I went to the AOS forum and asked about the best way to use the AOS dvds/kettlebells. These are the replies I got:
first reply:
I do Cathe's Core Max every day.
Then I tend to rotate:
Day 1. Heavy Kettlebells and Sandbags
Day 2. Firepower or Newport DVD's
Day 3. Ropes, Rings, Sledgehammer, Macebell and 3-4 miles running
Day 4. Repeat the cycle or pick something else
I find that mixing heavy days with stamina days helps balance out my training and it keeps it fresh.
The second reply:
You could do something like this:
Monday: Providence
Tues & Thurs: Newport
Weds: Firepower
Friday: Santa Monica
Sat & sunday off or something else
Or you could rotate them every week so that it takes a few weeks to get through all of them.
Like this:
week 1 MWF Providence T TH Newport
Week 2 MWF Newport T TH Firepower
Week 3 MWF Santa Monica T TH Newport
Week 4 MWF Newport T TH Providence
Best thing is to experiment. As for strength vs conditioning with all of these workouts you get both. Providence, Firepower and Santa Monica can be done with the heaviest kettlebells, Newport requires lighter ones because it is more focused on speed conditioning. Santa Monica has the option to do interval training with ropes between sets and you can select the rest periods so as to make it harder- 15 sec, 30 sec or 60 sec rests between rounds.
You say you can lift heavy. So what is heavy to you? Kettlebells require more strength for less weight (like Olympic Lifting) because the weights are used ballistically ( swings, snatches, cleans, figure 8 to a hold). Double Front squats with kettlebells are harder that squats with dumbells or behind the neck. It uses more core strength than traditional body building routines. That's why you don't see much "ab work" in kettlebell workouts. If you are swinging a 20 kg bell or snatching 16kg or doing TGU's with 12 or 16 kg you will get plenty of ab work.
Bottom line is you get more bang for your buck with kettlebells than anything else. Which is good if you have a busy life. These workouts will get you in better shape than anything else you have ever done in a shorter period of time. They aren't "easy" workouts but they are fun and you will be pleased with what you can accomplish.
HTH
the third reply:
Kettlebells can be used at the same time for both strength and metabolic conditioning (cardio). Since it a total body strength and conditioning tool you may want to throw out the old upper/ lower body mindset and cardio vs strength training as this is a system that works everything together rather than a bunch of parts ala bodybuilding. You might want to read Anthony's article that talks about the failure of modern training to achieve real conditioning:
http://www.artofstrength.com/tabid/349/Default.aspx
You could to set up a plan to do light, medium, and heavy days for overall strength and the other days for speed conditioning. Providence and Firepower can be used for strength training and Newport is much more conditioning oriented since it is faster and you have to use lighter KB for that. Santa Monica is a hybrid that does both. I am not familiar with Empire since I don't have it but I have all the others. I used to do a rotation of these DVD's so that I did each of them once an week. Or you could alternate them from week to week. You can certainly train with kettlebells up to 5 times a week but have to alternate between heavier and lighter days. The thing about these DVD's is that which ever one you decide to do you will be getting "cardio" even though you are emphasising strength.
I used to do workout DVD's like Cathe Friederich's but since I started using kettlebells about a year and half ago, I got rid of all those because frankly the AOS stuff and kettlebells in general are a much harder workout and have given me the best condition of my life in less time that I used to waste with Cathe or the Firm or anything else. I only go to a gym 2 times a week to do heavy deadlifts anymore. You may think you are advanced but when you start doing something like Providence or Firepower with a heavy enough KB( heavy in my book is 16kg and above) you realize the other stuff was just child's play.
Since you have all of them you should experiment with doing each of them once a week until you get a feel for what size bells work best to give you a tough workout. You will need at least one pair of same sized bells for Firepower and maybe more since your upper body may not be as strong as your lower. Same with Providence. So for Firepower a pair of 16kg and 12kg would work. With Providence 20kg to 12kg depending on the set. With Newport an 8kg bell will be fine since it is more speed oriented and the moves are faster. Santa Monica I have only done once and I will have to get a better feel for - it is set up so that you can use dumbells and a barbell for overhead squats. I'm probably going to get an Olympic bar for that.
Right now I am finishing up ETK ROP so after Christmas I will be going back to the DVD rotations with the addition of the Strength in Motion workbook.
So my advice to you is to experiment with alternating the DVD's and have fun. Break out of the old workout mindset and don't be afraid to try different combinations.
HTH
I personally found this info VERY informative, I hope you do also!
I am thinking of trying something along the lines of the second reply in January (or maybe next week.....
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