Kickass Kettlebell Series Day 3: Power Kettlebell Workout / Full Body is my least favorite workout in this series by Caroline Girvin (at least so far). I really enjoyed the first two workouts (Day 1 Leg Workout and Day 2 Complexes) but this one, not so much. It is a good kettlebell workout but it is shoulder heavy. You do so many cleans. I am always conservative when working my shoulders so this relegated me to my 15 pound kettlebell for almost the entire workout to protect my shoulders. Plus, the constant repetition of the same move (and not one of my favorite kettlebell moves) got old fast. In spite of this, it is a solid total body strength workout.
The exercises are done interval style: 45 seconds of work followed by 15 seconds of rest. There is a timer in the upper left hand corner of the screen, counting down your intervals and recoveries. During the recoveries Caroline previews the next exercise. There is also a little bar at the bottom of the screen that counts down the entire workout time as a percentage. Caroline’s intro is very important. She doesn’t just describe the workout but she also discusses proper kettlebell form and even demonstrates the clean. She does not describe the snatch, which is featured in this workout and does need to be done with proper form to prevent injury to your shoulder and/or wrist. Though I frequently give a brief description of an exercise in the break down, a snatch is too complex for a brief description. So before doing this workout, review this page which describes proper form for the snatch if you are unfamiliar.
Kickass Kettlebell Series Day 3: Power Kettlebell Workout / Full Body is 35:40 minutes; 2 minute intro, no warm up and 2:30 minute stretch. I did Caroline’s 5 minute full body warm up before starting this workout. Equipment: kettlebell(s) and a fitness mat. Caroline is using a 12kg/26 pound kettlebell. I used 15, 20 and 30 pound kettlebells but primarily my 15 pound kettlebell.
- Clean (swing KB from between legs to racked at shoulder) (15# KB)
- Repeat #1 on other arm
- Push press (start with KB racked at shoulder and do a single arm overhead press, pushing from the legs) (15# KB)
- Repeat #3 on other arm
- Uneven squat (with KB racked at one shoulder, do squats) (20# KB)
- Repeat #5 with KB racked at other shoulder
- Clean to squat (#1 + #5) (15# KB)
- Repeat #7 on other side of body
- Clean to push press (#1 + #3) (15# KB)
- Repeat #9 on other arm
- Clean to squat to push press (#1 + #5 + #3) (15# KB)
- Repeat #11 on other side of body
- Alternating clean to squat to push press (repeat #11 but alternate arms, changing hands at bottom of clean when swinging KB between legs) (15# KB)
- Clean to squat to rotational press (#1 + #5, and when you do the push press (#3), rotate upper body to one side, pivoting on one foot) (15# KB)
- Repeat #14 on other side of body
- Snatch (see this page for proper form) (15# KB)
- Repeat #16 on other arm
- Alternating snatch (set KB on floor to swap hands) (15# KB)
- Lunge to clean and squat (do #7 then do a front lunge) (15# KB)
- Repeat #19 on other side of body
- Lunge to clean and squat to push press (do #11 then do a reverse lunge) (15# KB)
- Repeat #21 on other side of body
- Bent over single arm row (30# KB)
- Repeat #23 on other arm
- Row to clean to push press (#23 + #9) (15# KB)
- Repeat #25 on other side of body
- Uneven push up to explode up (in straight arm plank with one hand on floor and bell of KB under other hand (KB is on its side), do push ups in this position, at top of push up, raise floor hand and pull it back to shoulder)
- Repeat #27 with KB under other hand
Finisher: Alternating single arm kettlebell swings for 2 minutes (20# KB)
