Pressed for time, but want to fit in a workout? Try out this quick kettlebell workout. It uses a single exercise and a single kettlebell to hit it hard and quick. The kettlebell swing leap down is the key to this quick kettlebell workout.

The perfect tool for a quick workout - 28kg Ader Kettlebell

Quick Kettlebell Workout

The workout is short, but packs a punch. You know I love the swing, whether it is using a Bulgarian Training Bag, or a Kettlebell. It is an excellent exercise and becoming one of my favorites of all time. This quick kettlebell workout is based on it – the kettlebell swing.

1. Warmup
2. Cardio Interval
3. Kettlebell Swing Leap Down

Warmup

Time is of the essence, but don’t do it – do not skip your warmup.

Skipping a warmup is an excellent way to get injured. There, you’ve been warned.

My warmup varies, but when pressed for time often reverts back to a few simple activities to get the body ready for more. I start with some myofascial release (aka foam rolling), then do a series of bodyweight movements trying to move in as many different planes of motion as possible.

Here’s an example:

• Foam Roll outer thighs from hips to knees
• Foam roll quads
• Foam roll lats
• Foam roll the upper back
• Jumping Jacks (You did try out the You Don’t Know Jack Workout, right?)
• Seal Jacks
• Clock Lunges – change the direction each step
• Push ups
• Stick Ups – Scapulations to get those shoulders moving

That simple series gets the body moving and ready for more. It doesn’t take much time and reduces chances of injury.

Cardio Interval

Then I grab my jump rope. This simple throwback to childhood is an excellent tool for interval training. Just add in a few minutes of skipping rope to help burn off some additional calories.

I’ll jump rope for 5-10 minutes, resting as needed. Trying different steps and variations as I go.

Kettlebell Swing Leap Down

Here’s the core of the quick kettlebell workout. I opted for my 28kg ader kettlebell and loved it. The workout consists of one exercise, the kettlebell swing. Instead of a typical ladder where the number of repetitions steps down each set; I leap down.

Leap down in the number of repetitions each set. So here’s the kettlebell swing leap down:

1. 50 Kettlebell Swings
2. 30-60 second rest
3. 40 Kettlebell Swings
4. 30-60 second rest
5. 30 Kettlebell Swings
6. 30-60 second rest
7. 20 Kettlebell Swings
8. 30-60 second rest
9. 10 Kettlebell Swings

Watch your form. Focus on the hip swing and snap your hips forward. Make sure each rep is as clean as the first. Watch the height of your swing and be consistent. If not, stop. Form is essential; don’t cheat yourself, it just isn’t worth it. Make each swing count and do them well.

Give it try

So next time you are pressed for time, give this quick kettlebell workout a try. Hit is hard and quick; be done with the workout and ready for the day.

Leave comment and let’s hear what you think of this quick kettlebell workout, or share what you do when pressed for time and need a quick workout.

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Marketing, online work, and fitness can they really go together. More than you may think. Check out this interview with Danny Iny from Firepole Marketing. Together we explore the intermingling of those three topics. Don’t miss it, get engaged with your audience, learn why framing your problems is essential, explore energy levels, and more.

The Interview with Danny Iny

Firepole Marketing answers your questions

Check out Danny’s 37 Marketing Questions Answered. Danny was nice enough to answer one of my questions, question #6, on what he’d do if starting from scratch and launching his first product.

Great advice for the upcoming program on the Bulgarian Training Bag program. Take time to head over and watch all 37 video responses to questions people posed to Danny about marketing. It will be worth your while.

Engagement – Get the Book

The book – Engagement should be on your reading list. Danny has published it everywhere from physical book, kindle version, or even a free PDF download. He pulls together a group of authors that could easily be called the who’s who of online audience builders to co-author the book.

Find a copy of Engagement from Scratch at his site. Read it and engage.

Judo

We dive right into talking about martial arts. Danny has been involved with martial arts for many years. We talk about how often the true benefits we get from something, aren’t the benefits that would help sell, or convince, someone to buy. Martial arts is a perfect example where people want fitness and self-defense, but after practicing they gain much more.

The Shallows: What the Internet is doing to our Brains

Squirrel!

Our lives are flooded with information; information overload. Too many times it is just distracting. Squirrel! Okay if you haven’t seen the Movie UP – go do it. Seriously.

But Danny mentions reading Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains. And how through reading the book, he uncovered an essential step to helping our unconscious brains solve problems.

Framing the problem is an essential step. Our unconscious minds will help solve the problems we face, but we must define the problem clearly. Once defined, we just need to give ourselves some space to process. Fitness is a great way to let our minds process. Frame the problems, then go workout.

Just like I discussed in What’s Keeping Me Awake at Night. When we frame our problems, then step away our minds start churning. That framing gives us the flash of brilliance, or creative genius.

Capture It

Capture notes – when you get those flashes of brilliance, make sure to capture it. That could be aqua notes when swimming, or chillin’ in your hot tub. Neither Danny or I have found a way to capture notes while running on treadmill, find a way. That could be capturing a voice note to yourself.

It’s about Energy Levels

Think about an efficiency improvement in your cardivascular system. What if your heart rate could be 20 beats per minute lower than others. That means 120 beats less per hour, and 2880 beats every day.

That energy is saved and can be applied elsewhere – like your work.

We have both read Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz. Jim Loehr teaches corporate athletes how to perform to their highest potential at the High Performance Institute. Tony Schwartz has a site called The Energy Project – jump on over and check out his blog. One of their underlying premises is to compete on our field of choice, the office, we need to be able to develop and deliver with high energy levels. Fitness is an essential part of coming to the table ready to perform.

New Training Program

Dating Relationships and Naked Marketing – an edgier approach to marketing. Danny is preparing to open up his training school and this is the video series leading up to that.

Here are the two of the four videos. Sign up to our newsletter if you want to hear about the others. I’ll send out links to the other two videos.

• Feb 12 – Dating, Relationships, and Naked Marketing
• Feb 14 – The Pickup Artist and The Internet Marketer
• … two more coming later

Learn More About Danny Iny

If you enjoyed this and come up with any thoughts or questions for Danny Iny – engage. Leave a comment here or jump over to his site, Firepole Marketing, and leave him a message.

Leave your thoughts below. How has the internet shaped your mind? Does fitness play an important part in helping you with “flashes of brilliance”? Has exercise helped you increase your energy levels so you can perform in the office?

Let’s hear it, leave a comment or question.

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Quick Kettlebell Workout

This is a guest post from Ann Olson – The Wellness Chick.

I’m in my mid 20s now, and I’ve gone months without eating breakfast. I’ve also lost over 40lbs and 10% body fat, and barely feel hungry. For years I struggled with healthy eating habits, but now I have been practicing my healthy lifestyle for nearly a year. I’ve even decided to become more active (my full-time career as a freelance writer just wasn’t very active), becoming a weightlifter and aspiring to complete in my first bodybuilding figure contest in 2013.

I also recently become active as a nutrition and fitness blogger on The Wellness Chick, passionate about spreading what I’ve learned to other people.

For someone who was clinically overweight just a year ago, that’s quite remarkable.

So what do I owe these benefits to? Well, I owe it to intermittent fasting, a method I originally discovered on Martin Berkhan’s blog, LeanGains.com. Most days I skip breakfast and wait until lunchtime to break my fast–and I’m rarely hungry. Skipping breakfast has also made it easier for me to adhere to my diet and nutrition plan, making me healthier in the process.

Crazy Myths About Intermittent Fasting

Since I’ve made the switch, I’ve had many people call my method “unhealthy” or potentially “metabolism-destroying.” One person even said it would make me store more fat because I wasn’t jump-starting my metabolism with breakfast.

Unfortunately, these accusations are nothing more than myths. Here are some myths that people have said to me about intermittent fasting:

Myth #1: “If you don’t eat breakfast you’ll slow down your metabolism.”

Truth: This myth arose as a result of studies which have identified breakfast skipping with dysregulated eating habits–essentially, bad eating habits that aren’t likely to support healthy, maintainable weight loss or management. One study showed people who skipped breakfast had a higher energy intake than those who did not, which, obviously, isn’t a great thing if you’re trying to lose weight. Unfortunately, dietitians have interpreted these findings as proof breakfast skipping slows down the metabolism, which simply was never proven.

So, if you’re freaking out that skipping breakfast will equal death for your metabolism, don’t. As long as you’re not overeating like the study participants did, you’re not going to magically gain weight.

Intermittent Fasting Just Works

Myth #2: “You’ll enter starvation mode and store more fat if you fast.”

Truth:As Troy mentioned in his previous post about intermittent fasting, you’re simply not going to enter “starvation mode” after 16 hours of fasting–that’s how long Martin recommends fasting. If fasting alone suddenly triggered starvation mode, we would all experience it.

To be technical, we all practice some form of fasting on a daily basis, usually when we sleep. For instance, if you sleep for 9 hours and then get up to eat breakfast, you’ve fasted for 9 hours–hence why it’s called “breakFAST.”

Furthermore, your metabolism won’t slow down until at least 60 hours into a fast, which is about 2 1/2 days. Monica Reinagel of Nutrition Diva also says the ballpark range is around three days, so unless you’re fasting for days on end, don’t worry about starvation mode–it ain’t happening.

Myth #3: “You’ll get too hungry and binge.”

Truth: In my opinion, the effects of intermittent fasting on your hunger are highly individual. People who always eat breakfast are obviously going to feel hungry if they suddenly skip breakfast, since their bodies are used to receiving food at that time period. Conversely, people who don’t eat breakfast simply don’t feel hungry, which is why they don’t eat right away (in most cases).

For me, it takes about 16 hours before I become hungry, so skipping breakfast doesn’t make me hungry. In fact, eating breakfast has the opposite effect–it makes me even more hungry throughout the day, causing me to overeat. So, no breakfast for me

What Intermittent Myths Have You Heard?

These are just some of the intermittent fasting myths I hear regularly. How about you? What claims have people made about why intermittent fasting isn’t good?

Related Posts:

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Funk Roberts, the originator if the Spartacus Workouts, held a contests looking for the best exercises to include in his next workout program. Out of thousands of entrants; I won! Check it out and see how one my mountain climber variations, the cross-body mountain climber, is now part of the Spartacus Vengeance Workout.

Look, that's me. Listed in the Spartacus Vengeance Workout

The process was fun to follow. You know the value of social networks, so if you haven’t found me yet. Please do. I’m on Google Plus, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube – hope over and share some social love.

Well that’s how I met Funk Roberts. It was fun to connect with another fitness fanatic online. Then he posted a challenge asking people to submit exercises for him to include in an upcoming workout. I had the perfect idea for him and it turns out that he agreed.

The Mountain Climber Variations

I wrote a guest post for Srdjan over on BloomToFit about 8 Wicked Mountain Climber Variations. Part of that post included a series of videos demonstrating each variation.

8 Mountain Climber Variations

Before venturing into any variation of the mountain climber it is essential to nail to key aspects of form. Check this video that walks through the tips and leaves links to the other videos:

The Cross Body Mount Climber Variation

But the one that I submitted to Funk Roberts for the Spartacus Vengeance Workout contest is the Cross-body Mountain Climber. Here is the demonstration video for that variation.

The Spartacus Vengeance Workout

Funk Roberts posted the final results and the complete Spartacus Vengeance Workout on his blog. Here is the video of the workout.

Featured in Spartacus Vengeance Workout

I’m amped and just had to share. Like the videos, share this post, and leave a comment. Give Funk Robert’s new work out a shot and see what you think. I’m excited and honored to be featured in the Spartacus Vengeance Workout.

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I’m up and out of bed, again. This time I made it into bed for a few hours, then bam I am wide awake. My tender sleep instantly becomes torture; torture plagued by incessant tinnitus, odd sounds around the house, and a barrage of ideas. Why ,oh why, am I awake?

I conclusion is to blame chocolate, stress, or creative genius. You decide.

  by  jmsmytaste 

Comfort to Turture

Is it just me or does life have a funny way of flipping comfort into torture?

Think about it. My bed, my den, my haven of recovery. There is the place of slumber, the place where my mind is supposed to be able to check-out, relax, and let my body, mind, and soul recover from the daily battle. My bed, my comfort zone, is supposed to be essential to my health both physically and mentally.

But it happens. Sometimes more often than I’d like to admit.

Something happens that flips comfort to torture. Instead of enjoying sleep; I come to dread it. Some nights I don’t even want to try. I’d rather avoid trying, avoid laying still staring at the twilight lit ceiling, hoping for REM sleep to magically appear. Other nights, like tonight, I wake up for unknown reasons and can’t get back to sleep.

What Causes Sleeplessness?

So I laid there for 30 minutes, an hour, okay so I wasn’t really watching the clock. I’ve actually started turning my clock away from the bed, so I can’t glance at it to count the minutes, and hours, idly wasted away seeking slumber.

Tonight I concluded that I can blame three things for keeping me awake. My triad of sleeplessness are chocolate, stress, or creative genius.

Oh sure, I could admit that I’m over forty. That I’m over-the-hill. Perhaps the years are catching up to me; but we’ll avoid that reasoning. Back to my list, back to my rant.

Chocolate Causes Insomnia

While you know I hate crap science, like the recent news bout claiming dark chocolate is better than exercise, it is 1am. I am not going to attempt to search and read pubmed abstracts linking chocolate to insomnia. Sorry – it’s my rant and my sleepless night.

I’ve heard many say that chocolate contains caffeine. I will make no claims; remember this is a rant. What I will say is that I’m good at pattern recognition – even when I don’t like the pattern I recognize. And … there’s a pattern.

When I eat chocolate in the late evening I have trouble sleeping.

Now some of you may be thinking, he’s just getting old. Away with you. Remember it is my rant and I am choosing to ignore that line of thinking.

We had our small group over at our house last night. It is a weekly meeting with a group of couples we’ve grown to enjoy and treat as if they are family. We bring food, eat, and share life together. Truly a great time, but … there’s often chocolate.

And chocolate is not something that I have learned to avoid, yet. (Ouch, that even hurt to type. Honestly, I winced when I typed it.) We celebrated a birthday last night and had one of my most incredible chocolate mousse cake’s I’ve had in a long time. It was delightful – and not at 1am I am unable to sleep.

Damn you chocolate. You delicious bane of my slumber.

Stress Is Freaking My Out of My Sleep

But maybe I’m jumping the gun, maybe I shouldn’t blame chocolate. Instead realize that life is filled with seasons, seasons of stress. Like most seasons there is an ebb and flow to them. At times the season is full-on, while others it is quiet — don’t you find the same is true for stress?

I do. Especially as a cube dweller stress is a part of life. But there are seasons where new opportunities arise, deadlines are looming, and stress grows into a beastly perfect storm that can shake you from deep sleep.

Stress could be my cause of insomnia.

At work our team has taken on a huge effort to implement new software from Service-Now. The short version of the story is that I’ve dug deep into my drawer full of geek-skills and am neck deep in opportunity.

Outside of work I’ve inflicted my own deadlines. This site, Cube.Dweller.Fitness, turned one year old yesterday! How fun is that. I guess we could have celebrated that birthday last night as well. Can I ask for a little cheer for this one year old? (Seriously, if you appreciate it give it a share, a like, a comment.)

What a year it has been. Exciting and fun. I’ve met some incredible people and enjoyed digging deeper into a life-long fascination with fitness. Along the way I’ve decided to pull together a fitness program of my own; one to help you get in shape so you can take on new challenges that life tosses your way. I am excited.

But I will also admit that I’m stressed. I want this to be perfect for you. I want the workouts to rock. I want the movements to be well taught, explained with enough detail to coach you through the text. I want it to be engaging, inspiring, and most importantly practical advice you can use to get in better shape. That’s a lot of self-imposed stress.

My insomnia could be caused by a full-on perfect storm of stress.

Creative Genius Knows No Time Limits

So in the middle of the night my mind is churning with ideas. My mind is often flooded with creative ideas to address the challenges I’m facing both at work and home. With my stress tsunami filling my brain with a diverse set of challenges it could be creative genius stirring me from sleep flooded with ideas of opportunity.

When faced with ample opportunity my mind has a way of solving the craziest riddles in the middle of the night. I can still recall times during Calculus where I awoke at 2am with a brilliant solution to a homework problem. Since then each season of opportunity has been the same, where my mind is churning fueled by stress to find solutions.

My mind is running rampant, so rampant I’m typing this now at 1:30am.

My mind is flooded with thoughts. Thoughts of graphic designs that can’t be rendered with my Gimp-skills. New explanations, and videos of details I hadn’t yet captured. Thoughts about how best to explain and inspire you that my fitness program is worth your hard-earned dollars. Thoughts about web design, about colors, and layout. Thoughts about just way too many things for midnight.

So perhaps it isn’t chocolate, nor stress. Perhaps my mind was lit by some odd catalyst when REM and opportunity combine producing creative genius. Yup, my deep slumber was disturbed by an interruption of creative genius.

What’s Keeping You Awake?

While I have identified and named my triad of tormentors. What’s on your list? Do you have seasons of sleeplessness? Do struggle with bouts of insomnia?

If so, let’s hear it. I’d love to know I’m not alone in my mid-night stirrings. Leave a comment. Join the rant. I know it feels good, in fact now that this post is nearly done and my glass of water nearly empty I believe I’m feeling sleepy again. Nice.

Leave a comment. Get it off your chest. Reveal to the interwebs what you have identified as your tormentor of sleep. What is keeping you awake at night? Is it chocolate, stress, or creative genius?

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Fitness Tips from Hip Hop - Hip Swing

The swing is all about the hips. Let’s venture into Hip-Hop, Pubmed research, and coaching video on how to do the Bulgarian Training Bag Swing. Let’s get started.

So let me see your hip swing!

Hip Hop Throws Down Solid Fitness Advice

I’ve said we can learn from anywhere – how’s this for a stretch? I’ve turned to Hip Hop for fitness advice. Let’s take a look at these lyrics from Savage.

Okay, okay. I get it. He wasn’t talkin’ about the Bulgarian Training Bag Swing. But let’s just say he was …

#1: Stop, Woah … Think About the Hip Swing

When performing the hip swing it is essential that you take time to stop. Stop, woah don’t bend with your back. Stop, woah the Bulgarian Training Bag swing needs to be about hinging at your hips. Think. Stop, woah think about the hip-hinge.

#2: Back it up … Start With Your Butt

To begin the Bulgarian Training Bag Swing the movement is initiated by following along … back it up. Back it up by pushing your butt directly back. Hinge at the hips and push your butt back, back it up.

#3: Now Let Me See Your Hips Swing … Hip Snap

I’ve written before about the importance of the hip-snap when doing the kettlebell swing. The Bulgarian Training Bag swing emphasizes the same movement. It is all about the hip swing, so let me see your hip swing.

From the back position, where you’ve backed it up and let the training bag swing back, it is time to extend forward. Do so by driving your hips forward and unfolding at your hip-hinge; let me see your hips swing. Drive all the way forward until you are fully extended.

PubMed Says the Hip Swing is Solid

Okay so Hip Hop is down with the hip swing. But you know what I think of crap science; it is …. crap. I’m not about to start oozing crap science. So let’s dig into published medical research and see what we can find about the hip swing.

While there were several studies worth reading, there were two that stuck out. While they weren’t based on using a training bag, they used a kettlebell and there is a lot over overlap. The studies focused on two key things: developing the strength and conditioning to rapidly apply force and reducing pain. Both good things, so let’s dig a bit deeper.

#1: Hip Swing Wins for Impulse Power

If you haven’t taken heed and learned to love the squat, … you should. (Was that too strong?) Seriously, the squat should be a core staple in your exercise diet, much like protein is all too important for your nutrition intake. But focus even more on making the squat … functional. To apply squat in real life what we really want to have is explosive power. Power to change directions like while performing that 270-out at the end of a buttered-pretzel on a snowboard. Power to jump over walls like in my upcoming Colorado Tough Mudder. Power to … you get the idea.

Well what if you stacked up three exercises against each other to see which developed most functional power? Stack these up for comparison:

• Back Squat
• Jump Squat
• Swing

The researchers concluded that the swing won[1]. The swing produced higher impulse power; impulse power the kind we need in our real-life adventures. They state that the swing could be a great addition help develop the ability to rapidly apply force.

Nice win, hip swing.

#2: Hip Swing to Avoid Neck, Shoulder, and Low-Back Pain

As a Cube Dweller I have my share of neck, shoulder, and even low back pain. It comes with territory. Sit all day – bad. Sit and stare at a screen – bad. Get stressed about deadlines – bad. Life as a cube dweller has consequences and more often than not those consequences show up in pain. Pain in the neck, shoulders, and low back.

So what are we suffering Cube Dwellers supposed to do? Do the Hip Swing.

Check out this study. While it was focused on the kettlebell training, the Bulgarian Training Bag swing uses the same types of motion. This is especially true for the swing, one of the three core movements covered in my free eBook: The Bag Basics. Did you sign-up for my newsletter, yet?

The study was published last May and is from Denmark[2]. It concluded working out with kettlebells resulted in the following:

1. Decrease in neck/shoulder pain intensity by 2.1 points
2. Decrease in low back pain intensity by 1.4 points.
3. Increase muscle strength of the trunk extensors

In their words …

Worksite intervention using kettlebell training reduces pain in the neck/shoulders and low back and improves muscle strength of the low back among adults from occupations with a high prevalence of reported musculoskeletal pain symptoms

Yup, that’s us – Cube Dwellers of the world. We have “occupations with a high prevalence of reported musculoskeletal pain symptoms”. So take action and do the Bulgarian Training Bag Swing – let me see your hip swing.

Hip Swing … Bulgarian Training Bag Swing Tutorial

Hip Hop throws it down and backs it up. Pubmed says it is solid. So how do your really do the Bulgarian Training Bag Swing? This video is one of the videos included in The Bag Basics the free ebook that sets the stage for the Cube Dweller Fitness Bulgarian Training Bag program. This one walks your through the details beyond: stop, woah, back it up, let me see your hips swing.

Check it out.

Ready to Let Me See Your Hips Swing?

Are you ready? Sign up now, because I am putting the finishing touches on both the free ebook, the videos, and the complete training program.

Get rid of your cube dwelling induced pains and get ripped and ready for all life has to offer. Do it now with the hip swing, the Bulgarian Training Bag Swing.

Works Cited

1. MECHANICAL DEMANDS OF KETTLEBELL SWING EXERCISE., Lake JP, Lauder MA., J Strength Cond Res. 2011 Dec 28
2. Kettlebell training for musculoskeletal and cardiovascular health: a randomized controlled trial. – Jay K, Frisch D, Hansen K, Zebis MK, Andersen CH, Mortensen OS, Andersen LL., Scand J Work Environ Health. 2011 May;37(3):196-203. doi: 10.5271/sjweh.3136. Epub 2010 Nov 25.
3. Trademark: The original training bag is called the Bulgarian Bag and is created, patented, and trademarked by Coach Ivan Ivanov from Suples International

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