Today’s workout is one of those quick workouts, now I know not everyone has access to thick ropes, I’ll give you substitutions below.

In this three exercise circuit I do:

-5 Box Jumps
-5/5 Kettlebell Snatches
-30 seconds of Power Ropes

I’ll repeat this circuit for the total amount of time I have, in today’s case about 20 minutes. Despite using heavier weights and a higher box, never sacrifice your form. Even on the power ropes, drop down to less time if your form is starting to suffer.

Q & A

Q: What if you don’t have access to kettlebells?
A: Use dumbbells.

Q: What if you don’t have any plyoboxes?
A: Do jump Squats instead.

Q: What if you don’t have power ropes?
A: Do a quick-paced farmer’s walk with either kettlebells or dumbbells.

Strength training doesn’t have to be this way. In fact unless, we’re talking about elite competition lifters, and good strength workout can have a nice cardiovascular component to it, but not one that leaves you feeling you just sprinted a half marathon.

In the video below I highlight 2 kettlebell exercises and 1 barbell exercise that I believe to be great strength exercises. When you combine all three of them together you have both a full body workout, and a highly effective strength workout.

Check it out…

This is quite possibly one of my favorite workout styles. Recently I dropped a few pounds and in the process I was worried about losing all of my strength. (Ok, so maybe not all of it.) I wanted to make sure I didn’t see a significant decrease in my strength though.

I decided to start incorporating strength workouts like this, that utilize specific strength exercises, but are not intentionally meant to be met con based. I’ve found them to be wonders for keeping my strength up while my weight stays lower.

The video below is a challenging workout that combines the kettlebell two hands anyhow, kettlebell racked bulgarian split squats, and TRX pikes.

All three of these exercises are challenging, so there is no need to complete the workout quickly, focus on your form, and work with weights that are appropriate for you.

3/3 Kettlebell Two Hands Anyhow (Windmill Variation)
6/6 Kettlebell Racked Bulgarian Split Squat
6 TRX Pikes

Below is a short video that briefly shows three different barbell exercises, in a more untraditional way than most people are used to. I’m using the landmine with the barbell.  If you don’t have access to a landmine it is very easy to use just the barbell in the corner, which I’ll show you tomorrow.

Try completing 10-12 reps of each exercise on both sides for several rounds based on your fitness ability.

I’d love to hear yours…

I’ll share mine with you as well.

As a kid, we played outside. Never were we allowed to sit a watch TV for hours on end. We also had chores that needed to be done. From about 11 to 17 I played sports. My favorite sport was swimming, I would swim lap after lap after lap until I had to get out of the pool. I was awesome at the backstroke, then one meet didn’t go so well, I counted the flags wrong I crashed head first into the wall, practically knocked myself out in the water, and well mentally couldn’t get over it, and never swam quite so well again.

I also played soccer, but we didn’t always have a girls team, a group of us got to play on the boys team for a year, but in terms of degrading us, they made a special period for us (that didn’t really count toward the game) That didn’t go over too well, and didn’t last more than a season. We finally got a girls team my senior year, we weren’t great but we were good enough for a first year team. That was a memorable experience, a charter member. After college I was a bartender for a bit, it was always strange mixing up a drink for my high school soccer coach.

Lastly, I was on the track and field team all through high school. I threw discus and ran 110 hurdles, that’s a combination of two events for sure. I wasn’t awesome but I was good enough.

When I got to college, swimming was always on my mind, but I never went after it, looking back I probably should have. Instead, I got a little lazy, and the most exercise I ever did was the 3 whole classes I had to take to fulfill my PE requirements. Reassuring I know, coming from someone who wants every woman to feel confident and empowered by their fitness capabilities.

After college, I battled with myself for about a year over some minor eating disorders, and my new addiction to running (perhaps this is why I dislike it so much now.) At my 5’10″ frame I was a whopping 155, anorexic and almost frail. I encountered some other problems along the way, but slowly and thankfully shifted out of that mindset and into a much healthier lifestyle. There were a lot of ups and downs to overcome and conquer, but once I realized the importance I knew I had to stick with it, that and I wanted to.

Enter real strength training for the first time in my life. (Because all the strength training I did in high school was bogus at best, with no program to follow and no goals in mind, I wasn’t educated at the time.)

I love this stuff, I would give up strength training for anything at this point in my life. When I finally started training the right way, I saw amazing transformations. I was strong, I was lean, I was realizing what it was really like to be fit as an adult. It wasn’t about crazy fad diets and long cardio.

Combination full body movements, paired with other combination full body movements, for effective and quick workouts that not only make me stronger and leaner, but also allow me to skip traditional cardio workouts. Have I mentioned that I love this stuff! (You will too if you don’t already, I promise.)

I didn’t get in to every detail but I will as time moves along, you’ll hear about all of my mistakes, what my workouts are like now, they crazy fad diets I’ve tried, the success of well balanced nutrition, the confidence that strength training brings to you, and so much more.

Tell me what your fitness story has been like.

What do you struggle with?

What has been the key to your current success?

Where do you want to improve?

Together, we’ll get there and stay there.

This is the bonus workout on my new DVD.

Not really, just a funny bloopers my videographer, Paul put together!

In all seriousness I’m wrapping things up with the cover design for the DVD and it will be available shortly for purchase. It’s a great intro DVD covering the basic how-tos of Kettlebell training. I’ll get all the specifics to you very soon!

I was in Louisville all last week. I made a few posts to the site here, but something happened to them along the way, maybe they got lost in West Virginia. Anyway, just wanted to give you a heads up on some changes that are coming.

While I was in Louisville I got to hang out with my good friend Zach Even-Esh, now Zach really is a good friend, he’s not one of those guys I call a good friend just to stand out, he really truly is. Zach and I got to talking about business and before I know it I’m standing in front of my flip on top of a parking garage throwing around kettlebells. Pretty standard for Zach.

We filmed a bunch of videos, I’ll start posting them here every few days. You’re gonna love what we put together.

In Louisville, I also spent a lot of time with Holly Rigsby, we filmed my second DVD and did a few posts for her FYMs and also for Workout Muse. Good stuff!

My main purpose for being in Louisville though was business. I had a two day mastermind meeting, then a two day seminar on bootcamps, and we ended with a one day Kettlebell Athletics certification.

Crazy busy!

As a result of all that, I’m making some changes to the blog, soon it’ll have a whole new look, I’m sure you’ll love it.

Lots of training about to come your way.

I hope you leave some comments, and tell me what you want to see. Let me know what I can help you with.

I was in my kitchen making a cup of coffee. She asked for some information that I had to look up. I asked her to hold on as I quickly walked up the two flights of stairs to my attic office. She said no problem.

Of course after I gave her the info, she then asked me for more info, this time I had to ask her to hold on as I quickly walked down the same two flights to get back to the piece of paper I left in the kitchen. That’s when I couldn’t believe what she said to me.

“Well at least you’re getting your exercise today.”

Is that really exercise? No

Does she really think that was good exercise? Sadly, probably.

I walk up and down from my attic office to the kitchen more times than I can count in a day. In between all that I also do an actual real workout, one where I sweat and lift weights.

Have we, as a collective whole, really become so sedentary and inactive, that walking up and down two flights of stairs has been classified as exercise?

I almost forgot to mention that my house is set up off the road, so I also have to walk up and down about 15 steps every time I want to leave my house or come home.

Crazy exercise I get with all those stairs!

It doesn’t really matter if we’re talking about healthcare, youth obesity, or if it was you or your sibling that broke your mother’s favorite vase.

Blame isn’t an attraction factor, and is often always someone else’s fault.

It’s easier to point blame at someone else rather than admit you’ve made a mistake yourself.

But here’s the part we all ought to remember, no one is perfect. I don’t care if you think you are, we all have a fault or two, or twenty. We’re all bound to make a mistake, or two, or twenty. When it comes down to it, the only time your mistakes are really bad is when you haven’t learned from one and it happens again.

So where’s the blame lay in the health and fitness world? It’s all over the place. infomercials are telling us to buy the new latest and greatest gadget that will change our lives forever, doctors are telling us to do more cardio, mypyramid.gov tells those with an athletic build that they are overweight and possibly obese, and well everyone has a conflicting view point so it’s easy to blame everyone else since there are so many options that you don’t know what to do.

I’m sure you’ve also either used the excuse or at least heard, there just isn’t enough time, working out costs too much, I’ll get back at it next week. Really the only excuse that I’m willing to accept is that you don’t know what you’re doing. There’s too many conflicting view points.

On that topic I will say this, even if you don’t know what to do, find someone good who can tell you and show you, but then stick to it, stick to the plan, follow the workout, make good food choices. Some programs are far more effective than others, but the key to most of them is being consistent and compliant. It’s really that simple.

There’s no blame to be seen if you really give it you’re all. You’ll see the results for yourself.

There comes a time in all training programs where you might start to doubt what you’re doing, whether you’ll actually reach you’re end goal, or if all the sacrifice is really worth it.

Are you kidding me? So my new friend and awesome Coach, Dos, grouped me into a group of Hot Fit Chicks Today. When you say it outloud, it sounds funny. When you think about it, we’re lifting heavy shit, we’re really fit, we’re still feminine, and it’s awesome!

If that isn’t motivation to keep at it, make point, and help to change the mentality of women’s strength training, well then I don’t know what it is.

I do know, that I spoke in great detail with Rachel Cosgrove a few weeks ago, in fact I’m doing a whole skinny jeans transformation challenge over at Urban Athlete because of it. I talk with Holly Rigsby, the Fit Yummy Mummy, on a regular basis. And I get emails and messages on a daily basis from women and men, telling me how great my strength is.

Part of me has wondered…

Then the other quickly stepped in. I’ve trained really hard (as have my friends and colleagues) this is not joke. It’s time for women to step up to the plate, to recognize their potential, to believe in themselves, to know that everything they do with their strength and conditioning program will directly effect their everyday life in a positive way.

I could speak about it, until I’m blue in the face. That’s not going to do it. You have to try this. You have to get out there, and you have to challenge yourself. You have to want to be able to get through every day just a little bit easier. You have know that it’s all within your potential.

I have my mentors, I have my role models, I have my coaches, yet each day the people that motivate me the most, are the people that I help to realize all this, the people I help to become stronger and notice their potential. Talk about motivation!

Realize your potential.

Be strong.

Put forth the effort.

Recognize the benefits.

Become who you are.

Be motivated to get the job done, challenge yourself to do it, and if you need a little nudge, you know just where to find it.