The "38 Special" Birthday Kettlebell Workout

Birthday Workouts are so fun to make - its one of the really fun things I learned about from local friend and fellow RKC, Alicia Streger.*    Anyway - one of my small group participants turned 38 this week - and in honor of her birthday (and to help her recover from the sugar-riffic cake supplied by well meaning co-workers) I designed this workout for her.   There's also a top secret scaled back version that the beginner's group used, so there's a whole group of people who DON'T even KNOW her who are... well... wishing she had just been celebrating 18 years.   Oh well!!  

Read through the workout and choose an appropriate sized kettlebell for your ability and the intensity of the day.  Beginners go light ("naked" get ups if necessary), and everyone... we want to strive for perfect reps!  Rest as needed to manage fatigue and continue with the best quality movement.**

Start out with your favorite joint mobility routine and jump right in with:

• 38 kettlebell swings
• 1 get up on each side
• 38 kettlebell swings
• 1 get up on each side
• 38 kettlebell swings
• 1 get up on each side

 Double kettlebell fun time (add it up, get it?!) - Again, rest as needed, I designed this so that they'd get lots of good practice with the loved and loathed Clean and Press.  (Personally I love cleans, but becaue I have struggled with them - need more time with your cleans?  Check out this other article/workout: Tough Love for the Kettlebell Clean)

• 5 double kettlebell clean and press
• 5 Round the Worlds (aka Slingshot) using one kettlebell for this duur.
• 5 double kettlebell clean and press
• 5 Round the Worlds
• 5 double kettlebell clean and press
• 5 Round the Worlds
• 4 double kettlebell clean and press
• 4 Round the Worlds

Now... break this up however you would like in terms of sets/reps:

Kettlebell Suitcase Deadlift - 38/per side

Kettlebell Rows - 38/per side

We then finished up with an intro/review of the RKC Plank and why it is mega-effective even though you won't win any plank duration contests with it ever.  Can you make 38 seconds at full effort?  It'll be tough - if not, you're not doing it correctly!!!!

Don't forget... joint mobility and water!

*Attn group fitness pros, Alicia and Carrie have some great examples for fitness boot camps (non-kettlebell) and entire programming plans, etc. in some nice info products: Complete Boot Camp Workouts and Advanced Boot Camp Workouts Consider checking these out before you commit to a restrictive franchise contract... these can get you started just as well.

**Don't make me make that weird Kafka reference here - I've got this whole thing going on in my head about mindful repetition over time and once its less nebulous, it'll be unleashed but... not yet.