101 Kettlebell Workouts: 30 Workouts In Under 30 minutes. Here's 21 & 22: A Double Header!

Two Kettlebell workouts both under 30 minutes. These two workouts are an exercise in total body annihilation. They should not last more than 30 minutes. They should be performed with precise, laser like focus. Finally, as a stand alone routine, these two workouts can alternately be performed by most to see incredible results in strength, fitness and over all body composition.

And where did these workouts come from? An ebook called "101 Kettlebell Workouts" by David Whitley. And if you'd like a free copy for yourself, head on over to irontamer.com...

The first workout will consist of the Double Kettlebell Clean and Press, the Double Kettlebell Squat, Pull Ups, and Snatches.

The second workout will consist of the Double Kettlebell Clean and Press, Pull Ups, Double Kettlebell Squat and Double Swings.

Each workout consists of 5 sets of each drill with the exception of the Squats. 3 sets for the Squats. These workouts can be done one drill after another or in a circuit of the first 3 drills leaving the swings or snatches for the end. They can also be split up. Superset the first two drills and superset the last 2.

These workouts are simple and effective. There is no need to complicate things. If you're like me and have minor (or major) ADD, then you can find variety in the order of drills or the rest allowed.

If you decide to try them, first, make sure you're familiar with the exercises. Secondly, make sure you can execute them with perfect form. Next select a set of kettlebells that you could get 8 quality reps with. You're going to want to train in the 70% to 80% range of your max. You want good technique yet need to be challenged while keeping the rest periods low. Finally, enjoy the pain! I know I did!

Number 20 looks like this:

-Double Kettlebell Clean & Press: 5 sets of 5 reps.

-Double Kettlebell Squats: 3 sets of 5 reps.

-Pull Ups 5 sets of 5 reps.

-Snatch 5 sets of 10 and 10.

Mind you, under the right circumstances, the snatches alone are a workout, so getting it at the end is, to say the least, a nice tall glass of "Enjoy the Pain!"

Here's how I worked this one out. First off it was evening time, so I had to go to the gym. Not my favorite place to do kettlebell training. I'm sure some gyms are kettlebell friendly, but mine is a cookie cutter, sell as many memberships as possible and stuff as many people as you can in there with reckless abandon gym. So I'm always on the lookout for a safe place in there. Monday nights. Busy. Monday night after a Thanksgiving weekend... Very busy.

Found a corner for the Presses and Squats. I selected my 24 kg bells for these two workouts. I kept the rest periods at about a minute. My focus on the presses today was using a visualization technique where I envision pushing myself away from the bells instead of pushing the bells away from me. Makes a huge difference. For the squats, same idea. push the floor away. For both drills; keep the glutes tight. Pressurize the gut.

The next two drills, Pull Ups and Snatches, I decided at the last minute to superset. Mainly, because the little space I have in the gym is next to a squat rack that people like to use for curls and a little further over is a hack squat machine that gets some attention too. The height is perfect for one who needs to lean on something while asking the lady waiting for her spin class to open up if she's ever considered modeling. So it's still a high traffic area. I figure this way, I can keep moving while allowing the socialites the space they need for chit chat and practice their mirror moves.

So a set of 5 pull ups immediately followed by 10 snatches on the left and 10 snatches on the right is a pretty cool little thing. It really works the back muscles and allows you to practice leaving your biceps out the equation. What I mean by that is that during the snatch, your hips should be driving the bell forward and upward while your arm is merely guiding the bell into position. Once you start using your traps and biceps to elevate the bell, you're losing the benefit of the snatch. The snatch is an explosive, ballistic drill that trains you to generate power from your hips. It is simply a powerful extension of the swing. You also will learn to coordinate your movement to guide the bell into place at the top. There's a reason the Secret Service Trains their guys with this move. Eliminating the biceps from the pull up is also a challenge. It is very easy to pull from your arms when in reality you have this large muscle group behind you waiting for you to call it to action. Learn to use your lats as the primary mover and shaker to your pull up and watch amazing things happen.

#20 Kicked my butt. It sent me home feeling stronger, but glad it was over. For now... because right around the corner was # 21 waiting to smoke me in the cool clean ocean breeze...

Number 21 happened at the old muscle beach near the Santa Monica pier. This is by far one of my favorite places to train. Here's how 21 looked:

-Double Kettlebell Clean & Press. 5 sets of 5 reps.

-Pull Ups. 5 sets of 5 reps.

-Double Kettlebell Front Squats 3 sets of 5 reps.

-Double Kettlebell Swings. 5 sets of 10 reps.

You'll see some similarities to # 20, but the order is different for one thing and the other is swings instead of snatches. Heavy swings. Here come da' pain!!!

And here's how I attacked it. I decided to superset the Presses and Pullups and then superset the squats with the swings. I also now had the luxury about a 39 x 39 foot square of green grass, open space to train in. Like a grassy version of a floor mat for gymnastics.

So I set the stopwatch to count down 15 minutes and decided to make sure I fit all sets and reps of Clean and Press and Pull Ups into this 15 minutes. The sooner I finished, the more rest I'd have for the next 15 minute round... long story short on that, I had about 3 minutes to spare. Not bad. I reset the stopwatch and went back to it. Squats and Swings. What I did was a set of the squats, then took a lap around the square, came back for the swings, took a lap. After the third set of squats, I was down to 2 sets of swings which I did with a lap in between to rest up. Finished that one in about 12 minutes too.

By the end of # 21, I was pretty well worked.  I stretched out and headed home. 

To sum it all up.  If you're looking for a routine that will be challenging, quick and effective, workouts 20 and 21 are it.  My suggestion would be to do it 3 - 4 times a week.  For example:  Monday do 20, Wednesday do 21, Friday do 20, Sunday do 21, Tuesday would be 20 again and so on and so forth.  Stick with this for 6 weeks and if you eat well, you just might not recognize yourself in the mirror.  I think the key with these 2 workouts is to not rush through the exercises but consistently try to do it in less time, especially with the snatches and the swings.  Find a way to make each workout just a little harder.  There are so many options here if you're creative.

Well, that about does it for now.  Thanks for reading along and let me know what you think!