Today I wanted to see where I was and whether I’ve still got the strength to go back to using weights in workouts to get more out of the time spent.

So in honour of the song by Pearl Jam, “Alive”, I decided to call this functional workout “Still alive”.

So, splits were:
5 min warmup row

4 sets of following exercises:
10 x kettlebell squat to shoulder press
10 x kettlebell bent over row
10 x kettlebell deadlift to lateral raise (so bells endup just below chin)
10 x kettlebell pushup (pushups using big ass kettlebell, aiming for chest to dip below handles)
2 min rest between reps

Aim was to do weights light enough to complete the 4 sets, which worked.
Completed this in 26 mins (33 min total – 5 min row – 2 mins warmup / finding bells, setting up space); with 395 Kcal (which wasn’t enough). The last pushups rep took at least 4 mins as well (last few were agony), so when stronger there, should complete the workout quicker.

My aim is to burn 500Kcal in each workout session, so decided to do a short cardio on top of this to push out the burn, so did:
20 x lateral box jumps (1 step)
20 x lateral box jumps (2 steps)
10 x kettlebell swings
10 x lateral box jumps (2 steps)
10 x kettlebell swings
20 x lateral box jumps (2 steps)
Lateral jumps were jumps side to side over Reebok step thingy, then HR back to 130.
Last 10 of last 20 jumps was hardest.

According to my HRM:
Ended with 506 Kcal, with total time of 41min, including the row.
32m in the zone (between 120 odd, and 157 odd).
Avg HR of 131.
Max HR of 161.

Notes to self:
Last pushup set was hardest of them all. Ended up doing alternating pushups on the step moving left to right to see how far I could go. In general, it worked – I was totally pooped by the time I got into the shower, and when shaving getting my arms up was sore.

To get this to 800 Kcal, will add a good HIIT run on top. But we’re not there yet