Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Kettlebell cardio carryover

Lower extremity injuries have curtailed my leg work recently.

Last Saturday, however, I felt a little better and decided to test the waters with something I haven’t done in about six months.  

I took a test drive on my gym’s treadmill doing a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) running workout.

I suppose some apprehension might have been in order since it was treadmill running following a barbell squat workout about six months ago that started my series of lower-body injuries beginning with sore bottoms of my feet.

But I had none and took a 20-minute test drive of HIIT consisting of the following (note that all work was done with the treadmill set at one percent incline):
Warm-up walking at 4.0 mph for two minutes
Eight rounds of running for one minute (at mph speeds of 6.0 - 6.5 - 7.0 - 7.5 - 8.0 - 8.5 - 9.0 - 9.5) followed by one minute of walking active recovery at 4.0 mph.
Cool-down walking at 4.0 mph for two minutes 
This was a great Saturday cardio conditioning closer and I was pleasantly surprised with my performance only thinking about how hard it was during the last two rounds.  Remember, I haven’t done any running for about six months. 

So the recent kettlebell anaerobic cardio conditioning closers I’ve done have paid me a good conditioning dividend. 

This 20-minute workout proved a transferable conditioning benefit called kettlebell cardio carryover.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why not try stair climbing? It is more joint friendly.

Anonymous said...

I have read that kettlebells are not joint friendly.The swinging of them can be harmful to shoulders etc. What is your take on this?

Pierini Fitness said...

As with all exercises, too much isn't always a good thing. Otherwise, provided you learn and use good form, work on maintaining good shoulder flexibility and engage in sensible rep volume, I personally believe you'll be fine.

But it's always important to obey your body and if it's screaming at you when doing this exercise, there might be a reason for the message deserving your consideration.