Posts Tagged ‘circuit workout’

This Calls For A Celebration!

Guess what I did the other night????

Guess what I did tonight? FINISHED my personal training reading. Now I just have to review and study, study, study!
@TinaFFF
Tina Reale

That’s right, baby! I finished reading up all the material for my personal training certification. This calls for a celebration!

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I feel like I learned a lot through the material, but certainly need to go back and refresh myself on everything. I foresee lots of nights going over my flashcards and  the practice exams in my future. Looks like I may reach that goal of taking the test and getting certified by November. Woo!

Even though I need to study in the traditional ways, I can still practice in the truest sense of the word and train myself. Which is exactly what I did this week with two fantabulous strength training sessions I plan to share with you now. Open-mouthed smile

First up – leg work!

Right now, with half marathon training, I want to focus on endurance, stability, and power. That means less focus on heavy lifting, but still keeping my legs in top form.

For this workout, I kept the weights light and went through the moves in a circuit format – moving from one move to the next only allowing 30 seconds rest between each set. I completed three sets of this circuit.

Now onto the upper body work! Since I can have more rest and recovery for my upper body training, I feel good pushing it a bit. I alternate between strength focused and endurance focused work. This week focused on endurance and stability.

I completed each set of exercises grouped by color as a superset for 3 sets of each exercise with as much weight as possible. The challenge comes in doing supersets with one basic strength training move immediately followed by a stability move for the same body part. Killer! I had to pay close attention to my form because this workout was such a challenge.

If you have any questions about any of the moves or how I laid these out, feel free to ask. You can also check out my guest post for Laura on how I got started with strength training, if interested. Obviously – I love talking weights! Smile

  • What do you like training more – upper or lower body?

Workout Disclaimer: I am not a certified trainer and simply share my personal workout ideas. If you choose to use these workouts in your own training, you do so at your own risk.

Also, thank you for all the comments, tweets, “stumbles”, emails, etc on my earlier post looking into my first binge. I am toying with the idea of continuing this as a series expressing key moments in my journey through binge eating. If I do, it would span many weeks because it is certainly a touchy topic that I wish to expose, but also I do not want to overwhelm the blog. Your support of this topic is immeasurable to me.

Posted by on September 28th, 2011 49 Comments

Challenge The Body: Circuit Training

Remember all that good food making substantial fuel for my workout this morning? Well, I wasn’t joking. Apparently, my love for circuit training comes with good reason. The full body style workouts broken into three mini circuits always leave my body challenged and me with an endorphin rush. Today’s workout looked like this:

Mini Circuit 1 Mini Circuit 2 Mini Circuit 3
push-ups step-ups leg extension
decline bench crunches lat pulldown flat dumbbell bench press
rear delt dumbbell raises pop/jump lunges kettlebell woodchops
hammer bicep curls kickbacks

I also followed that up with 30 minutes on the elliptical completing one of my favorite cardio intervals.

Minutes Resistance Speed / Intensity
3 minutes 7 light
2 minutes 11 quick / moderate
1 minute 15 quick / hard

Repeat the 3-2-1 combo for six total intervals and embrace the sweat. But let’s get back to the circuits shall we?

3 Reasons To Love Circuit Training

  • Circuit workouts challenge both strength and cardiovascular endurance. Going through a circuit, completing each strength training move one right after the other, gets the heart pumping while still focusing on building strength. The two combined can certainly push the body in new ways.
  • Circuit workouts provide an efficient and effective workout. I can complete a full body workout  in half the time because the circuit allows me to go continuously without stopping for breaks between each exercise.
  • Circuit workouts have endless variety. Simply switching up the order of moves can stimulate the workout and make it feel new. I can toss in so many different moves to never have a stagnant routine!

Don’t Allow These 3 Things To Keep Your From Trying Circuit Training

  • Problem: Taking up too much equipment or space. Solution: Pick exercises that all use dumbbells or free weights. Plan out a routine that incorporates more bodyweight exercises. Consider equipment grouped together in the gym and focus on moves easily done in one concentrated area. Visit the gym at a down time to have extra space/equipment available. If all else fails, you can share!
  • Problem: Don’t want to look silly going from move to move. Solution: Go in with a plan and possibly even an idea of some back-up exercises. Also, remember most gym goers are more concerned with themselves than someone else’s workout. And I tend to think people moving through circuits look like they know what they’re doing and are in there to work.
  • Problem: Circuits will be too difficult. Solution: Choose simpler moves. Complete a shorter circuit. Focus on basics. Go through a circuit only one time through and gradually build to going through two, then three, then four times per circuit.

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I believe circuits are well worth the effort. They may take a little adjusting and have a bit of a learning curve when first incorporating them into a workout plan, but I find nothing like a great circuit when it comes to strength training. I simply plan out a good basic outline and plug in different moves – which no matter what combination I choose, always provides a quality workout. I like to do circuits that follow a pattern like below:

  • lower body move
  • chest or back move
  • plyometric or other compound body move (like burpees or kettlebell swings)
  • lower body move
  • chest or back move (whichever I didn’t do earlier)
  • shoulders, biceps, or triceps move
  • shoulders, biceps, or triceps move

I may also add in some core work or split the above into mini-circuits like I’ve done recently. I simply like to alternate between upper body and lower body work, focus on the larger muscle groups, and add in some extra plyometrics or other short bursts of cardio to really keep my heart rate up. I like to call it methodical madness. It may seem crazy hopping from one exercise to another, but I always keep my movements controlled with good form. I don’t rush through the workout. Methodical madness sounds about right…and it works for me.

Ever tried circuit training? If yes – do you like it? If no – what holds you back?

Posted by on July 5th, 2011 54 Comments

 

 
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Posted: November 16, 2011 at 7:54 am

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