Turbulence Training 3-for-1 Sale

If you're a Turbulence Training fan but not currently a member it might interest you to know that Craig Ballantyne is offering a sale on his Turbulence Training workouts for January 2010. Yep, that's "workouts," not "workout." For $19.95 you get access to two fairly advanced programs as well as one, Total Torso Training (or something like that), that's suitable for newbies who need to build a base of core stability and cardiovascular fitness before moving on to more advanced workouts. You also get 30 days' access to the member forums, which are great if you have questions about the workouts, or just want some social support. The only catch is that you do need to cancel within the 30 days or your membership will automatically renew at a cost of $19.95 a month. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing if you use the member forums, but if you don't you probably won't want to incur the extra charge.

I haven't read over the programs in any great detail, but they look like the usual good stuff from Craig. I am a big fan of his, not so much because his programs are the most innovative or effective in an absolute sense, but because they are easy to stick with. The exercises tend to be pretty straightforward old-school stuff that doesn't call for a lot of fancy equipment; in fact, if you've got a few sets of dumbbells and a stability ball at home you don't even need a gym membership. If by some chance you don't already know how to do the exercises, detailed instructions with photos are provided, along with video demonstrations you can download at the Turbulence Training website.

So far my only caveat is that if you decide to do the Turbulence Traning 2K10 Workout you probably should have some prior experience with kettlebells OR plan to modify. That's because Workout A of the program finishes up with 10 minutes of kettlebell swings, 40 seconds on and 20 seconds off. That kind of density is not appropriate for someone who's new to kettlebells. My recommendation for beginners would be to do 20 swings followed by one minute of active recovery, for 12 minutes, as per Enter The Kettlebell. Then when that starts to seem easy, either add reps or shorten your active rests. And be sure you've got good form! If anything other than your butt (and maybe your lats) feels tender after a swing workout, you're probably doing something wrong and should check in with a certified kettlebell instructor for some pointers. (Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm like a broken record. But you know I'm right.)

Update: But wait! There's MORE!!! (Am I having a RonCo moment or what?) If you order the 3 for 1 package you'll also get access to the Turbulence Training monthly workout for February, which just became available today. It looks to be an interesting one, with a new interval protocol involving 8 second sprints. Yep, you read that correctly.

There are some other bonuses as well, but if you've ever been a Turbulence Training customer in the past you've probably already downloaded them.

No steak knives, though, and no World's Smallest Juicer. Bummer.