Hi everyone,
Yesterday saw us try out our new Watan Challenge for the month. If you did not know, we run a challenge each month on our website, it’s designed for anyone to have a go at and post their times once they have tried it. It’s just a bit of fun, I am the only one who has put up any times yet, so I don’t know whether that is because no one has attempted it or are too shy to put their times up. This month we have picked a challenge that Martin Rooney came up with a year ago (He is a Strength Conditioner from the States) It is a press up challenge with a bit of a twist and is pretty hard, but worth while having a crack at, just to see where you’re at (I failed it by a minute) and was pretty pissed off about it. I will have a go every week this month until I get there. It will be on HERE on July 1st.
I left off on the last blog having explained a bit about terminology that you will come across for Strength Training, so I am going to go a bit further now and give a brief description how to train for the most popular types of Strength Training. Starting out with Circuit training, which as I stated in my last blog is my preferred method of training for anyone starting out trying to increase their Strength. It is also a great method to start with Athletes who have had a break and Kids who are just starting on the Strength training ladder.
What is Circuit Training?
Circuit Training is a number of exercises, usually around 6-10 that are done one after another, with a short rest period in between Exercises.
You would perform each exercise at an Exercise Station.
You would start at the first exercise station, complete it and then move to the next one and so on. After completion of all the exercises and a slightly longer rest period you would start at exercise station number 1 again and repeat. You would repeat the CIRCUIT for the prescribed amount of times, normally three, but can be more or less if required.
Circuits are very easy to put together and many can be done anywhere, especially body weight types.
The amount of repetitions that you do for each exercise will vary, depending on what your ultimate goal is, for example if you are after training for endurance, then you may do 15-20 repetitions of each exercise, or another way that you could do it, would be the use of timed stations. So each exercise station could be for 15-60 seconds in duration or even longer. Another common practice if training in a group is that one of the exercise stations would be chosen as the timing station, so all other exercise stations will stop work when the Timing station has completed the desired number of repetitions.
The Circuit training method can be used for Maximal Strength training, Muscular Hypertrophy and Power Training, so it is not limited to just endurance training, although that is the most common use.
To train for Strength etc, just requires manipulation of the loading of the exercises, repetitions and rest/recovery times (longer rest times are very important for the development of Strength and Power). Circuits for Strength and Power can be very advantageous if the exercises are grouped in the right order, as the rest between working body parts are quite long. To get my drift, if you had an exercise that worked the muscles of the back on Station one, had 2 minutes rest before moving to station two which worked the muscles of the Shoulder and then onto Station three and did a leg exercise, before going on to a back exercise at station four, you would have had 6 minutes total rest for the back muscles before actually working them again, but you have also worked other body parts in between, making this a very time efficient method of training and giving decent recovery to the muscles of the back before working them again. (As I said longer rest is essential for Strength and Power development).
As I am going to deal with the most basic form of circuit, here is a sample Muscular Endurance Circuit suitable for the Beginner or someone coming back to training after injury or long layoff.
Before starting the circuit you should do a Warm up.
The warm up should include some light movement such as Jogging, side stepping, jumping jacks, skipping and some light stretching for all the major body parts. The stretches should be held for no more than 15 seconds per stretch.
Once you are adequately warmed up, you can start your circuit. The first circuit should be done at an easy pace, to get your muscles warmed up for the working circuits.
Ex 1. The Body weight Squat. Work for 30 secs.
Ex 2. The Press up. Work for 30 secs.
Ex 3. Abdominal exercise. Work for 30 secs.
Ex 4. The Overhead Press. Work for 30 secs.
Ex 5. The Pull up. Work for 30 secs.
Ex 6. The Lateral Lunge. Work for 30 secs.
Ex 7. The Bridge. Work for 30 secs.
Ex 8. The Shuttle run. Work for 30 secs.
You should have 15 seconds rest in between each exercise station.
You should have 90 seconds rest in between each circuit
Complete 1 to 3 circuits depending on fitness level.
Finally you should always Warm Down. This should be a 6 minute jog, slowing down to a steady walk.
Finally you should stretch all the major muscle groups for 15 to 30 seconds before getting showered and changed.
You can see from the example circuit above that you need very little equipment and definitely do not need to be in a Gym. The Circuit would be ideal for your home or in a Park. If you wanted, you could mix it in with a light jog or walk. To up the exercise intensity (effort) you can make the times of the exercises longer or you could reduce the rest times between circuits and exercises, or both.
To summarise, Circuit training is very versatile and can be done with no equipment at all if you use your imagination or ingenuity or just use bodyweight for all exercises. You don’t have to travel far, there is no expense (only energy) and you can do it at anytime. So no excuses get out there and start today.
Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by
striking.
You can find information on a whole host of exercises, training sessions, warming up and cooling down on My Website its completely free to register and all the information is free too.
Hope you have a top day!!
Steve
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