Here are the next two workouts in the 20 Day Kettlebell Challenge! Today, Monday, you will do the Upper Cardio Blast and tomorrow, Tuesday, you will do the Lower Cardio Blast.
Each workout is only 12 minutes! The key here is to push yourself to the max for that entire 12 minutes. After you finish the 12 minutes, you could try to do some light cardio for 10-20 minutes to get an additional calorie burn. Just remember, focus on those 12 minutes and make sure to give it your absolute best! Enjoy!
Monday, November 17th, Kettlebell Upper Cardio Blast:
Kettlebell Upper Cardio Blast
Tuesday, November 18th, Kettlebell Lower Cardio Blast:
Here are today’s and Saturday’s workouts for the 20 day Kettlebell Challenge. This is Day 5 and Day 6 of the challenge. Day 7 is a rest day. These two workouts are going to really challenge you. The Kettlebell Cardio will get your heart rate fired up and build that lean, strong muscle mass that helps tone and shape up the physique! The Kettlebell Full Body workout will really target all the large muscle groups to achieve a good burn and help your body get into fat blasting mode! The workouts are below. Have fun and enjoy your weekend!
I hope you had fun with Day 1 and 2 of the kettlebell challenge! Here is Day 3 & 4. Remember, concentrate on executing each exercise move with the best form possible. Focus on your breathing. Focus on having good posture and contracting in your core during each exercise move. And as always, EAT CLEAN and make sure you are eating ENOUGH LEAN PROTEIN to feed your muscles the fuel they need to recover for your next workout.
Starting today, Monday November 10th, is the 20 Day Kettlebell Challenge. This will keep you fit and motivated throughout the Thanksgiving Holiday (and hopefully help get you through all the temptations that the holiday season brings!).
If you have never used kettlebells before, don’t worry. The exercises that you do with kettlebells is VERY similar to what you do with dumbbells. If you can’t figure out form or a specific exercise, just youtube it!
The 20 Day Kettlebell Challenge will work like this….
Get a set of 10’s, 15’s and 20 pound kettlebells – or just use the ones at your gym
Make sure you are subscribed to this blog so you receive the workouts via email
Pin the workouts to a board on your Pinterest account so that you can easily access it when you are working out
I will be posting two workouts every other day. For example, I will post Monday & Tuesday’s workouts on Monday…and I will post Wednesday and Thursday’s workouts on Wednesday. So be sure to check your email for the workouts every other day!
Eat clean, train dirty: Try to eat unprocessed whole foods and avoid alcohol and binge eating on pumpkin pie!
Here are your first two workouts for Monday & Tuesday!
Monday – Upper Body Kettlebell Workout:
Upper Body Workout – Monday
Tuesday – Lower Body Workout
Lower Body Workout – Tuesday
After completing the kettlebell portion of the workout, attempt to do 10 minutes of cardio either running outdoors or on the elliptical, treadmill or stair climber at your gym. Try to do intense interval training cardio for 10 minutes (50 seconds maximum effort with 10 seconds recovery, repeat 10 times for a total of 10 minutes).
The final week is here, congrats on making it to week #5! Below is the workout schedule and routines for the final week of October. Rock out these workouts and then give yourself a nice rest day on November 1st because you earned it!
Take a look back at what you did this month. Ask yourself what worked, and what didn’t work. Was there a specific workout routine that you really liked? Any specific exercise move that really boosted your progress towards your goals? How were your eating habits this month? Do you feel like you lost the excess fat you were looking to shed off this month? If you did, WAY TO GO! That means that your diet was on point this month. If you feel like you didn’t shed that excess weight, than it is your diet that is holding you back from achieving your weight loss goals. You are either eating too much or too little, too much sugar/fat/carbs or too little protein & carbs. You need protein and carbs to fuel your workouts. But, at the same time, you need to eat in moderation and make sure you aren’t eating too much fat and carbs (especially saturated fats and processed carbs and sugar). Take this free Seven Day Detox & the Clean Eating Plan to get a jump start on revamping your diet so you can shed the excess weight!
I have included three template workouts below: one for the upper body, one for the lower body and one template for a cardio workout. You can use these templates to create your own workouts. This week I want you to choose your favorite upper body exercise moves and plug them into the upper body workout routine template below. Also choose your favorite lower body exercise moves and plug them into the lower body template below. Do the same for the cardio workout routine too. And if you don’t have the time to figure out your fav moves, just do the workout routines as shown below. The goal here, is to start having fun with your workouts by adding your fav moves to the routine you do.
Final Week Workout Schedule:
Monday {October 27th}: Upper Body Workout
Tuesday {October 28th}: Lower Body Workout
Wednesday {October 29th}: Cardio Workout
Thursday {October 30th}: Upper Body Workout
Friday {October 31st}: Lower Body Workout
Saturday-Sunday REST, you made it through the 31 Day October Barbell Challenge!
Important Notes: Make sure you plug in compound exercises versus isolation exercise into the workout routine templates below. Compound exercises are multi-joint movements that work several muscles or muscle groups at one time. Isolation exercises only work one muscle or muscle group and one joint at one time. An example of a compound exercise would be a squat, lunge, bench press, chin up. An example of an isolation exercise would be a tricep kickback, bicep curl, or quad extension (usually using the commercial weight machines at the gym). Including one-two isolation moves in your workouts is okay, but just make sure a majority of the exercise moves in your workout routine are compound exercises.
Final Week Workout Routines:
Upper Body Workout RoutineLower Body Workout RoutineCardio Workout Routine
It’s week four! You should be feeling stronger day-by-day and feeling more cut and slim too! If not, you are either eating too much or too little. Make sure you are getting enough protein daily, watch your macro-nutrient intake ratio (protein vs. fat vs. carbohydrate ratio) and you are drinking plenty of pure filtered water daily too!
Below are the workout routines for week #4. You will notice some new exercises, like chin ups and push ups. I want you to feel how much progress you have made so far (with strength gains) when you do these new exercises.
For example, before you started this barbell challenge, about how many push ups could you do before failure? How hard was it for you to do a push up? This week when you try the push ups, pay attention and be mindful of how many more reps or better form you can hold while doing your push ups.
Also, if you don’t have a means to do chin ups at home (get a chin up bar like this one I use) or just substitute for inverted rows or you can do bent-over barbell rows instead of the chin ups. However, if you can afford it, invest in getting a doorway chin up bar because chin ups are a fantastic exercise move!!!
Week #4 Workout Schedule:
October 20th {Monday}: Upper Body Workout
October 21st {Tuesday}: Cardio Workout
October 22nd {Wednesday}: Lower Body Workout
October 23rd {Thursday}: Upper Body Workout
October 24th {Friday}: Cardio Workout
October 25th {Saturday}: Lower Body Workout
October 26th {Sunday}: Rest Day
Week #4 Workout Routines:
Upper Body WorkoutLower Body WorkoutCardio Workout
Enjoy your week and have fun with each workout. Pat yourself on the back for making it to week #4!
This week is going to really burn, in a good way. The workout routines for this week are just a little more challenging, so get motivated to push yourself through each challenge. Take it one day-at-a-time, remember to always focus on form (quality over quantity), and HAVE FUN WITH IT!
By now, if you have been consistently following this workout program & sticking to a healthy, clean eating diet, you should be seeing some great results. If you are following a workout program but not seeing the results you want, 99% of the time it is because you are either eating too much of the wrong stuff, or eating too little.
You have got to watch your calorie intake, especially your macro-nutrient levels. If you aren’t getting enough protein, you won’t see any progress. If you are eating too much fat, sugar, carbohydrates, processed food, etc….you won’t be able to lose that excess layer of fat.
Below is the schedule and the workouts for this week. If you are just now joining us in this challenge…. check out this post for the details on what, how, why, when.
Remember that you can sub out the barbell and use dumbbells or kettlebells instead. Have fun with it!
Week #2 Workout Schedule:
October 6th {Monday}: Lower Body Routine
October 7th {Tuesday}: Upper Body Routine
October 8th {Wednesday}: Cardio Workout
October 9th {Thursday}: Lower Body Routine
October 10th {Friday}: Cardio or Optional Rest Day
October 11th {Saturday}: Upper Body Routine
October 12th {Sunday}: Rest Day
Week #2 Workout Routines:
In order to build a foundation and measure our progress, we are going to stick with the Lower & Upper Body Routines we did last week. These two routines are below.
Upper Body Workout – Week #2Lower Body Workout – Week #2Cardio Workout – Week #2
You can run on the treadmill or outside if you’d like to do that instead of the above HIIT Cardio routine on the days designated as cardio workout days. If you choose to do your own cardio routine, try to do an interval run instead of steady-state cardio. For example, after warming up for five minutes, run at your max pace for 1 minute and then a moderate recovery pace for 2 minutes. You would repeat these two intervals for 10 rounds, or a total of 30 minutes. You can run outdoors, on the treadmill or use an elliptical, rower, stair stepper, spin bike, or arc trainer for your cardio workout if you’d like.
Good Luck #BarbellBabes!
Leave your workout results and questions in the comments section below!
How did you do with the Lower Body Workout that was assigned for today?! Check out yesterday’s blog post if you missed the first workout of the October Barbell Challenge.
Below is the second workout for this week. It is an Upper Body Workout and you can use your barbell, or substitute it for dumbbells or kettlebells if you don’t have a barbell. You are going to use the heaviest weight that you can perform and max out at 8-10 reps with good form. Do four sets of 8-10 reps of each of the four barbell exercises. Then hit the cardio round for a little extra burn!
Comment to let us know how your workouts are going, if you have any questions, and how you are progressing along!
Let’s Recap on what you will get out of this challenge, what you will need to participate in the challenge, and also the simple steps to do the challenge.
What will I get out of the October Barbell Challenge?
Increase your metabolism
Burn fat
Lose unwanted weight
Build strength
Lose inches {all over your body}
Lower your body fat percentage
Consistently stick to a workout program
Fit into those skinny jeans!
Improve your fitness and endurance
WRITE DOWN THREE GOALS YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE IN OCTOBER
What will I need to participate in this challenge?
An Exercise Mat
A set of 5, 10, 15, and 20 lb. dumbbells or a barbell with enough weight to hit 40 lbs.
You can also use Kettlebells too, just make sure you have a set of 5, 10, 15 & 20 pounders
A Jump Rope
Step or a Bench for doing bench presses
Stop Watch {or use the stop watch app on your phone, I use this one}
If you’re working out at the gym, make sure you know where the above equipment is!
What, where, and how do I do this challenge?!
Every Sunday I will post your Upper Body & Lower Body Workout Routine for the week
Every Sunday, I will also post the workout schedule for that upcoming week
Every week YOU will do the Upper Body & Lower Body workouts, plus 1-2 cardio workout sessions
Each workout session will be between 20 – 45 minutes. Aim to do 4-5 workouts/week.
Make sure you have signed up to the Brave Angel blog so that you receive all the workouts and weekly schedule!
Week #1 Workout Schedule:
October 1st {Wednesday}: Lower Body Routine
October 2nd {Thursday}: Upper Body Routine
October 3rd {Friday}: Cardio Workout
October 4th {Saturday}: Lower Body Routine
October 5th {Sunday}: Rest Day
Week #1 Lower Body Routine:
Remember, you can substitute the barbell for dumbbells or kettlebells if you don’t have a barbell! Thursday’s workout routine {Upper Body Workout} will be posted tomorrow here on the blog, so make sure you have subscribed to our blog so you receive all of the workouts and weekly schedule for this challenge!
Warrior Girl Fitness 