Tuesday, December 10, 2013

"Tracy Reifkind's 10 x 10 Project" with bonus workout

I started posting these 10 x 10 workouts kind of by accident.  For some crazy reason within a week's time I had received a couple of facebook messages and a couple of private emails from friends, of sorts, reaching out to me for help, support and/or inspiration to get started again after falling off the wagon of exercising regularly and eating sensibly.  I also had a rash of last minute cancellations from regular one on one clients and that pushed me over the top!  Anybody that has ever had a personal conversation with me knows, for a fact, how deeply I believe in what I do, and how deeply I believe that anybody can do the same.  Many times I think I believe in you more than you believe in yourself.  I write in The Swing that I will always be your biggest cheerleader, and that is and has been true.

But sometimes I get tired too.  I get tired of listening to the excuses, to the resistance, to the victimization, to the whining.  Who's cheering my training on?  Who's motivating me to get up in the morning, go outside to a cold, dark, frozen garage to workout?  Or to drive thru traffic for 30-45 minutes to teach a class, or a private session that no one might show up for?  Something I hear a lot from people is that they think I'm disciplined, that I'm self motivated, and yes, I might be some of the time, maybe even most of the time, but not all of the time.  It's those times that I have to dig a little deeper, sometimes I have to not "dig" at all, not "think" and just do.  I have to just do.  

So out of my frustration I video taped the very first, and at the time only one, simple 10 x 10 workout almost three weeks ago.  I had no idea that I would get this brainstorm to offer a free series of ten total, 10 x 10 workouts, every other day in hopes that one of those people that asked me for help and support would either find inspiration or simply do the workouts out of guilt!  I was asked for some of my time and in return I was simply asking for five minutes theirs (yours).  I have more to share with you about the beginning, the why's and how's, of my "10 x 10" Project but for now lets see how we do with these, shall we?

November 29th I posted the first 5 workouts, all in a row for you to find easily and follow along with  every other day (after posting them individually on facebook), in order, if you chose to, or to group together and follow along with all five of them consecutively for a really great workout in itself.  Maybe two, three four or five consecutive10 x 10's is a goal for you to set in a few weeks, or maybe a challenge for your next workout.  These 10 x 10's will always be here for you.  Here are the last five, starting with #6.  I had to post them a little out of the order I taped them because of my travel schedule and not knowing exactly where I might have the opportunity to video tape and/or have internet access to download them on Youtube.

The last one, the tenth, is a longer workout and if you watch it I describe the first part of the workout, which I did not video tape.  The 24kg 10 x 10 was at the end of the last workout I did in the last minutes the morning before I left on our trip to Israel, still in the clothes I slept in (yes, I did just admit I trained in my pajama sweats!).  By the time I finished packing I had only 1 hour to swing, shower and get dressed to leave.  I describe the entire workout, and at the bottom of this post I will give you the written version in case it's something you would like to do in it's entirety.

#6

#7

#8

#9
#10


I had only a very short time and I had no idea what I was going to do, so I started with 40, 12kg two hand swings, which I know takes one minute to complete.  I also know that the 12kg is more of a warm up weight for me and since I had very little time to work up to a "training" weight I needed to move on quickly.  I had to get to the 14kg next....this inspired a pattern. I could simply repeat the same set with all of the bells I had available to me, and in my gym that includes the incremental sizes, 14kg, 18kg, 22kg that are in between the standard weight increases of the 12kg, 16kg, 20kg, and 24kg.  Lucky me, huh?  But you can do this workout with one weight or any number of weights, and for that fact any number of sets.  The entire workout is simply sets of 40 reps, followed by 10 sets of 10 reps (or a few more!)

12kg 40 2 hd sw (1 min work/1 min rest)
14kg 40 2 hd sw
16kg 40 2 hd sw
18kg 40 2 hd sw
20kg 40 2 hd sw
22kg 40 2 hd sw
24kg 40 2 hd sw

24kg 10 x 10 2 hd sw (video starts here)
22kg 10 2 hd sw
20 kg 10 2 hd sw
18kg 10 2 hd sw
16kg 10 2 hd sw
14kg 10 2 hd sw
12kg 10 2 hd sw

Done!  22 minutes, 440 swings, AND the weights put away, now off to Israel I went!  Where will you be off to after your next workout?


8 comments:

neca said...

I'm so glad you posted these. I was working out regularly, but got busy around Thanksgiving and went about 2 weeks with no formal workout. I saw your "10x10" post here and remembered: I can do 5 minutes of swings! It was just the impetus I needed to just start back. I've been doing a workout every other day and it's a great way to ease back into the habit. And how can I say "I don't have time" when it's only 5 minutes!?!

Mahda16 said...

These 10 x 10's dovetail nicely with Pavel's new book. I'm stoked!

Tracy Reifkind said...

Neca,

I'm thrilled these workouts helped to inspire you to start up again. It was exact my intention, but really I had no idea of the amount of emails, messages and comments I would receive similar to yours!

It's very motivating for me too! So thank you for commenting here as I know that sharing your experience will indeed help and inspire some still looking on from the sidelines to join in the fun. Everybody can be on my Team!

Tracy Reifkind said...

Mahda16,

Or maybe the other way around? lol

You can imagine my surprise, (slightly shocked) when I read Pavel's book just last week and saw his program of ten sets of ten! The timing was completely coincidental.....although I'm pretty proud that I posted it before the book was available.

In The Swing I explain that my own transformation started with a 10 x 10, so it's not anything new. 10 x 10 has many applications and the next series of my workouts will explain a bit more :)

Thanks for your comment!

Diana said...

I love, always have, the simplicity of 10x10. I use it for so much more than only for swings~ can be applied to ANYTHING! I've applied it to all KB moves, running, biking, swimming, hiking, etc! It's a classic and I'm so glad YOU came up with it! ;)

Diana said...

I love, always have, the simplicity of 10x10. I use it for so much more than only for swings~ can be applied to ANYTHING! I've applied it to all KB moves, running, biking, swimming, hiking, etc! It's a classic and I'm so glad YOU came up with it! ;)

Tracy Reifkind said...

Diana,

I need a "10" tattoo! That seems to be my lucky number!

vicky said...

Hi Tracy just wanted to thank you for being so generous with your knowledge and workouts you are such an inspiration to me I have your swing book and have been working from it for a few months now, I am still perfecting my swing, and figuring out what bell suits me best (pro comp or cast iron)I look at your blog every day! I am using your 10x10 as a warm up as am not sure on what to do to warm up before my workouts. I swing kettlebells every other day. I lost 4st almost 2 years ago now and am definitely fighting to keep it off! good job I found you and kettlebells.
keep up the good work you are a true angel I just wish I lived in the USA so I could attend your classes personally to ensure I am practising good form!
:) Vic UK