Today I’m going to give you a tough kettlebell and bodyweight exercise workout.

I first came up with this workout after hearing reading about Bud Jeffries’ concept of Yardstick Conditioning in Twisted Conditioning 2 several years ago.

I wanted a way to combine kettlebell exercises with bodyweight exercises in a single intense workout that would test overall conditioning as well as build muscular endurance. I picked four exercises that I felt where foundational and ones I wanted to work on. Those exercises are:

Double Kettlebell Jerks
Pushups
Bodyweight Squats
Kettlebell Snatch

(When I originally did this it involved hindu pushups and hindu squats, although when I started doing this workout again recently I’ve done the regular versions of pushups and squats.)

Each exercise is done for 5 minutes straight. Then without a break you move onto the next exercise in the order listed.

The goal is obviously to do the highest number of reps in each exercise.

But another big goal is to get to the point where you can do the exercise without dropping the bells or getting out of position for the whole five minutes. This means you can only rest with the kettlebells in the rack or overhead position for the jerks, and just overhead with the snatches. You can do as many hand switches as you need with the snatches.

On the pushups you stay in the plank position (much easier to maintain five minutes of hindu pushups). With squats its easy to go all five minutes so recently I added cables, a portable power jumper from lifeline, to make them harder.

Of course, in the start do as many sets as you need to do the whole five minutes.

For the kettlebell exercises I use 24 kg bells. You’ll want to start lighter especially if you have no experience with long sets. Eventually I’d like to work up to 32 kg bells. That may take awhile. I shouldn’t have to say it but technique is real important here.

I would recommend only doing this workout once per week mixed in with your other training. And each time you do it you seek to add just a few more reps to each exercise.

It’s a challenging workout. But rewarding and if you enjoy bodyweight exercises and kettlebells it’s a great way to work on those fundamental exercises.

Give it a try and let me know how you do.

In strength,
Logan Christopher

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