Alongside some serious lifting, British swimming superstar Adam Peaty uses the following bodyweight workout – often completed at the end of his training week – to rev his metabolism and keep his fast-twitch muscles firing.
Complete the following exercises as a circuit, doing 45-60 secs of each and resting 15 secs between moves.
Aim for 4 rounds in total.
Adam Peaty: Bodyweight Workout
- Kettlebell swing
- Alternating V-Up
- Countermovement Jump
- Press-Up
- Feet-Elevated Crunch
- Lunge
1a. Kettlebell Swing
Why: To create an explosive hip drive and strong glutes.
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and push the kettlebell off your body to start the swing.
- As you lower, hinge at the hips by pushing your glutes back.
- When you feel a stretch in your hamstrings, drive your hips forward, swinging the kettlebell up.
- Don’t worry too much about how high the kettlebell gets – the snap at the hips and drive through the glutes is more important than air time.
1b. Alternating V-Up
Why: To build core strength and single-limb proprioception.
- Lie on your back with legs out flat and your arms extended overhead.
- Keeping your arms close to your ears, contract your abs to press your lower back into the ground.
- Point your toes and, squeezing your quads and glutes, lift one leg and upper back off the ground, while reaching your opposite hand forward to meet your foot.
- Keep your core engaged as you slowly lower to the starting position.
- Repeat on the other side.
1c. Countermovement Jump
Why: To build explosivity and train the fast-twitch muscle fibres in the lower body.
- Stand tall.
- Drop into a quarter squat, then immediately extend through the knees and hips to jump as high as possible.
- Land softly, reset and repeat.
1d. Press-Up
Why: To build strong shoulders and pecs, plus a stable core.
- When you lower, aim to keep your elbows tucked into your body. If you let them flare out it will place extra strain on your elbow joints, which could lead to injury.
- Make sure your hips are level throughout the exercise.
- If you let them sag it’ll put strain on your lower back. It’s also a sign that you’ve lost core control, so keep them up to make sure that you’re staying stable.
1e. Feet-Elevated Crunch
Why: To build core strength.
- Lie on your back, pressing your lower back into the floor, with fingers on temples.
- Maintaining this position, lift your feet off the ground.
- Now raise your upper back, too.
- From here, bring your knees and elbows in to touch somewhere above your chest.
- Maintain tension in your abs as you lower back down – without letting your feet touch the floor.
1f. Lunge
Why: To improve proprioception, hip mobility and lower-body strength.
- From standing, take a big step forward with one foot.
- Now bend at both knees, so your back knee drops towards the floor and your front leg forms a right angle.
- Make sure your front knee doesn’t extend beyond your front toes.
- Drive through your front heel to step back to standing, then repeat on the other leg.
Aim to complete 4 rounds of this bodyweight workout from Adam Peaty.
Adam Peaty is wearing the latest Castore Spring/Summer ’22 collection in this workout. Visit castore.com
Photography: Ben Lumley / Castore
