Formosa Fitness

Everyone has their version of the 300 workout but I guess it's more of a concept and an inspiration than anything else. The workouts revolve around hard training as inspired by the movie. So here's a "Spartan workout" that I did yesterday for kettlebells:

100 swings

100 snatches

100 cleans

Total: 300 reps

I did these in long sets and took one minute rest in between the three sets. I used the 16kg kettlbell and hope to work up to the 20kg next. It was a hell of a workout and there was a puddle of sweat around me.

These long sets are an important piece of kettlebell training. They increase work volume -- your ability to move weight repeatedly over longer time -- and that's the whole point of kettlebell training in the first place. These ARE NOT just dummbbells in disguise. How you use them is quite different.

These longs sets are also absolutely necessary for discovering the "groove" for the techniques. I say that becasue it was only yesterday during this workout that I felt I truly understood the swing for the first time. There's a groove that the kettlebell must travel in and you need long sets to find it. They improve your technique as you struggle with the bell. You get more and more tired so you have to find more and more efficient ways of moving the bell. Only long sets will show you that.

I also do most everything with the 16kg kettlebell these days. I rarely use the others except an 8kg and a 12kg to warmup. I'm stressing technique and mastery of the bell, but I do throw in some heavy bell work on other days. More on that later.

So if you've been training kettlebells for a little while and your hands are conditioned, try out the 300 workout above and let me know how you did!