CIRCUIT CIRCUS BY LARA McGLASHAN WORK YOURSELF INTO A LEAN LATHER WITH THIS HIGH INTENSITY TRAINING TECHNIQUE Want to simultaneously build muscle, increase muscular separation and burn fat? Try circuit training, a technique that minimises rest between sets of resistance-training exercises. The faster pace of this kind of training can make a typically anaerobic resistance-training workout highly aerobic, helping you burn more calories in the same amount of time as well as improving muscular and cardiovascular endurance. ° Think of circuits as one-stop workout shopping – because they’re so versatile they can be adapted to fit your every need. Only have three days a week to train? Create a total body weight and cardio circuit to cover all your bases in a short amount of time. Need to sharpen your sports skills? Devise a circuit utilising the muscles and moves needed most in your game. Bored with the same old, same old? Do a week of circuits and find a renewed pleasure in working out. Whatever your need, there is a circuit to fit your plan. As for building muscle, circuits can do that too. While many dedicated ironheads might pass on circuits, believing them to be girly or easy, they should reconsider their apathy. “By regulating the rest intervals between sets and exercises, your hormonal concentration of testosterone, GH and IGF can be augmented to induce protein synthesis and muscle growth,” says Duncan French, exercise physiologist and performance sports manager at Northumbria University in Newcastle. In lay-speak, that means you can actually increase muscle mass while at same time reducing bodyfat, therefore improving overall body composition. “The faster pace of a circuit can also help improve your neural response, meaning that your body becomes better at firing its nerves, eventually allowing you to lift more weight than previously,” says French. Add to that the afterburn effect of this depleting sort of workout (when the body continues to burn fat after exercise in order to restore its pre-exercise state) and you’ve got yourself a muscle-building and body-leaning programme all in one. So are you convinced you should try circuits? (Hint: yes, you are.) Fabulous – so let’s get started. PLAN OF ATTACK First, what’s your goal? Are you looking to get leaner? More cut? Maybe you want to run faster or jump higher for your sport. Whatever your goals, there’s a circuit programme for you. “An effective circuit can address several components of fitness all at once, including aerobic endurance, strength, power, speed, even flexibility,” says French. Play with the circuit format and see what works for you. For instance, if you’re a runner looking to increase muscular endurance, try doing timed circuits in which you complete as many reps as you can in the allotted time frame. If you’re a bodybuilder looking to increase muscle size and definition, implement a total body drop set circuit once a week to push your muscles to failure and encourage growth. You can even inject a cardio circuit into your week to accelerate fat loss and increase your aerobic capacity. The possibilities are literally endless. SET-UP FOR SUCCESS The great thing about circuit training is you can do it anywhere, any time. All you need is a little innovation and some foresight. If you train at a gym, proximity is your friend when devising a routine. Choose machines that are close to one another and move any free weights you plan on using into the immediate vicinity to avoid trekking cross-gym to retrieve them. In addition, have alternative exercises or areas in mind if the ones you planned on utilising are occupato when you arrive gym-side. If you’re in a time crunch or are training at home without access to a lot of equipment, use multi-joint or bodyweight exercises such as push-ups, pull-ups, dips, squats and lunges to get the most bang for your circuit buck. Plyometrics are also great options here, as they require no equipment and will quickly exhaust many muscle groups at once – including your heart! Try implementing some box jumps, squat leaps, bounding or clapping push ups into your circuit. A FEW RULES AND REGS • Whether you’re training at home or in the gym, always do a 5 to 10-minute warm-up to prepare the body for your workout, then begin by working the largest muscle groups first. • If you’re doing a total body session, train each bodypart at least once, starting with legs, chest and back, and progressively working down to the biceps, triceps, shoulders and abs. • If you’re doing a circuit with a single bodypart such as legs, begin with multi-joint motions like squats or lunges before moving to leg extensions and calf raises. • Because circuit training is typically a high-repetition, high-intensity format, you won’t be able to lift your normally incredible, jaw-dropping poundages. Since you’ll likely be getting in more than 15 to 20 repetitions per exercise, lower your weight increments accordingly to keep from burning out in the first 10 minutes. But be warned: lighter weights can still kick your ass, not to mention provide great benefits. “Lighter weights used with high repetitions help build muscle endurance and create separation while promoting fat loss and giving you an incredible pump,” remarks French. • Always end your session with a 5 to 10 minute cool-down, allowing your heart rate and core temperature to return to normal. Follow your cool-down with 10 to 15 minutes of static stretching to minimise soreness and fatigue the next day. • Circuit training is intense, especially if you’re not used to it. As a beginner, leave at least 72 hours between each session for full recovery, 48 if you’re more advanced. In-between circuit sessions, you can do steady-state cardio, regular weight training or underwater basket weaving – whatever you like, as long as you’re circuit-free for at least 48 hours. So get in the gym and start your circuits. Try some of the suggested plans that follow or come up with your own killer routine. As we said, the possibilities are endless. SUGGESTED GEAR • STOPWATCH: a must for those doing timed circuits. Set the watch’s alarm to go off every minute, two minutes – whatever you’ve chosen as your time allotment – so you can move smoothly from one exercise to the next without having to continually check your watch. • HEART RATE MONITOR: essential if you’re doing cardio circuits or plyometrics. This training tool will help keep you in your target zone and can let you know if you’re slacking off or pushing too hard. WORKOUT WARRIOR TRY SOME OF THESE CIRCUITS FOR INCREASING MUSCULAR SIZE, ENDURANCE OR SPORTS PERFORMANCE. • COMPETITION CIRCUITS: challenge yourself to complete as many reps as possible in the allotted time (30 to 60 seconds). • NUMBERED ENDURANCE CIRCUITS: pick a high number of reps – 20 to 30 – and do that for each exercise. • WEIGHT/CARDIO COMBOS: do one minute each of 1 to 3 exercises, then 1 to 3 minutes of cardio. Repeat with three new exercises and a new cardio station. • HIGH-INTENSITY CARDIOVASCULAR ENDURANCE: move from one cardio activity to another, doing 5 to 15 minutes of intervals or high intensity steady state on each one. • MUSCLE-BUILDING SUPERSET OR DROP SET CIRCUITS: try hitting one bodypart per week with a circuit, or do an entire week of drop sets to shock the muscles. • SPORTS-SPECIFIC CIRCUITS: put together a programme of skills to enhance your sports performance. • PARTNER CIRCUIT: as you perform an exercise for a full minute, your partner ‘rests’ by doing a cardio activity such as high knees, jumping jacks or skipping. Since you’ll likely be getting in more than 15 to 20 repetitions per exercise, lower your weight increments accordingly to keep from burning out in the first 10 minutes. M&F