Fall is officially here, it is time to stop slacking, get back to the weights and put the work in! Hopefully, the summer happy hours and vacation off-plan eating didn’t wreck you too badly! We’ve all been there… I mean, I haven’t (who am I kidding), but I understand things happen. Haha!  Fall is a season of change and if you are looking for a new and exciting way to change up your workouts, kettlebells might be the answer. So have some fun, mix things up, and start adding some kettlebell work into your weekly workout routine.

Strength in large part is a neuromuscular skill. It’s not simply about having more muscle mass. When you train with kettlebells, you are working on improving the skill of your nervous system. The purpose is not to approach it like a traditional body part split routine training only parts of the body but working to improve how your body moves as a unit. Control, speed, accuracy, and consistency that you can skillfully apply are the goal. As your movement patterns improve and your body adapts, your ability to work with heavier loads and do more complicated moves will bring about the strength that most of us are after.

Aside from strength, doing this circuit is also an awesome way to get off the treadmill or other machine and start using your body for real to do cardio. Instead of jumping on a machine for a one plane of motion boring routine think about picking up a kettlebell and using more muscles to achieve better results!

Circuit: 3x

Reps: 15-20

Rest: 60-90 seconds between circuits

** Perform a dynamic warm-up to get the body better ready to move

NOTE: during the circuit don’t put the kettlebell down unless you are moving to another exercise & you have to or you need to grab a heavier or lighter kettlebell to work with. Your goal should be to be able to do all the exercises with the same weight.

Let's Get Started!

1.)    Goblet squat

2.)    Deadlift

3.)    Rack postion, single arm front squat (10 right, 10 left) 

4.)    Single arm overhead shoulder press 

5.)    Standing upright row (2 hands on the kettlebell) 

6.)    Pushups, 1 hand on the kettlebell, one on the floor

a.       Regress this exercise if you need to. Knee pushups, or regular pushups on the floor or a raised surface will work.

7.)    Wide elbow, bent over kettlebell row 

8.)    Front plank (on forearms) - 30 seconds, Side plank - 30 seconds, Side plank - 30 seconds

a.       Try and transition from front to side planks without coming down to the floor

9.)    Seated Russian twist