Turkish Get Up Combo Workout

After a short holiday down south for 5 days I am back with another Turkish Get Up workout in form of a combo set:

Starting out with 5 Snatches (preferably on your weaker side) then switch to 1 TGU while the kettlebell is over your head, get down then up, rack it on your chest and do 5 squats then 5 presses then 5 cleans and finally 5 1 handed swings where after you switch hands (or if you need to rest, do rest) and do the same super set with your other hand. Repeat this cycle 5 times with appropriate rests in between. I took 1-2 minute rests in 2-1-2 fashion.

This workout was taken from the fine site http://trainersteve.tumblr.com/post/9584433175

36-36 20 Sets of Kettlebell Turkish Getups & Windmills!

So on Monday i managed to form some nasty calluses on both of my hands doing the 15-15 50 Set Kettlebell Snatches workout. Still I liked this cardio-strength-endurance combo style and wondered if I could be doing Turkish Getups this way and to take it easier combine them with Windmills.

The 15-15 would be to short (so I thought) as the full TGU takes more time then a Snatch. I decided to do the following:

36 seconds doing 2 TGU’s and 2 Windmills with a 16 kg Kettlebell

36 seconds of rest

20 sets like this.

Turned out I was actually able to do 4 TGU’s and 2 Windmills in each set. So after the first 5-6 sets that’s what I did. I did my share of sweating, I was not fatigue at the end so this was a nice workout, given the fact that the TGU is pretty much a whole body workout.

In the end I did 71 TGUs and 40 Windmills in 26 minutes 🙂

15-15 Kettlebell Snatch Interval Training 50 Sets!

I came across this article while searching for some links to use in my previous post:

Kettlebell Snatching on a Warrior Diet!

I lately tried to use more weight with less repetitions to improve my strength and this article is a bit on the other side of the spectrum. It makes you do Kettlebell Snatches in 15 second work 15 second rest fashion for 25 minutes! Thats 50 sets but hey 15 seconds doesn’t sound like much work right?

Wrong! After a couple of sets the forced rest makes each consecutive set a tiny bit more challenging and depending on your current form you start sweating like a pig half way through.

I paced myself at 6 snatches per set and kept this rhythm throughout the workout. Thats 300 snatches in total, not bad. I could go faster but with the cheap*ss vinyl kettlebell of mine, I would have ripped away everything inside my hands. Even at this pace I managed to get calluses immediately, one even filled with blood then popped open and I had to use my training towel to clean the handle.

I kind of liked this 15-15 HIIT thing and I started to wonder how it would be to use this 15-15 50 sets thing and to Turkish Getups?

I used the Tabata Clock from Hans-Christian Sperker (its Beerware so if you like the tool buy him a beer 🙂 ) and recorded that with Audacity as a MP3 file. Audacity can use several files and mix them together so you can put some music behind the metallic voice of the Tabata Clock but I didn’t have time for that and also, since its a 15-15 interval, that metallic voice was almost always there 🙂

Kettlebell Workouts combined with Warrior Diet

This week I started yet again another serious session of Intermittent Fasting as described in the Warrior Diet.

I discovered and started doing it Mid-January last year and was able to drop from 89kg (196lb) to about 76kg (168lb) in about 4 months prior to really getting into gear with Kettlebells.

I continued with the way of the Warrior feeding 🙂 after I started doing Kettlebell workouts on a regular 3 times a week basis. I gained weight as I was building muscles. After a while I loosened up on the way of the Warrior and along with muscles came back some bodyfat.

On an important side note, I have the Auto-immune disorder Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. I read one article and a couple of comments in forums that Intermittent Fasting actually has a positive effect on Auto-immune disorders. On my annual full body check-up it looked good. All values within the healthy range. And the ever so annoying tiredness in the afternoons gone.

Anyway, this year went less effective regarding my Warrior Diet style eating and although I didn’t put back on much of a belly but I was on the fattening road. Hashimoto’s has one interesting side-effect (at least in my case), changes occur slowly, no matter whether good or bad.

And this year I also decided to completely cut off supplements as well and did go that way. But now that I will do a low carb calorie deficit diet and shed some stubborn fat, I went out to get myself some liquid L-Carnitine for before the workouts, some Whey protein for right after the workouts and some vitamins for those days where I can not eat sufficiently.

With the decreased calorie intake the 16kg Kettlebell wasn’t that easy anymore but I still intend to move up to 24kg and 32kg soon. Less reps with more benefits.

Here is this weeks workouts I did on Monday, Wednesday and Friday:

Monday: 50 Snatches (25L 25R) 50 Plank to Pushup 75 2 Handed Kettlebell Swings 25 Burpees 5-10-5-10-5-10-5 (TGU & Windmills alternating hands, see former workouts) 50 Mountain Climbers

Wednesday: 50 Snatches (25L 25R) 25 Pushups 100 Two Handed Kettlebell Swings 25 Burpees 5-10-5-10-5-10-5 (TGU & Windmills) 50 Mountain Climbers

Friday: 50 Squats 50 Jumping Jacks 50 Snatches 25 Pushups 100 Kettlebell Swings (25L 25R 50 Two Handed) 6 TGUs with 24Kg dumbbell (3L 3R) <— sufficient to kill me off

Trying out 32 kg and 24 kg Dumbbells *Ouch*

First off, I definitely need to move up from the 16 kg Kettlebell, today’s experiment made this very clear to me.

I have done,

75 reps (25-15-10-10-15) two handed swings with an asymmetric 32+ kg dumbbell (3 x 10 kg plates on one side and one 2.5 kg plate acting as an excuse for a handle on the other end 🙂 )

10 reps (1L-1R-1L-1R-1L-1R-1L-1R-1L-1R) of Turkish Get-Ups with a 24 kg dumbbell

I was once again, after many months, forced to concentrate on my form and technique, way less reps from what I did with the 16 kg KB but more challenging which is what it is all about really.

Now I need to find Kettlebells of the right size as both exercises were very painful for my hands and wrists since you need a proper handle for the swing and be able to lean the weight towards your forearm in order to keep your hand inline with your arm (the dumbbell forced me to carry it with my palm facing upwards putting excessive stress on my wrists).

You may wonder “Why the fuss about finding the right size Kettlebells?”, well I live in Istanbul, Kettlebells are not very popular here despite the historical background of old time Turkish strong men using them and the very fact an exercise has its name originating from hereabouts (Turkish Get-Up). So finding a decent one is not an easy task (few places sell the vinyl variations which are basically junk. I should know as my 16 kg KB is a Vinyl one from York Fitness.

I started with a 16 kg Kettlebell one year ago still use it and …

Well I finally realized that despite my intention to stay with it and increase the difficulty of the moves that I have reached a plato in my progress.

Ballistic moves, most notably the swing, are not effective anymore and what is even more important, since I am not challenged by the weight, my technique has suffered severely. I have lost my form.

After doing 150 2H swings, 150 mountain climbers and 20 clean presses (10 on each side), I decided to tried the Turkish Get Up with 24 kg dumbbells and 2H swings with both 24 kg and 32 kg. Tough job, especially the TGU.

Hence I decided to get myself both the 24 kg and the 32 kg, for strength moves and ballistic moves in that order 🙂