First Workout of 2009

Here's what I did yesterday:



round 1: cossack stretch/squat thrust to snatch.
round 2: squat to press.
round 3: 2 handed swing/ hot potato.
round 4: punch matrix/plank.
round 5: side snatch/overhead lunge.
round 6: squat to kick/sots press/ standing side crunch
round 7: hand to hand clean/ dragon lunge.
round 8: kettlebell traveling push-up/ dive bomber pushup.
extra round: snatch to turkish getup to windmill.
bonus round: 5 minute snatch test.



The routine is from AOS Newport. Most of the rounds are 3 or 4 minutes long--you do the first exercise for 30 seconds, then the second exercise for 30 seconds, then you go back to the first (or if it's a unilateral exercise you switch sides), and so forth. Rests between rounds are only a minute long, so it's a very cardiovascular routine. I used my 8 kg bell, which is what is recommended for women, and truly I could not have gone heavier. In fact, even with the lighter bell I was struggling on the sots press, which if you're not familiar with it is a horrible variation on the squat press. You start with the kettlebell in rack position, go into a rock bottom squat, press the weight overhead, then straighten the legs while keeping the weight overhead.



On a more positive note, I made it through the 5 minute snatch test just fine. I broke it up by doing it countdown style, starting with 8 snatches on the right, then 8 left, then working my way down to 1 on each side, at which point I began working my way up the ladder again. I got in about 80 snatches total, which isn't bad although it would be more impressive if I'd been using my 12 kg bell.



By this time next year I aspire to be able to perform 200 snatches in 10 minutes, with my 12 kg bell. This is what Pavel Tsatsouline recommends as a goal for women in his book, Enter The Kettlebell! Which, by the way, I highly, highly recommend to anyone who is seriously interested in kettlebells, though if you're more of a casual user I wouldn't bother with it because it's probably way more information than you really want. I mean, if you're someone who thinks that working on her snatch means doing Kegels or maybe getting a Brazilian--which, don't get me wrong, is an entirely valid interpretation--you're better off spending your money on something that you're more likely to actually use.

TendSkin, maybe.