Tag Archives: Men’s Health

Spartacus Workout 2.0 Take 2

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OK so I did the workout the way I described in the last post for 3 days but it turned out that my modifications where not neat enough resulting in knee pain. Especially the first move, I completely replaced it with a two handed KB swing.

I also changed the intervals from 40-20 to 60-15 and did one run per exercise set, rounding down the time to 27 minutes but with the weight of the Kettlebell and the increased time of exercise and decreased time of rest, the end effect was comparable to the original 46 minutes long one.

Spartacus Workout 2.0

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It’s been a while since I last posted here but despite being busy with lifes other challenges I did continue to do my workouts.

And I tried new things as well, here is the first: Spartacus Workout 2.0!

Doesn’t sound too new eh? Well actually it is. Especially when you try doing it with one Kettlebell. When take a look at the original workout in following this link: http://my.menshealth.com/workout/The-Spartacus-Workout-2.0 , you will see that some of the dumbbell exercises there may pose a challenge if not injury if you try them as is with your current Kettlebell (if you have access to a lighter KB its less of a hassle really).

Originally you do 40 second exercise 20 second rest cycles for the first set of 5 twice, rest 2 minutes and then do the same set of 5 exercises again with 40-20 intervals. Rest another 2 minutes and the second set of 5 exercises the same way. At the end you will have done each exercise 4 times and the whole thing will take something like 46 minutes without warmup and streching.

And the dumbbells weigh less then the 16kg Kettlebell that I have, so the first time I tried this I was wasted before the last 10 minutes set. Here are my moves:

1. Kettlebell Hang Pull: Fully improvised KB adaptation of the DB original. Two hands holding the KB between the legs, pulling up to the chest will going slightly backwards and on your toes. This one got modified in later tries.

2. Offset Kettlebell Reverse Lunge: Pretty much the same works, but without trying to offset too much to prevent injury.

3. Single Arm Kettlebell Swing

4. Kettlebell Thrusters: I modified this to a Kettlebell Jerk one side per set and then the other.

5. Single-Leg Single-Arm Underhand Grip Kettlebell Row: Pretty much the same but beware as the Kettlebell is much heavier.

Second Round of Exercises:

1. Kettlebell Wood Chop: Now if you do this with your regular Kettlebell without prior training it, as I did, you may experience some pain in your joints, particularly your knees. For proper form you can watch this video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGS7G6MOkjM

2. Plank Walkup to Pushup

3. Rotational Kettlebell Straight-Leg Deadlift: Your regular Kettlebell may pose a real challenge with this move as well, touch something level with your spare hand to assist. Your knees will thank you 🙂

4. Squat Thrusts (Burpess)

5. Jump Squat

Spartacus Workout Take 2

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So today I did the Spartacus Workout one more time.

This time I did it in 40-20 Workout-Rest intervals and completed full 3 sets with 2 minutes rests between sets. Total time 34 minutes and I was done, fully soaked with sweat! Definitely going to keep this in my workout rotation list. 🙂

Mens Health Spartacus Workout

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It’s time to re-visit a workout from a source that usually isn’t: Mens Health Magazine 🙂

But this workout inspired by the Starz television series Spartacus is a real piece of work.

It’s a 60-15 High Intensity Interval Workout with exercises that work almost every muscle in your body. Click here for the page on Mens Health website and here to download the poster PDF which you can print having all exercises in one page. You can also download a MP3 from the WorkoutMuse website for free. This way you don’t have to keep track of your time yourself. Its rather generic so you can re-arrange or change the exercises to create different 60-15 10 exercise workouts on your own.

Since I only have a 16kg Kettlebell and no interest in buying dumbbells I slightly modified the workout to my needs and condition:

Station 1 Kettlebell Goblet Squat (Hold Kettlebell at chest level)
Station 2 Mountain Climber
Station 3 Single-arm Kettlebell Swing (The real deal :) )
Station 4 T-pushup (16kg too heavy for me, did it weightless)
Station 5 Split Jump
Station 6 Kettlebell row (30 seconds on each side)
Station 7 Kettlebell side lunge and touch
          (KB in opposite hand and switching at touch point)
Station 8 Pushup-position row
          (Uneven pushup position with single KB rotating to alternate)
Station 9 Kettlebell lunge and rotation
Station 10 Kettlebell push press (Single KB 30 seconds on each side)

Did this in 60-30 exercise-rest intervals for two sets. With a 16kg Kettlebell this was intense enough for me 😀