Clutter is the disease of fitness. We are strangled in unnecessary supplements, superfluous workouts, pompous hyperbole. Who, really, can understand what is being said anymore, or what to believe? There is, on one end, the affected, bombastic advertisement writer, and, on the other, the garrulous academic; one is arrogant, the other ignorant; both are intolerable and both are a nuisance.
One will make you a promise, and not deliver. The other, who, after an intense workout announces he is experiencing a considerable rate of perceived exhaustion wouldn’t think of saying he was tired. No, the sentence is too simple—likely there is something wrong with it.
It was chilly weather when Jen Sinkler came to town, and I was excited to see her lip gloss in person. I like Jen. She keeps it simple, and isn’t afraid to say what other people say, better. She uses plain English, and the words of everyday. She talks to the common man, authentically, directly, and on his level. She makes long words short, and adverbs disappear; she strips each sentence down to its fewest components, and so every word has its place, and serves a function, and isn’t just cumbering a paragraph for no good reason.
She does the same for exercise, too, hacking and hacking away, little by little, until every unnecessary exercise, every pointless distraction, and every circular frill, is gone. There are a thousand and one adulterants that weaken the strength of an exercise program, Jen has gotten rid of them all, and what you are left with when you work with her is something rather vigorous, and concise.
I am picky about the way people write, and I am even pickier about the way people exercise. I am picky about oysters, and I am picky about beer. I am picky about wine, too. I think a person has to be picky, ultimately, if they want to get anywhere in life. Because if you’re not picky, well, it tells me you have very little taste, or no taste at all. And without taste, there is no standard, and without standards, people have nothing to measure themselves against, and have no lofty thing to aspire to. Without standards, people would walk around with underwear on their head, eat nothing but gravy out of a can, write like the editor of a medical journal, and exercise like a Crossfi—butthead. I’m sure of it.
Jen let me put her through a workout, then I asked her to put me through one, too. I chose armor building and swings, because I wanted to impress her and think me inventive, so I stole from Dan John.
– Pat
PS – If you enjoy this type of minimalist training, and want a little more help putting it all together, well I want you to pick up a copy of Jen’s Lift Weights Faster program HERE (which is brimming with “cardio” workouts, if you can even call them by that name, that burn fat and build muscle).
Simply, I want you to have this because 1) I know it will help you reach your strength and fat loss goals in the simplest, most straightforward manner, and 2) it is just the most charming and delightful conditioning and fat loss program I’ve ever seen, and it’s well worth it JUST for the conditioning workout library alone (which might feature one of the finest workouts I’ve ever put together).
So, if you want a conditioning and fat loss program that 1) actually works (and quick, too) and 2) is a whole heck of a lot of fun, well, Jen was super cool and put her whole Lift Weights Faster program at a pretty ridiculous discount, just for whoever reads this post, and suffered through my writing.
It is a rare thing when I recommend other people’s programs on my website; I almost never do it. My word is my guarantee. But time is of the essence, because the discount for Lift Weights Faster goes poof on Sunday.
I am consistently intrigued by your writing style, Pat–love it, and it keeps your posts interesting and engaging!
Quick question on form–it looks like Jen is keeping her arms tucked and thereby shortening the arc the bell travels. Is there a reason for that? Different level of power production?
Simply, Jen has a “softer” style with the arms. Neither is right, neither is wrong–different, is all. As far as force production, observe what the hips are doing, not the arms. Some swing style aim for efficiency, where the hinge is shallow and less aggressive. For us, we are shooting for inefficiency, or maximum force production, and so extending the hips as aggressively as possible.
Is this Your answer ??
3x15min a week ??
I will tested 🙂
I’m sorry but I see nothing different about this short WOD than I would any other AMRAP metcon done in any Crossfit class I’ve taken. Call me a CF butthead, but I too speak pretty straight forward and never sugarcoat crap.
Btw well done on the WOD. 😉
There are two distinct difference between how I do things, and how Crossfit does them:
1. My metcons are not done “against the clock”, or in a competitive format. Strictly, “rest as much as you need, but as little as you have to” as to complete all your movement with faultless form is my recommendation. With Crossfit, you get more mush than you do movement.
2. Movement selection. Olympic lifting for time, kipping pull ups, box jumps–these are all very poor choices for metabolic conditioning, and I would never have a person do them against the clock less I had something against them.
Did this yesterday. Didn’t sound too tough, but wow, it was a BURNER! 🙂
Hey Jen and Pat –
Thank you for another awesome workout! Just curious, what size bells are you each using in this video?
Thank you!
Jessica
Hi Jessica, Jen is using 2 x 16kg, and I am using 2 x 24kg. Or it may have been the other way around.
Haha – it very well could have been…Jen looks strong! Thank you!
Any particular reason why you don’t swing 2 KBs?
You can swing two kettlebells, if you really want, nothing wrong with that.
I enjoyed the workout i bave checked out some of Jen’s moves and really enjoy some of her stretching.
She’s got really great stuff, doesn’t she Danl?
Pat,
I want to add farmers walks to this complex. Should I do a walk with every round or do them separate as a finisher outside the 15 minutes? I currently use 90 lbs per hand and a set is 58 yds (down and back in my driveway). Thanks.
Walter, I would keep them separate. Don’t won’t to overload the grip (and other such things) too much–it will interrupt the tempo.
So what workout did Jen put you through, or is that for an upcoming post?
I would also like to thank you for all of the useful information you put out.
Cheers!
Coming soon Mike…if Jen ever emails it to me………………………..
This is a great exercise. I like it very much. I am always very interested in the news and exercises you are posting dear Pat. You give me a huge positive impulse for doing the right exercises with kettlebells.