I'd to thanks everyone for all the help and encouragement you've given me over the last year and byeond. We are growing so much we are taking down the interior walls this weekend! That will give us more than double the space to play in and we may run concurrent classes in the evenings. We'll also be able to utilize the Prowler and some other equipment we usually use outside. 

 Here's the Turkey Day Workout. Its a 20/10 interval so go light and fast.

High Pull or snatch R

High pull or snatch L

Thruster R

Thruster L

Dead Clean R

Dead Clean L

Quad press or quad hop

Alternating chest touch (from a high plank, bring one hand to the chest and set it down then the other hand. Move fast, keep the hips locked, minimal hip movement)

1 leg squat or rear foot eleveated (RFEE) split squat R

1 leg squat or RFEE split squat L PLace one foot behind you on a box or bench aboyut 18 - 20" high. Top of the foot not the ball. Step out with the other leg and sink the hips. The front shin is vertical at the bottom, the knee almost touches the floor on the back.

You can do it with just body weight prisoner style, hands behind the head.

Super plank with a pushup

2 handed sumo deadlift

 rest 1 minute

Do 4 or 5 times.

 Go eat!

 Thanks

Here are some more boot camp workouts for you to try.

Warmups 30 seconds ea no rest in between

• Squat
• Side to side, emphasize it’s a stretch not a lunge
• Pushups (regular or on knees)
• 1 leg squat with leg lifted behind (some might do it leg forward) 30s each leg
• Sit-ups
• Side situps 30s ea side

Rest 2

Here’s the workout.
40/20 x 3 Rounds of

• 2 handed high pull
• Suit case deadlift with 2 bells
• Chest taps (high plank hands on floor and touch hand to chest return to high plank & do other side)
• Goblet squat

Rest 1

After finishing the above for 3 rounds rest 2 minutes
Descending Ladder 5/4/3/2/1 of the following

1a) Floor press
1b) Row r/l

So 5 floor presses each arm them 5 rows each arm, 4 ,3,2,1. Go heavier as the reps get lower.

No rest go from one arm to the other or from floor press to rows and back.

---------------------------------

Warmups 30sec ea no rest in between

• Jumping Jacks
• Prisoner squat
• super plank
• standing elbow to opposite knee crunches
• side to side stretch/lunge
• 1 leg squat R
• 1 leg squat L

Rest 1 minute and repeat 1 more time

The Main workout:

5 rounds of 30/30

• Double kb deadlift 
• Double bent row
• Band overhead press (if you don't have a band use 2 kettlebells or dumbbells
• pushups
• prisoner squat

Rest 1 minute

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This is one Paul put together while he was covering  classes for me while I was out of town. These are for the Advanced Classes

• Clean 1m
• Clean and press 1m
• Renegade Rows 1m

rest 2

• Burpees 1m
• plank 1m
• jumping jacks 1m

rest 2

• racked front squat 1m
• lunge 30s l/r
• deadlift 1m

rest 2 m

--------------------------------

2 times through of:

• Burpee 1m
• plank 30sec low, 30 sec high
• jumping jacks 1 min

rest 2

• alt swings 1m
• russian twist 30s pullover crunch 30s
• clean & jerk 30s l/r

rest 2

• pushup 30sec, super plank 30s
• snatch 30s l/r
• sumo sq 1 min

rest 2

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3 times through of :

• 2 h swings 30s
•  alt swings 30s
• dead clean 30s r/l

rest 1:30

• sling shot 30s l/r
• plank 1min
• gob squat 1m

rest 1:30

• snatch 30s r/l
• pullover crunch 30s
• russian twist 30s
• clean and press 30s l/r

rest 1:30
-------------------------------------

3 times through of:

• thrusters 1m
• renegade rows 1m
• triple crush 1m

rest 1

• high plank 30s
• side plank 30s l/r
• plank 30s

rest 1

• snatch 30s l/r
• alt swings 1m
• suitcase dl 1m

rest 1
Finish with 2m swings

Sorry about not having video, I upgraded my laptop to Windows 7 and my editing software won't run .

You'll need a pair of kettlebells, moderate for you. You will also need a much heavier bell and a long rope or chain and a way to attach the rope (tie it) or chain (big d-ring) to the kb handle.

Part I

This is a kb complex

With the 2 bells on the floor, handles up, put your hands on the handles with firm rooting into the floor. Jump the feet back so you are in a pushup position. Do a pushup. From the high plank position lift one bell off the floor and pull it to your hip. Set it down and repeat on the other side. The rows done this ways are called Renegade Rows.

After the rows rotate the kbs so the handles are parallel to your feet. Jump up so you are straddling the bells and do a double dead clean. From rack position squat, then stand up explosively and drive the bells straight overhead. The squat to overhead is a thruster. You should be squatting deep, hips below knees.

Bring the bells back to rack then set them on the floor and repeat for 10 total reps.

Part 2

Sit on the floor and pull the bell to you using a hand over hand pull on the rope. Sit up tall, brace the abs and rotate through the waist in addition to pulling with the arms. The entire core gets worked.

Once the bell is between your legs get into a low crouch position with your hands on the bell near, but not on, the handles and drive from the legs. Push the bell down the floor keeping the hips low to the ground.You'll feel this in your quads.

Repeat the pull/push 5 times. If it isn't hard enough, tie in a 2nd bell. Doing it with 2 bells on the rope is way fun!

Do the entire workout 3 times as quickly as you can with good form.

Most of the guys used 16k on the KB complex and 40k on the pull/push.

Enjoy! 

"What weight should I use??" It's a question I get almost every workout and the answer is "It depends".

So to help clarify things let's look at choosing the right kettlebell weight, not only for a given exercise but in context of the overall workout.

Some workout are strength focused. The majority of the lifts are being performed using sets and reps, typically 5 sets of 5 (5x5), 5x3 and similar schemes.In a strength focused workout I will typically have my clients do the first set with a moderate weight which lets the body get used to the movements and helps warm them up. The second set I have them go up one size bell and on each successive set they go up as well until they've hit their max for a specific lift. From there they can either stay at the max weight or drop back down if they are getting too fatigued to handle the weight.

By progressively increasing the weight you are preparing your body to go heavy and you may set some new PRs (personal records) this way, just make sure you aren't sacrificing form.

Other workouts are more "cardio" focused. You can generally tell because the exercises are done for a period of time rather than for reps. These "interval" workouts are meant to be strength-endurance and as such require you to use a lighter weight so you can do the most work in the allotted time as well as maintaining good form. The intervals can be anything from a Tabata (20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest), to 2 minutes of work and 1 minute of rest or any other interval. The goal with these is building work capacity which will help the fat burning process.

A problem arises when the client either doesn't understand or doesn't realize the workout is a strength-endurance session or lets their ego get in the way. "Hey I lifted 32k in the snatch workout the other day (which was a strength day) so I'm going to use it in this workout too! It's just more snatches". The problem with this is the body doesn't have the work capacity to do more than a few good reps at that weight and in order to work for the time required by the exercise you'll wind up cheating and using poor form which can lead to injuries quickly.

Also if you are not feeling as strong one day it's a good idea to stay on the light side, that way you'll reduce the risk of injury.

So the rule of thumb is use a smaller kettlebell when doing high intensity interval work and go heavy on strength days.

Better safe than sorry! Check your ego at the door. Train Smarter not Harder are all good cliche's keep them in mind the next time you train 

Here's one I designed today and inflicted it on the class. It needs a name

1) Snatch+Windmill+TGU switch at top 3 mins -take your time & stay focused!

2) Swings 2h, 1h, 1h h2h 2min

3)½ kneeling press 5/4/3/2/1 2 min - 1 knee up one down press with arm on the same side as down knee. Go light work the abs. The feet and knees should be as close to inline as possible. The back foot should have the ball of the foot down not the top.

4)Standing row-->hang clean-->press 5/4/3/2/1 2min

5)Pushups 30sec

6) Squats racked 30s, sumo - 30s, racked 30s, sumo 30s - 2m total

7) Snatch 3mins - try for 1:30 ea arm

8) Pushups 30s

9)1 leg dl 5/4/3/2/1 2min same side, to make it harder stand on one leg and use the opposite arm

10) Slingshot/fig 8 w hold 30sec ea 2min

11 )Swing/flip/squat 2min

Its 31 mins as written. The swing/flip/squat is a fun little finisher.

If it isnt difficult enough change the pushups to squat thrusts or full burpees. YOu could also make a bous round of 4 mins of jerks 2 mins per side.

5/4/3/2/1 is a descending ladder. Do 5 reps on one side, then 5 on the other. 4 on the 1st side, 4 on the other etc until you've done 1 on each side. If you complete the ladder before time is up start over. How much time is left determines where to start. 1 min left start at 5, 45 sec left starrt at 4, 30 secs left start at 3. If you get through it twice or close to twice you didnt go heavy enough.

Enjoy & post comments and suggestions for a name

Dave

One of my clients, Jim McGraw, many of you know him, is running in the Chicago Marathon  on 10/11/09 and he is raising money for the Autism Foundation as part of that race.

Please help Jim reach his goal of $3000 by contributing now. Here's the website

Please help Jim meet his goal and help fund the cure for Autism!

Pics from the 50/50 Challenge

Times/Rankings

Clubbell Basics

Safety First!!!! Coach Sonnon and we as well emphasize safety first and always. Flying Clubbells® will wreak havoc on pets, children, houses etc. Use the safety straps and make sure you have adequate clearance in ALL directions: front, back, both sides and overhead. Make sure the pets and the kids aren’t around and that there are no obstacles nearby. An area of 6 feet in each direction including 6 feet above your head should be adequate unless you are very tall.

Approach the Clubbells® and if they are lying down stand them up one at a time. Your body position should be such that your butt is back, you are folded at the hips, your head is up and chest is out. This is very close to the KB swing stance but the knees aren’t bent as much as with kettlebells.

To grip the Clubbell®, slip the hand through the safety strap, grasp the handle with the web of the hand pointing down and wrap each finger around the handle, pinky first. The thumb goes over the fingers. When using the CB your grip tension will vary from being tight to loose to tight. If you try to crush the handle throughout an exercise you will wind up with tendonitis from overuse.

To get a feel for the weight and your grip strength always start by performing three forearm swings, as they are called in the book. The forearm is a short movement involving the legs in an up and down rhythm which allows the Clubbells® to move forward and backward. The movement comes not from the arms so much as from the body movement. The forearm swing is done prior to almost every Clubbells® exercise. To perform it, stand up enough so that the Clubbells® will just clear the floor. The arms are straight, elbows locked and shoulders down. When the Clubbells® move forward the forearms rotate inward, when the Clubbells® move backward the forearms turn outward.