Vancouver Weekend Workouts

As promised my Vancouver Weekend Workouts!  Teresa and I rolled into Vancouver last Friday after a couple of pit stops, okay, we did a little outlet shopping!  One of the stops we made was at the Pendleton outlet store where while I was in the dressing room trying on a few things, Teresa, having just lost 50lb (!) got into a conversation with one of the sales associates about weightloss....and kettlebells!   Teresa happened to have a couple of copies of The Swing in the car so I was happy to give our new friend, Aubrey, a signed copy.  You just never know who you are going to meet :)



Saturday we got up early and went for a lovely walk to Starbucks, followed by a couple of short hikes with Marshall and Christina's dogs, but they went home before we continued on to the suspension bridge at Lynn Canyon Park.   Next was a little food shopping (omg, Polish deli discovery!) before heading out on a day trip to Point Roberts Marina to spend the day on the water, where Bacchus, a German Shepard mix, joined us!  We drove back to Vancouver around dinner time and relaxed the rest of the evening.  Early up the next day around 7:00am, another morning stroll and cup of coffee at JJ Beans.  The only thing left to do before we left, driving back to Seattle, was teach Christina how to swing!

I hadn't planned on doing any kind of workout myself over the weekend, but since the weather was perfect out back on the deck I threw together what I would describe as an "all around" kettlebell routine using swings to start and end one minute long work sets.  I call these "Swing Sandwiches"!  I post the Swing, Clean/Press Sandwich last week and as promised here are the snatch and squat variation, with a bonus swing progression variation if you are not practicing the other skills yet :)



As I posted last week, I started out with the snatch progressions, then the clean/presses, ending with squat progressions.  I did them in this order because I was using a lighter weight (12kg) than my regular "work" weight. (14kg-16kg).  The swing/snatches helped me warm this old body up for the presses and squats.  If I were doing these as part of my workouts at home I would start with the squats or presses, ending with the snatches.  Yesterday we did the squats first, the snatches next and ended with this bonus workout, that I did not do in Vancouver, of swing sandwiches.  The Swing Sandwich variation came about after I returned home and lead my Tuesday morning class.  I was so inspired with possibilities that I simply applied the sandwich method using my swing progressions.....but I forgot about one....do you have a guess?

(video at top of page)
Training my 30 second squat progressions "sandwiched" in between 15 sec of swings (10 2 hd sw reps).

squat progressions:
1 swing, 1 goblet squat
goblet squat
1 swing R, front squat, switch hands, 1 sw L, fr sq (alternating)
cl/fr sq R, switch, cl/fr sq L, alternate x 6 total
cl/ fr sq R x 3, switch hands, cl/ fr sq L x 3
cl/fr sq R x 6
cl/fr sq L x 6

7 progressions, each set starting and ending with 10 2 hand swings, 1 min work, 30 sec rest.  If you want to practice "equal work to rest" ratio either take a full minute rest between sets, OR do not complete the last 10 swings.




Training my 30 sec snatch progressions "sandwiched" in between 10 2 hd swings!

snatch progressions:
1 sw, 1 snatch, 1 switch (alternate R/L)
1 snatch, 1 switch (alternate R/L)
5 sn R, 5 sn L
10 sn R
10 sn L

5 progressions, 1 minute long sets, starting and ending with 10 2 hand swings, 30 seconds rest between sets.

If you want to train "equal work to rest" simply take 1 min between sets OR omit the last 10 swings in each set (or the first 10!)




Ah...! You may not be snatching, squatting or pressing yet, so here is a simple "swing sandwich" using my swing progressions, laddering down starting with;

10 R/ 10 L
5R/5 L x 2
1/2 sw ld x 2
20 transfer swings, ending with all 
2 hand swings

.....if you've been training with me for a while can you guess which one I forgot?

Each one of these variations is a workout in themselves for sure, which one is your favorite?

Teresa sharing her homemade doggie treats with Brody, Murray and Bacchus!