrating them, and as you can imagine these are “extra fun” with a weight vest… “THANKS” a ton, Mike…
**Like the sit-outs above these are known by many names. I call them climbing planks because you’re kind of climbing up and down from your arms. They start in a regular plank position with the forearms flat, then with MINIMAL movement of the rest of your body (or as I say, “no boogie-woogie, save that for the club”) come up on to straight arms on your palm one arm at a time. I should make a video for this too, it’s simple once you see it.
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