Not Just Muscle
Posts tagged kettlebell swings
Kettlebells are Swinging
Mar 1st
It has been a wonderful week getting back to my routine of training hard. Not only did I finally have the opportunity to move some metal in the form of a kettlebell, I also ordered and received a TRX suspension training system. Wow. So many ways to work out, so little time. Below are two workouts I did this week plus the one I’m doing tomorrow. NOTE: Read the Disclaimer! Please work with a certified kettlebell trainer when starting kettlebell training.
Turkish Get Ups and Swings
A very simple protocol. Set your timer for whatever time you have: 15-20 minutes. Perform 15 swings, one or two-handed. You know what you need to work on. Then perform one Turkish get up. Just one, not one per side. Repeat the sequence alternating sides for the Turkish get ups, until time is up. This is my go-to workout. It is so simple, but it is a complete strength and conditioning workout.
Mixed TRX exercises and Swings
Set your timer for :30 work/:30 rest for 24:00. Complete the following exercises:
- TRX rows, Swings. Repeat twice.
- Goblet Squats, Swings. Repeat twice.
- TRX Chest Presses, Swings. Repeat twice.
- TRX Ab Rollouts, Swings. Repeat twice.
I needed a rest day after that one. When I did the workout, I actually substituted some kettlebell snatches for swings. I ended up with a pretty good case of DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness).
For tomorrow’s workout I’m focused on lots of swings. They are starting to get easier and I can tell my conditioning is improving. I want that trend to continue. I am also still a little stiff and don’t feel ready for any more TRX work yet. Here is what I will do:
On the Minute Swings
Set your timer for 1:00 intervals for 10-20 minutes. When the timer goes off, perform 15-20 swings. Put the bell down and rest for the remainder of the minute until the timer goes off again. You decide how many swings to do each minute. Only do as many as you can do with excellent form and listen to your body. I like to record how many I do each minute in a log book and tally them up at the end.
These workouts were probably stolen from someone else at some point. I would give credit if I could say for sure where they came from. I think Sandy Sommer, RKC first gave me the idea for the On the Minute protocol. Feel free to adapt these workouts to suit your fitness level and ability.
If you try them, please leave a comment below. I’d love the feedback. 
I am back! A Report on my Kettlebell Comeback
Feb 22nd
I woke up at 4:30am today and couldn’t get back to sleep. My alarm was set for 5:45. I just needed to get the workout done by around 6:30am, but at 4:30 I was already swinging, at least in my mind. This is both an indication of how excited I was to do my comeback workout, and an indicator of how difficult it is for me to sleep well when I am not training hard. That’s not going to be a problem any longer.
How it went
The first part of the workout, the 5:00 of :20/:40 swings seemed pretty easy. Swings felt good. I could feel my hamstrings and glutes but nothing was screaming at me too much. One thing I noticed was that I started sweating pretty early in my workout, and that’s not the way it used to be. Odd, but understandable.
The Turkish get up segment was excellent. I love TGUs! After having done a couple of them with no weight as part of my warm up, and feeling confident to move on to using a weight, I started with a 4kg. I did one Turkish get up on each side with that one, then one on each side with the 6kg. I still had a little time left so I did 5 partial get ups (get up-sit ups) with the 6kg on each side until time was up.
At that point I had to decide how to structure the last part of my workout. I considered doing :20 work/:40 rest for 10:00, but thought I would be ok with a little more than that. So I set the timer for :30/:30 for 10:00 and went for it. It was not easy! Sometime around the 6th set, I started thinking I wouldn’t be able to get through. It made me mad. I started mentally berating myself for the lagging endurance, but then this occurred to me: the reason why I was tired was because my body has been busy healing for the last eight weeks. I really shouldn’t be upset with it for that!
When I finished set 8 of 10 I knew I could make it. I remembered what an RKC friend had told me once when I was training with him, “You’ve always got 2 more sets in you. Just dig deep. “ That’s what this is about anyway, and that’s what I wanted from this workout: the opportunity to dig deep. I got it, and I finished the workout feeling pretty good about things.
Thanks to all my buddies who joined me, or are going to join me in this workout. There were folks all over North America and the United Kingdom doing this today. I am so honored and humbled by that fact! Whether you did the exercises or simply read about them, I appreciate your contribution. You’ve helped make my comeback day extra special.
Now, it’s time for an early bed time for this kettlebell girl!
