I love kettlebell workouts, so I am surprised it took me so long to get to this one. It has been on my “to do” list for a while. This is a fun little kettlebell drill workout. It is a Popsugar workout led by Yumi Lee, owner of a Crossfit gym. Anna Renderer is present also. For the workout, Yumi introduces you to 5 kettlebell movements. After she demonstrates each move, you do the move 15 times. After the first circuit, you flow through all 5 movements, one right after the other in ladder formation–so each move is done 14x then each move is done 13x then each is done 12x–after 12x you have come to the end of the 20 minutes. That is the plan, at least as Sumi states it and the graphics on the screen state, but that is not how it actually plays out. Every exercise is always done more than the stated reps. So on the 15 reps–you will do more than 15 reps. On 14–more than 14, and so on. There is no real uniformity–you are always doing a lot of reps of each exercise and always more than the stated amount. That is ok because with the right kettlebell, this workout is an intense little metabolic workout. I used it as a finisher after a short Cathe Live upper body workout (Strong Upper Body Express) which is 40 minutes long–so this workout rounded out my hour perfectly.
20 Minute Kettlebell Workout is 20 minutes long, as the title advertises. The warm up is 3 minutes and there is no cool down/stretch. The warm up is called a “burpee flow.” Have legs more than shoulder-width apart, toes turned out (sumo squat position) and squat down until hands are on the floor. Jump feet back to plank and immediately into up dog, then go into down dog. Flow from down dog back to up dog, back to down dog, then jump feet in to squat and stand, reaching both arms overhead. Repeat the burpee flow 4 more times (5 times total).
I used a 25 pound kettlebell for the first 3 exercises and a 20 pound kettlebell for the last two exercises. I thought that my 25 pound kettlebell would be too light for the first exercise and it did seem as if that was the case after going through the exercise the first time. But remember, the first time through Yumi is demonstrating. After that, you are doing each drill, one right after the other with no rest, and 25 pounds ended up being very appropriate!
- Kettlebell deadlift
- Kettlebell goblet squat
- Russian kettlebell swing (kettlebell comes to eye level)
- Around the world (circling the kettlebell around the body)
- American kettlebell swing (kettlebell is swung all the way overhead)
For more info on Popsugar and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page
