Your Complete Total-Body Muscle Sculpting 20 Minute Kettlebell/ or Dumbbell Workout

KB Classes and Curriculums

Hey guys,

Need an incredible efficient, total body (glute, arms and ab focus) workout?

We got ya! this is a great workout to do anywhere, at home, the gym (even when it’s crowded) or take the training outdoors;
all you need is a kettlebell, and if you don’t have one there is a way to accomplish every one of the motions with a dumbbell (just read below) and check out our home fitness DVDs, in the Scorcher Series we have a dumbbell variation for every single move.

Worried about kettlebell 101? New to kettlebell workouts? all of our home fitness programs come with a 101 on kettlebell lifts and education.

Okay- LETS WORKOUT

*watch the video, and read the step by step below

THE WORKOUT:

  • 1min: True HighPull
  • 1min: Yo-Yo Squat
  • 1min SuitCase swing to BottomsUp KB Walk (5 steps) alternating sides
  • 1min Unilateral elevated PushUp or just a Pushup (bent knee or regular)
  • 1min: KB swing to Forward Leopard Kickbout Burpees
    rest 1-2mins
    take minimal rest between sets
    Repeat above 4x

FORM:

True HighPull

  1. Begin in a swing stance, with the kettlebell hanging down and your shoul- ders and back straight.
  2.  Make sure your hips sit back farther than your knees (you are not squatting).
  3.  Instead of swinging the bell, you will be using a rectilinear motion (not curvilinear like in a swing).
  4.  Dip down a little bit into your hinge, engaging the glutes and using that momentum begin to lift the kettlebell straight up (do not swing it).
  5. As you lift the kettlebell up, note you are going strictly up; do not extend the kettlebell in front of you.
  6. As you begin to lift the bell up to chest level, begin to turn over the ket- tlebell into a bottoms-up position and continue to bring the kettlebell overhead until your arms are fully extended overhead.
  7.  Do not pause.
  8. Begin to bring the kettlebell back down the same way. Do not extend the kettlebell in front of you; instead, drop it directly down, and turn it from a bottoms-up to a hanging position immediately after you pass chest level.
  9. Repeat in a steady and continuous form.

 

Yo-Yo Squat

  1. All squat and hinge forms you learned in chapters 4 and 7 apply!
  2. Hold the kettlebell by the handle, with your arms fully extended down- ward toward the ground.
  3. Your back should be straight and your shoulders pulled back.
  4. Start off with a hinge—like at the top of a dead lift or a kettlebell swing.
  5. Hinge down and reach the kettlebell toward the floor in a dead lift.
    Note: there should be a small bend in the knee, but no greater than the bend in your hip.
  6. As you come up from the dead lift, reach the kettlebell up and catch it with both hands by the horns; hold it in a mid-racked position.
  7. As you fix the kettlebell close to the body mid-racked, continue into a squat.
  8. As you come up from the squat, release your kettlebell from mid-racked to hanging position.
  9. You will be switching the kettlebell position as you switch between a hinge and a squat.

PushUp

  1. Starting in a plank position, get down on all fours and place your hands on the floor so that they’re in line with your elbows and shoulders. Straighten your legs out behind you, with your weight on your toes.
  2. Your elbows, shoulders, and wrists should be in line.
  3. Squeeze your glutes and hold them that way for the entire movement. Keep your core tight, like in a plank.
  4. Try to keep your hips in line with your upper body and do not allow your back to sink in—stay in a straight plank.
  5. Your body should form a straight line from your ankles to your head, ab- dominals tight.
  6. Your arms should be straight when starting.
  7. As you lower your body to the ground, make sure not to overflare your elbows.
  8. As you lower your body, make sure your elbows come outward and back to- ward your knees at the same time—the bend should be out and half back.
  9. Lower your body until your chest nearly touches the floor.
  10. Tuck your elbows as you lower your body so that your upper arms form a 45-degree angle with your body in the bottom position of the movement.
  11. Pause at the bottom and then push yourself back to the starting position as quickly as possible.

Form

  • Do not let hips or back sag at any point during the exercise; this means that your form has broken down.
  • Make sure that you do not feel any pain in your shoulders—a push-up should not hurt your shoulder joint.
    If you feel any of this, consider that your last repetition and end the set.

 

Modified PushUp

  • Execute the same motion as previously illustrated, but with your knees bent and on the floor (to take some of the weight off of the push-up).
  • In a modified push-up, you are still using more than 50 percent of your bodyweight.

 

Leopard

  1. Starting position is on all fours, on your knees, as pictured. Your elbows, shoulders, and wrists should be in line.
  2. Maintain strong, tight abdominal muscles and a straight back; lift your knees up, half an inch off the floor.
  3. Make sure you are still at 90-degree angles, not lifting your butt higher than the rest of your body.
  4. This is a tough position, so first, first try to hold it for 10 seconds to test your form.
  5. When you are ready, raise up your body slowly onto your toes and turn to one side, lifting one arm off the floor (as shown above). Continue this left and right, stopping in the middle each time to make sure you maintain proper form.
    Your abdominals should be tight (think of pulling your belly button into your spine) and your shoulders should be pulled back.
  6. You should feel no pressure in your arm or shoulder. If you do, it simply means we need to develop more core strength—so in the meantime mod- ify by sitting on the floor with each turn to reset the body.
  7. After completing several leopard turns, continue to the leopard kick-out. Please note that if you cannot maintain good form on the first three mo- tions, do not advance to the kick-out (instead work only with the first two motions illustrated in the first two photos above).
  8. In the leopard kick-out, you will simply kick your leg out (as shown in the third photo) as you turn your body.
    Continue this motion for 1 minute, or until you can no longer maintain proper form to execute the motion. Or continue this motion for the pre- scribed number of reps/sets or time intervals your KB workout calls for!

KB Swing

1. With both hands, pick up the kettlebell by the handle and sit back in a hinge, bending first and more deeply at the hips, then at the knees.
2. From the hinged position, swing the kettlebell back and behind your knees.
3. Swing the kettlebell up to shoulder level with your arms straight as you thrust your hips forward and raise your torso back into the standing position.
• Make sure your butt muscles are engaged by squeezing your glutes together tightly.
• Do not raise the kettlebell with your arms. Your arms and the kettlebell should feel weightless through the entire motion.

4. At the top of the swing, remember to keep your arms straight, thrust your hips forward, straighten your knees, and swing the kettlebell no higher than chest level as you rise to a standing position.
• Do not bend back at the top of the motion.

The first thing to understand with kettlebells is that you must link your body together into one strong chain of action.

  • This principle ensures that you will not be placing too much pressure on any one joint or muscle. Additionally, it will secure the total-body principles on which kettlebells are built. Link your body by applying proper form, checking your alignment and center of gravity, and executing each move with a flow of motion.
  • Stay rooted into the ground. Never explode out with the kettlebell and find your heels or toes off balance or off the ground. In swinging motions espe- cially, keep yourself rooted and remember to engage the glutes.
  • In your swing, do not squat! Generate power with your hips by pushing your hips back toward the wall behind you (not by squatting to the floor) and then snapping your hips forward.
  • Do not hyperextend or bend your back into a backward bend. Your glutes must squeeze together before you can even attempt a backward bend.
  • Aim to squeeze your glutes before the kettlebell reaches face level—as it does, pop the hip forward and consciously let the kettlebell fall back behind the knees.
  • At the hinge, the kettlebell falls above and behind the knees. At the standing position, it comes up to face level and no higher.
  • Speed comes from making sure your force and body drop the kettlebell down, not letting gravity do all the work.