Adventures in circuit training
So I haven’t blogged in two weeks but I’ve been making good progress. I had a little set-back right after my last blog because my gym buddy got sick and I, as I predicted, felt less motivated to work out. I really only did cardio about three times that week and it was nothing to write home about. By the following week (last week) I had guilted myself back into doing a real workout. My buddy was still sick and taking it easy, but I wasn’t phased. TB has also not been terribly motivational and has kind of been slacking with going in the evenings so I just concentrated on doing my workout in the afternoon. That’s good for me though, I have much more energy at 12 – 3 then I do at 7 pm when TB like to go to 24 Hour fitness. So, onto my new workout…
So this worked really well for me last week and I think I’m going to try to stick with it for a couple of weeks. I’ve always known in the back of my mind that I really need to get serious about circuit training to get the results I’m looking for so I decided to do it last week. Here’s the basic workout:
Warm-up
30 min of cardio alternate between low and high intensity. 1 min low (level 2 – 5) followed by 2 min high (level 10 – 15) and continue like that for 30 min.
…this really get’s my heart rate up!
Circuit training
Moving rapidly between each station (no more than 15 sec rest) I do each of these exercises to exhaustion (usually between 10 – 20 reps). I rest 1-2 min between each complete circuit. I usually go for 4 complete circuits.
1) Peck deck fly – 30 lbs
2) Bicep curls – 40 lbs
3) Tricep pushdowns – 45lbs
4) Seated row – 45 lbs
5) Shoulder press – 15 lb dumbbells
6) Seated leg press – 140 lbs
7) Seated calve raises – 140 lbs
8) Hamstring curl – 55 lbs
9) Leg extension – 45 lbs
10) Walking lunges – holding 2 10 lb dumbbells, I walk 1 time around the racketball court. This is approx 40 steps.
11) Back extension –10 lb plate
12) Stability ball V-up crunches – count of 20
13) Stability Ball Bicycle Maneuver – 30 seconds
14) Stability ball crossover crunch - count of 20 on each side
15) Stability ball reverse crossover crunch - count of 20 on each side
I ‘m pretty happy with this routine for now. I started it last Monday and I was feeling it for a few days. I introduced my workout partner to it today but time only allowed us to get through the upper body portion and abs so we basically did steps 1 – 5 and 12 – 13 for 3 complete circuits. I’ll probably hit the gym after work and do lower body.
So my tentative workout schedule going forward would look something like this:
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Sunday – High intensity cardio
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Monday – Circuit training
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Tuesday – Circuit training
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Wed – off
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Thursday – Stability Ball Class
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Friday – Strength training
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Saturday – off
…I might have to adjust the schedule a little to accommodate my buddy but that’s the jist of it. I plan to take new progress pics tonight so keep your eyes peeled!
PS – Eating is under control too. I’ve been doing limited carbs and high protein. I’m currently restricting to appox. 1200 calories a day. The typical menu mostly consists of chicken, fish or eggs, veggies, cottage cheese and my Power Crunch bars. Lots of water too.
