What Do You Know About Circuit Training?

Are you bored with your traditional training, why not take it up a notch and do some circuit training? It’s a process of training, rather than specific exercises. You do several exercises in a row without taking a break. You then do the same sequence of exercises another time or two. With traditional training, you may do all one type of exercise, take a break, then move on to the next. Circuit training can be grueling, since you don’t rest between exercise stations, but it’s extremely effective and can save time.

You can do circuit training a number of different ways.

You can do a timed circuit, a repetition circuit, a sports specific circuit or one for competition. In a repetition circuit you do a specific number of reps, then move to the next station. At a timed circuit, you spend a certain amount of time, such as a minute, at each station before you move to the next. Sports specific training uses only exercises focusing on a specific sport and competition training is geared to see how many reps you can do in a specific amount of time—adding a sense of competition to the timed circuit.

No matter what type of circuit training you do, it should always start with a warm-up.

Just like any workout, circuit training requires preparing your muscles for the workout. In fact, it may be even more important, since in many cases, you’re pushing yourself. The warm-up can be as simple as jumping rope, just making certain you get blood circulating in the part or parts of the body you’re going to exercise. Always end a circuit training session with a cool-down exercise.

Most circuit training sessions have 8-12 stations.

If you’re following traditional circuit training, you’ll want to target every major muscle group. Each muscle group has a station. You complete a specific number of repetitions at each station, which can take as little as 30 seconds or as long as three minutes, then move on to the next station without resting between exercises. You can repeat the circuit if you take a shorter time at each session or just go through the circuit once when you take a longer time.

• You can create your own circuit at home and use bodyweight exercises. Do 30 seconds of each, squats and squat jumps, planks, jumping jacks, walking lunges, push-ups, burpees, side planks and a bridge.
• When you do circuit training, form is far more important than speed. Don’t ramp up intensity until you’re sure your form is perfect. Bad form diminishes the benefits and can lead to injury.
• Not only does circuit training incorporate strength training and flexibility training, but it also gets your heart beating hard, which makes it a good cardio workout.
• Circuit training is fast and can save time when you have a busy schedule. Since it tends to be more intense, you’ll get as much from a half hour workout as you would from a traditional 45 – an hour long one.

For more information, contact us today at Prime Fitness Studio