New Workout: Kettle Bell

I got this about a month ago and have integrated it into my workout plan. So my current exercise plan is as follows:

• Running 3+ miles, 4-5 times per week
• Riding my mountain bike 6-7 times per week (I ride to work ever day so I get in at least 4 miles, but 2-3 times per week I will ride 10+ miles)
• Riding my road bike at least once a week for a ~20 mile ride
• Calisthenics 5+ times a week (push-ups, planks, pull-ups/chin-ups) mixed in with dumbbell work
• And finally the kettle bell and the workout that came with it that I try to do 2-3 times per week

Here is the kettle bell:

And here is the guy that is extra positive and light-spoken, think the opposite of P90x or Insanity that you see on the commercials:

I do both the beginner and advanced workouts and, including warm-up, cool down and stretching, it takes about 30 minutes. I have not done any lower body lifting recently so the first time I did this, I could hardly walk the next day. But as is usually the case, every time after that first time I haven't really had any soreness the next day.

In order to make the workout more difficult I have added in my 20 lb. weight vest and it definitely does the trick. I'll post more about my experiments with the weight vest later.

Overall, I like the workout; it gives me something set in stone that I can follow when I can't go outside or when I want to have a set 30 minute workout. It gets my muscles working, times everything for me, and really takes the thinking out the workout. This is good because there's no pressure involved in thinking of new things to do. It definitely gets me sweating, gets my cardio up, and has a good cool down afterwards as well.