Whatcha swingin’ there son?
The kettlebell…have you used one? If not, you’re missing out on something great! Up until a month ago, I had never touched a single kettlebell. Now, I don’t think I’ll ever do another workout without one…and I think the other donkeys agree. Ever since I’ve been interested in fitness, I’ve been a traditional weight lifter. I’d do squats, deadlifts, bench, military, pullups, etc. You know, the basics. Now, my workouts include things like the Swing, the TGU (Turkish Get Up) and the Windmill. There are also a few that sound familiar, like the Snatch and the Clean. But, they’re done very differently than I’ve even done them before.
In this article, I’m not going to cover all of the lifts I do, but I am going to cover my favorite. Its called the Turkish Get Up, but the rest of the donkeys and I jokingly refer to this exercise as “The Man Maker.” After your set, they’ll leave you on the floor for a second to recompose yourself…and regain control of your limbs. For more info on the TGU check out this page at My Mad Methods. While you’re there, spend a little time looking around the rest of the site. The kettlebell bug just might bite you as well.
Wanna be like Walter Payton?
Two days ago I posted about doing HIIT on a hill. What I didn’t realize was that a few weeks ago one of my favorite fitness bloggers, Jason Ferruggia, posted a really good article on that exact subject. If you don’t listen to me, listen to this guy. He knows his stuff! Check it out here. My favorite excerpt from the article was this:
Why hill sprints? Well, firstly, because Walter Payton did them. And most of us should strongly consider doing whatever Walter Payton did just because he was that awesome.
With a statement like that, who am I to argue?
HIIT and Cucumber Water
HIIT and cucumber water. What do they have in common? Actually…nothing. But this post contains both of those things.
Today Ryan and I got to the gym, and realized that they had closed early. EFFING FIDDLE STICKS!!! We could have just went home and took the evening off, but we decided to hit the park for some HIIT. (Do you see what I did there?) If you’ve never heard of it, its High Intensity Interval Training. We parked, found a nice hill, and went to work. We picked two trees about 200 feet apart. One at the bottom of the hill, and one at the top. One of us would run balls out to the top, and then walk back down. As soon as the runner got to the starting point, the other guy would take off up the hill. We only did this 5 times. Yeah…5 times. That may seem like weak sauce, but I assure you it wasn’t. We didn’t meander up this hill…remember I said BALLS OUT!!! Now, its been a while since I’ve done HIIT, but it didn’t take me long to remember how HORRIBLE these things are. By horrible, I mean crazy awesome…there will be no mistake you got a workout.The entire workout took about 20 minutes. That includes a little warm-up and a cool-down. The beauty of HIIT is that you can do it with any activity. You can swim intervals, work the heavy bag, ride a bike…anything you want. The key is, on the active part of the intervals, you need to go all out.
Now, about the cucumber water…ever had it? If you’re serious about losing fat, you NEED to have lots of water. Notice I said losing fat…not losing weight. The REAL goal when trying to get fit is to lose fat, but keep any and all muscle or lean body mass that you have. But back to the water…you should be sipping it all day long. Keep a cup on your desk, or a water bottle handy at all times. Now, I’m aware that some people just really don’t like the taste of water. Maybe its the fact that it actually has very little taste. That’s where the cucumber comes in. Pour yourself a nice big glass of water, then toss in a slice of cucumber. Its a very clean, refreshing flavor. Not so strong that its overwhelming, just enough to make it easier to chug down. I also enjoy some lemon…but thats nothing new. Most everyone has had a slice of lemon in their water. So, give it a shot. I think you’ll like it!
The Current Workout
Well, we’ve all three covered food…lets see what we’re actually doing when we go to the gym. Here’s the very basic program we’re doing to kick things off.
Lunges
These are man makers. Think they’re for ladies holding pink dumbbells? Go do some…you’ll see.
Pushups
Very basic…I wanted everyone to be able to handle their own body weight before we jumped under a loaded barbell. Good base builder!
High Rows
All 3 of us are desk jockeys. Sitting a chair all day does NOTHING for your posture. Time to hit those upper back muscles a bit.
Straight Leg Deadlifts
I love this lift. It’ll break you down. Gotta watch that back though. Keep it neutral through the entire movement.
Military Press
This lifts hits your shoulders, but also works on your core. Something has to keep your body from folding in half…tighten up your abs and hoist the weight up there.
Pullups
Pullups are BRUTAL. Nobody can say they’re not. We’ve been working on doing negatives (stand on a bench, grab the pullup bar, and lower yourself as slowly as possible from the top of the motion) and inverted rows. If you’ve never heard of an inverted rows…click here.
So, thats it. Pretty basic program to get things started. Nothing too complicated, and still plenty to work up a real good sweat! For good advice on exercise selection, check out this article on Jason Ferruggia’s blog. While you’re there….linger and do a little reading. Good stuff!
