Have KB, will travel... and WOD!

Kettlebells are useful little devices - compact and extremely portable, they offer a wide range of challenging movements if you have the knowledge and creativity to put them into use.  On a road trip to Utah in the summer of 2010, a 55lb KB was the only piece of equipment I brought and it was an excellent choice... nothing like crushing kb snatches and goblet squats in the desert in July!

Ideally it would be great to have a selection of weights along for the ride but I find the good old 1 pood fits most needs really well - it's a good weight for swings, presses, snatches, c+j, goblets, and TGU's.  If you're a bit stronger, a 1.5 (73lb) kb might be a better option.

Either way, pick one up, learn yourself some KB skills and pop it into your car.  That way, whenever the mood strikes you, there's a gym just waiting to happen.  This is a great option during the summer months as well when it's so nice to get outside to crush a workout.

Last night I did just that.  There's a small school with a big playground and field a short drive away from my house, and I needed to do some conditioning work.  The obvious choice with a kb, a pullup bar, and field was "Helen" (3 rounds of 400m run, 21 swings, 12 pullups).  I wanted a bit longer wod so I bumped the rounds up to 4.  The pullup bar was a good challenge since my feet tended to scrape the ground a bit when I did my kip, and I'm not sure about the run distance but it "felt" about right!

In the end, it was a great evening to be outside and crushing a workout... all thanks to my kb buddy.

Give yourself a break from the usual gym-ness during the summer when you can - you'll find it's a great way to enjoy your fitness experience and it will add some necessary variety.

Cam

Christmas Break Taters

So many of us are away from the gym over the holidays and sometimes it's tough to find suitable challenges with minimal equipment.  Fair enough, we could all just continually crush pushups, burpees, sprints, and double unders, and to be truthful those are great options. 

Every once in a while though it's nice to mix things up and if you've got access to a kettlebell then this is a neat little challenge for you.  It's called a "Tater" and it's basically a Russian KB swing (which is to shoulder height) into a goblet squat.  The trick is though that as you finish the swing, you've got to flip the kettlebell so that the handle is down.  Depending on your dexterity, this may take a bit of practice but gets a lot easier and smoother with a few reps in the bag.

A good little burner is to do a ladder of Taters on the minute (see video below of Eastern Canada competitor Jay Rhodes working through some of the later rounds).  Basically, start with one Tater the first minute, 2 the second minute, 3 the third minute and so on.   Rest the remainder of the minute once you've done the prescribed reps. 

You can break up the reps too.  Choose a challenging weight and make sure you're not doing these over a nice floor!

Enjoy,

Cam