BJJ Kettlebell Workout—Or Anyone That Needs Explosiveness

There are a lot of things to think about when you want to perform at your best for BJJ or MMA, Explosiveness and Cardio are two of them, in fact, if you need explosiveness or cardio in any sport the following workout will be great. Explosiveness in particular for the legs, hips, and shoulders, and in the vertical plane.

Even if you’re not into Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, MMA or other combat sport, the following workout is simply awesome.

You can watch the video of the workout above, prior to the workout I performed a mobility/flexibility routine which is BJJ/MMA specific, in particular for getting up and take-downs. You can unlock that video below, or if you’re a free member just sign in to watch.

The WOD

Racked Sit-up & Get-up AKA Shin Box Get-up into
Racked Alternating Take-down Lunge (pulsing)
Racked Forward Lunge

8 minutes

You can read the full details on the above here.

Next are 3 sets consisting of a kettlebell combo with two kettlebells:

  • Dead Clean (Squat Style)
  • Squat Thruster
  • Snatch

4 minutes work and 2 minutes rest

3 minutes work and 2 minutes rest

2 minutes work and straight into 100 kettlebell swings followed by 50 chest push-ups.

Side note: I would not have put the chest push-ups in had it not been for my son asking “can we do something for the chest”, so feel free to leave them out if you just want to work on your explosiveness and cardio. If you want to stay inline with the goal of explosiveness then just do 3 to 5 reps as explosive as possible and rest. Or turn it into clap push-ups.

There is only so long you can maintain explosiveness, so do what you can in the work time but take a few seconds to recover and regain some explosiveness, if you do this for the first time it might be you only get two good ones out and need to take 10 seconds or more before your next set, eventually you might be able to get 4, 5 or 10 out, push yourself further each time but keep an eye on whether you’re still working explosively or just going through the motions.

The weight needs to be light to medium, if you go heavy you won’t be able to complete the work as intended. You can do the combo with heavy weight, but do two reps and rest.

There is a lot that can be said about all the exercises, I’m just going to jot down a few pointers for you and you can ask questions in our discussion group.

KETTLEBELL DEAD CLEAN

  • Kettlebells dead to the ground each time
  • Kettlebells straight up and straight down in one line
  • It’s a squat, not a hip hinge
  • Obtain proper insert and rack each time (free pdf)

KETTLEBELL SQUAT THRUSTER

  • Keep torso upright, look ahead
  • Use the legs to thrust the weight up
  • Obtain full lockout overhead

KETTLEBELL FULL SNATCH

  • Keep the kettlebells close to the body on the drop
  • It’s a hip hinge not a squat
  • Obtain full lockout overhead

Plenty of videos on the snatch on our Youtube channel, subscribe and check it out.

A shout out is always appreciated if you like these workouts and/or use them.

Check out another workout that you might like here.

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