Art of Strength: Providence

Brief review - but something's better than nothing. It'll be in point form.

1. I'm new to kettlebells - this was my very first workout using them, so kept to the lightest I own, 4kg.

2. Being shown the moves immediately prior to performing them was good.

3. I liked the outdoor setting - harbour or river, with oldish city-scape behind. Felt good.

4. 50min was good, I could have easily done without the full 1min break between every round, but then again, I did only use 4kg. With a heavier I may indeed need that minute.

5. I felt gently encouraged throughout, with reminders like "if you need a break, now's the time to take it" being well placed.

This is a 50 minute kettlebell workout, using a variety of poundage based on the exercise. Anthony leads the workout alone in an outdoor setting, there is two minutes of work followed by one minute of rest, for 14 rounds, followed by a bonus 3 minute round of snatches (!!) There is no stretch in the workout, although the rounds are preceded by a joint mobility warm up. The music is very good and fun in this one! Production quality is good. The screen changes to blue during the one minute rests and tells you which exercise is next and which round you are on, and provides some motivation such as "keep going" and "you're doing great" and such.

Each round is two minutes long (there's a great vertical countdown timer as well) and the rounds include:

-Round 1: Swings (double arm/single arm/alternating)

-Round 2: Cleans (5/4/3/2/1 strength ladder then alternate when you're running out of time)

-Round 3: Laying chest press with one arm (5/4/3/2/1 strength ladder then alternate when you're running out of time)-Anthony stresses form when transferring the bell from one arm to the other

-Round 4: Squats (bell in clean position) and Sumo Squats (double hand grip) 30 seconds each exercise then switch, for the second round hold bell in other hand for squats

-Round 5: One legged Deadlift (use a lighter bell gripped with both hands, Anthony goes very slowly, 5/4/3/2/1 strength ladder then alternate at the end of the round)

-Round 6: Windmill into Overhead Squat (alternate these two exercises, at one minute mark switch bell to other hand)

-Round 7: Clean and Press (5/4/3/2/1 strength ladder then alternate at the end)

-Round 8: High Pull and Squat (optional toss for the experienced)-straight through for the entire two minutes and this really works endurance!)

-Round 9: Tactical Lunges-backwards dip and pass bell under back leg; alternate legs for entirety

-Round 10: Triple Crush-great upper body workout, holding the bell upside down, bicep curl into overhead tricep extension (first 30 seconds complete exercise, then triceps press only, then biceps only, last 30 seconds do complete exercise)-this really works the arms and also gives the legs a chance to rest

-Round 11: Figure 8 and Slingshot (swings with passing a bell between the leg and back into a clean position, switch sides; slingshot take the bell and circles it around your torso, switching grip behind your back), alternate these two exercises for 30 seconds, switching direction for slingshot the second time around.

-Round 12: Seated Press-in a wide straddle position, perform overhead presses (5/4/3/2/1 strength ladder sequence)-by this time my arms are fatigued and since there's no lower body compensation, this is tough!

-Round 13: One Arm back rows in lunge position (5/4/3/2/1 strength ladder sequence)

-Round 14: Abs (40 seconds each of pullover into crunch, Russian twists, and crunch into chest press and a second crunch)-good ab burn here and rounds out the workout

-Bonus Round-3 minutes of snatches. I'd like to work up to this but at the amount I am fatigued, feel it would be safer to do swings instead.

My thoughts on the workout: for a $50 workout (!) which I was able to pick up for about $30 (and I had to shop around for this price-it can't be found cheap), it was fun and high quality (LOVED the music), but I was disappointed that there was no stretch at the end. For this price of a workout for one 50-minute DVD, I would think it should be a complete workout! Nevertheless, the music really helped me to drive through each set and I loved the variety of exercises. I don't know if it was more challenging for the upper body or for the lower body! And of course the core was engaged with each exercise and touched upon with the ab set. And unlike many kettlebell workouts which are kettlebell lite, I feel like you can go heavy with this one (it is time-based, so you can try to follow Anthony's speed or go at your own pace), the exercises, while fun and varied, are standard and you can generally use a challenging poundage. I used my heaviest (25#) for the swings, 20-25# for most of the work, and 15# when I was really starting to get tired or for some of the trickier work like the one leg deadlifts and the figure 8 work, whereas in kettlebell lite workouts I am usually limited to my 10-15# bells. I have done this workout twice and am already growing with it-I just about need a heavier bell already! (I'm also doing other kettlebell workouts). This is definitely a challenging DVD (I would say advanced if using very challenging poundage) but can be flexible for anyone depending on poundage used. The rests are very helpful for you to recover and then really push yourself during the rounds. I will definitely be using this one on a regular basis, and likely picking up more AOS workouts (regardless of the hefty price tag)! On the whole grade A! (would have been an A+ if it had a stretch!)

Note: I noticed (upon reading the VF review of Kettlebell Way Vol. 1 A New Providence) that these two workouts are the same. (Thanks to Kath for breaking down the workout!)