View this post on InstagramCrush your abs with this kettlebell burner! Try it out and tag @primal.methods to get featured 👊🏽🔥⚡️ . 5 sets -30 seconds each exercise -rest 30 to 60 seconds in between sets . Looking to switch up your routine and start making some serious gains? Check out my NEW 8 Week Shredding Program! . ‼️18 workouts programmed for 8 weeks to help you get lean while staying mobile and strong! . Workouts Combine barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells and bodyweight exercises! . Go to the link in my bio to get started ‼️
We think Eric Leija is one of our best representatives. Yes, he’s one of the fittest people we’ve ever seen, and a great poster boy for the whey protein and kettlebells we sell, but he’s also humble, good-natured, and a fine example of what Onnit is really all about—improving every aspect of your life by not neglecting any aspect of it.
You can read about how the man known as Primal Swoledier on Instagram (and Onnit Gym’s kettlebell coach) came to be HERE. And if you want to get an idea of how he got the body of a superhero, take a gander at the sample workout he provides below. As in his life outside the gym, Leija is open-minded when it comes to training, combining elements of old-school strength work with kettlebells, bodyweight conditioning, and mobility. The result is a body that looks great, moves better, is resistant to injury, and can do anything he demands of it on a moment’s notice.
The Primal Swoledier Workout
The following is an example of the kind of strength training Leija does himself and prescribes to clients. Alternate sets of the first two exercises (1A and 1B), and then go on to the kettlebell circuit (directions below). After that, you’ll finish the workout with an EMOM (directions below).
1A Squat
Sets: 5 Reps: 5
Step 1. Set up in a squat rack and grasp the bar with your hands as far apart as is comfortable. Step under the rack and squeeze your shoulder blades together and down, wedging yourself under the bar so that it rests on your traps or the back of your shoulders.
Step 2. Nudge the bar out of the rack and step back, setting your feet between hip and shoulder-width with your toes turned slightly outward. Without letting your feet actually move, try to screw both legs into the floor as if you were standing on grass and wanted to twist it up—you’ll feel your glutes tighten and the arches in your feet rise.
Step 3. Pull your ribs down and take a deep breath into your belly and brace your core. Your head, spine, and pelvis should form a long line—your pelvis should also be perpendicular to your spine, and not tilted toward the floor. Focus your eyes on a point straight in front of you.
Step 4. Bend your hips back as if you were going to sit in a chair, continuing to screw your feet down. Allow your knees to bend and push them out as you lower your body down. Go as low as you can while keeping your alignment. Ideally, you’ll be able to descend to where the crease of your hips is below the top of your thighs.
Your knees must stay in line with your toes. Trying to push them out and actively root your feet into the ground will all but ensure this.
Step 5. Extend your hips and knees to return to standing, pushing through the middle of your feet and squeezing your glutes.
1B Scap Pullup
Sets: 5 Reps: 8–10
Step 1. Hang from a pullup bar with hands outside shoulder width.
Step 2. Draw your shoulder blades down and together to pull your body up closer to the bar—but don’t bend your elbows. Think of the movement as a reverse shrug. You’re just using your upper back muscles to rise up.
Kettlebell Circuit
Set a timer for 15 minutes. Perform the exercises as a circuit, completing one set of each in sequence, and rest as little as possible between moves. Complete as many rounds of the circuit as you can before time runs out.
A Push Press
Reps: 10 (each side)
Step 1. Hold a kettlebell in one hand at shoulder level, and reach your other arm out 90 degrees to help you maintain balance. Stand with feet about hip width and brace your core.
Step 2. Drop into a quarter-squat, initiating the descent by bending your knees and flexing your hips back slightly. Keep your head, spine, and pelvis in line so your back is flat and your eyes and head are forward. You don’t want to turn this leg drive portion of the lift into a squat, so only bend your knees enough to get some momentum, and don’t hinge your hips too much. Imagine yourself doing the move against a wall and sliding your torso up and down it—you should be upright.
Step 3. As soon as you’ve dipped, extend your hips and knees explosively to stand up straight, driving through your heels, and simultaneously press the weight straight overhead. Complete your reps on that side, and then switch sides and repeat.
B Hanging Leg Raise
Reps: As many as possible
Step 1. Hang from a chinup bar. Your palms can face forward or each other, if the bar allows. Tuck your tailbone under and pull your legs together to create tension.
Step 2. Raise your legs as high as you can, allowing your torso to tilt backward as they rise. If that’s too hard, raise your legs to 90 degrees only.
C Pullup
Reps: 5
Step 1. Hang from a pullup bar with hands outside shoulder width.
Step 2. Draw your shoulder blades back and together as you pull your body up until your chin is over the bar.
D Kettlebell Swing
Reps: 15
Step 1. Stand behind a kettlebell with feet shoulder-width apart. Pull your shoulder blades back together and downward and, keeping a long spine, bend your hips back until you can grasp the kettlebell handle.
Step 2. Lift the weight off the floor and hike it back between your legs. Keep your long spine position—your head, back, and hips should all be in a straight line.
Step 3. When you feel a stretch in your glutes, squeeze them and extend your hips explosively, so that the power in your hips drives the weight up in front of you. Allow your arms to let the weight extend to arms’ length and face height. Then reverse the motion.
Finisher
Start a stopwatch. Perform 10 reps of the goblet squat, every minute on the minute, for 5 minutes. So, when the clock says 0:00, you’ll begin your first set. However much time is left between when you’ve finished 10 reps and the top of the next minute (1:00) is your rest period.
Goblet Squat
Step 1. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart. Hold a single dumbbell at your chest with both hands, just underneath your chin. Your shoulders should be back and down—proud-chest position.
Step 2. Brace your core. Keeping a long spine from your head to your pelvis, sit back and spread your knees apart to squat down as deeply as you can without losing alignment.
Step 3. Squeeze your glutes as you come back up to standing.
The Primal Swoledier Diet
Breakfast
Homemade chia pudding made with coconut milk, chia seeds, protein powder, blueberries, and bee pollen
Pre-Workout
Total Strength and Performance and ShroomTech Sport
[Workout #1]
Post-Workout Shake
Protein powder mixed with water and ½ banana
Snack
Apple or protein bar
Lunch
Tuna salad made with 2 cans tuna fish seasoned with salsa and ½ avocado
1 handful raw nuts
[Workout #2, Leija runs in the afternoon]
Post-Workout Shake
Protein powder mixed with water and ½ banana
Dinner
Fish or chicken with stir-fried vegetables and rice, cooked in avocado oil
Leija avoids adding salt to meals so that he won’t retain excess water—he wants to stay as lean as possible to shoot his Instagram videos.
Leija’ Post-Workout Slushy
On very hot days, he’ll make a slushy with several Onnit products and eat it after workouts to keep his energy up. Here’s the recipe:
Juice of 1 whole lemon
2 scoops Total Strength and Performance
1 serving Glutamine
1 serving Joint Oil
Blend all the ingredients with ice cubes to a slushy consistency.
Visit Leija at ericleija.com, and follow him on Instagram, @primal.swoledier.
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