This is a workout from Caroline Girvan‘s CGX app. For more info on Caroline’s App, see the CGX App page. The “outdoor” in the title is because Caroline does this workout in what I assume is her front or backyard.
What an intense little finisher to add onto the end of any workout. Today was upper body for me, so the snatches gave my shoulders, arms and upper back some nice additional work. But if it is a lower body day? A kettlebell swing does a great job of hitting the lower body (the entire posterior chain actually). And of course it’s perfect as a finisher after a total body strength workout, since between the two exercises you are hitting just about every muscle group your body. Use heavy enough dumbbells (especially for the swings) and this is a very metabolic since the swings spike your heart rate. I feel like I could have used a heavier kettlebell for the snatches but after so many years of dealing with shoulder problems I tend to be conservative. But after actually doing this workout, I think when I return to it I will use my 20 pound kettlebell for the snatches.
The exercises in this workout are done interval style: 45 seconds of work followed by 30 seconds of rest. There is a timer in the upper right hand side of the screen counting down your intervals and recoveries. During the recovery Caroline previews the next exercise. There is also a little bar at the bottom of the screen that counts down the entire workout time as a percentage.
Outdoor Kettlebell Cardio is 13:01 minutes (this time does not include the optional 11:39 minute warm up) with a 1:25 minute stretch. Equipment: kettlebell(s). Caroline is using a 20kg/44 pound and a 10kg/22 pound kettlebell. The kettlebell weights listed below are what I used.
- Double hand kettlebell swing (35# KB)
- Repeat #1 three more times
- Single arm snatch (hold KB in one hand, swing KB between legs, at top of swing rack KB at shoulder and do one single arm overhead press) (15# KB)
- Repeat #3 on other arm
- Repeat #3 & 4
- Repeat #1
