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Kettlebell Office Breaks Mini Workouts

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MajorTom76

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I am doing S&S and loving the program since April. I resolved to do it because I’m tired of sitting all day in my home office and knew this lifestyle wasn’t sustainable.

However I still needed something to do every 40 to 60 minutes as a work break. I read that being active throughout the day is much better for you than sitting all day with one intense workout before or after work. There are health and productivity benefits.

I tried walking and rucking on top of S&S which is great until it gets hot outside. I always liked the idea of creating FitDeck style cards but for Kettlebell and body weight exercises done at random.

Fitdeck Illustrated Exercise Playing Cards for Guided Workouts
https://a.co/d/3OBWgOi

Any advisement on what is the best way to incorporate workouts throughout the day? If I were to design a program or create random cards, what would be the most optimal way to structure that? I probably want to include snatches, squats, dead lifts…
 
I am doing S&S and loving the program since April. I resolved to do it because I’m tired of sitting all day in my home office and knew this lifestyle wasn’t sustainable.

However I still needed something to do every 40 to 60 minutes as a work break. I read that being active throughout the day is much better for you than sitting all day with one intense workout before or after work. There are health and productivity benefits.

I tried walking and rucking on top of S&S which is great until it gets hot outside. I always liked the idea of creating FitDeck style cards but for Kettlebell and body weight exercises done at random.

Fitdeck Illustrated Exercise Playing Cards for Guided Workouts
https://a.co/d/3OBWgOi

Any advisement on what is the best way to incorporate workouts throughout the day? If I were to design a program or create random cards, what would be the most optimal way to structure that? I probably want to include snatches, squats, dead lifts…
The Big 6, plus push up, pull up, SLSQ, SLDL, lunge, step up, plank, stir the pot, Swiss ball hams, banded lateral steps, , jump rope, KB chest press ( use the Swiss ball for a bench ), that's 18 cards, pull one every 30 mins. or so.
 
The Big 6, plus push up, pull up, SLSQ, SLDL, lunge, step up, plank, stir the pot, Swiss ball hams, banded lateral steps, , jump rope, KB chest press ( use the Swiss ball for a bench ), that's 18 cards, pull one every 30 mins. or so.
Okay thanks, I actually discovered the kettlebell through the book Simple Six and it’s been something I always wanted to incorporate. I think I’ve got plenty to create an office workout program now, thanks folks!
 
I also had a long period working online and this is what I came up with.

1. Dowel, staff, mace type movements. Shoulder dislocations, stretches etc.
2. Strength stretching (movements that build both strength to some extent and stretch at the same time: (lunges, Romanian deadlift hamstring stretch with light dumbells or one leg deadlift, scales, crawling etc.)
3. Isometrics (L-sit bodyweight hold progressions).
4. Grip and forearm work: (pinch, gripper, loaded carries, wrist curls, etc.)
5. Shoulder and hip mobility and ankle mobility, YTWLs, banded pull aparts, hip flexor stretch etc.
7. GTG pushups or whatever.
8. Kata, footwork, shadow boxing drills for martial artists.

Of course, KB work but I found it more productive to work on stuff that I might neglect and that was skill or mobility related and didn't make me sweat much or take more than five minutes or so for breaks. I saved my main workouts for workout time after work was done.

You can do these throughout the day or come up with A and B lists and alternate days. Change the focus or exercise within the same category every couple of weeks. Random is fine but if you have a fixed work schedule, routine might work better. Do the same thing at a certain time of day.

Do whatever you tend to neglect first is a good strategy.

Of course, it depends on your home environment, clothing, type of work and many factors.
 
Great article! I was just wondering if you warm up for each of these little mini sessions as well. I could imagine that it increases the risk of injury by ... 8 times ? :D Fabio Zonin has shared his thoughts on this on the comments of the article, but my concerns still remain. Any other/further thoughts ?
 
Great article! I was just wondering if you warm up for each of these little mini sessions as well. I could imagine that it increases the risk of injury by ... 8 times ? :D Fabio Zonin has shared his thoughts on this on the comments of the article, but my concerns still remain. Any other/further thoughts ?
I did zero warm up, aside from walking from my desk to the bell. No injuries for me, but YMMV. I found with only doing 3-4 reps per set my form didn't suffer from fatigue, and my mind was fully focused as they were such short sets.
 
I was also going to recommend the aforementioned article by @Fabio Zonin. It's excellent.

One thing I had students do years ago was 10 pushups every hour. They averaged 100/day and then 3,000/month without getting tired! The low volume allows you to do perfect form and generate max tension for each rep thereby increasing your improvement. (If 10 is too challenging, just do 5 or whatever number leaves a few more perfect reps in the tank.) You won't break a sweat but you'll make some impressive improvement.
 
@MajorTom76
I don't work at home, but during the school year (I'm a teacher) I do a lot of my training in mini-sessions throughout the work day during breaks in my office. I can often accumulate quite a bit of volume over the course of a day or week without it getting in the way of my work schedule and without ever breaking a sweat. It's a great way to train if it fits into your circumstances.

If I am working a specific program, I just spread the work out during the day. For instance, I might be doing a structured program for C&P and doing Q&D for ballistics. So I'll just spread out my total sets or total time for the C&P program on days when I do that, and I'll do Q&D in blocks of 1-4 series at a time (I will sometimes do more than 5 series, occasionally substantially more, in the course of a day).

Personally, I would never just randomly do whatever in my mini-sessions. It's either part of a structured program, or at least a structured daily plan (e.g., "I'm going to do sets of 3, 5, and 7 double front squats today). I just think of the short sessions as "spreading out the work" (SOTW ©), and it can apply to many types of programs, although not necessarily with exactly the same effects as doing the programs in a longer continuous session.

Two dimensions that this kind of training is missing are sustained repeated efforts and low intensity sustained cardio. So that's what I usually do on weekends. For instance, I might do some combination of an hour on the NordicTrack skier, Q&D snatches with 015 timing (10 x 10 starting a set every 3:00), and clubbell swinging.

I'm at a point where logistics and maintaining continuity of the training process trump all. Once I'm done with my work day, I'm pretty mentally and emotionally spent, and if I don't get my training in during the day somehow, I'm probably not going to do it afterward, although I might throw in a few sets of something I don't have the equipment for in my office, such as ring pullups or dips.

"Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are" (attributed to Theodore Roosevelt, but he himself attributed it a Bill Widener of Widener’s Valley, Virginia).
 
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