- The workout features elements of high intensity aerobics combined with muscle building strength and conditioning. If you can’t reach the nominated number of stepup repetitions (40), reduce the number while maintaining the pace. For example, do the stepups at fast pace for 30 seconds instead of 40 seconds and so on.
- In the warmup or beforehand, choose a set of dumbbells with which you can complete 10-12 lifts of the overhead press and the arm curl for one set of 10-12 repetitions. Try not to reduce the dumbbell weight during the program. You need to try to get this weight at the limit of your existing strength and endurance so that you just about fail at number 12 lift. This is called 12 RM, repetition maximum.
- Try to choose weights and stepup repetitions that you can stick with for the complete circuit once you commence. Do three circuits for a total of about 45 minutes with ten minutes warmup and ten cool down.
- The intervals between exercises are deliberately minimal and are mainly changeover time. This is designed to keep that heart rate pulsing along at greater than 70 per cent of your maximum output, which is where you get good training effect and metabolism increases.
- One other point: in this higher-intensity zone, strength development and aerobic fitness are more likely to be complementary. Long and slow endurance training conflicts with strength training. The body’s muscle response is contradictory and the results can be disappointing (Nader 2006).
- You could use a stair stepper machine if you do this circuit in a gym. However, one of the keys to circuit training is to have a minimal interval between exercises. So you would need to ensure a swift transition to the stepper from the area where you plan to do the dumbbell exercises.
- The number of exercises in the circuit has deliberately been minimized so that the program is easy to learn and easy to recall for immediate implementation.
- There are no shortcuts to fat loss and fitness when it comes to exercise: you can go "hard and short" or "slow and long" or somewhere in between. This circuit program is somewhere in between. I can promise that your butt will be hangin' out at the end of it if you max it out.
Note: The program is designed as a higher-intensity exercise program. You should get a medical clearance if you have been inactive for some time or have an existing medical condition. In addition, please observe the warmup and cool down periods and stop exercising on the occurrence of unusual pain of any sort.
Check Points
- Start slowly and build up; that’s the key. You could do one or two circuits to start with until you get familiar with the program. If you choose to ramp it up, increase the number of circuits. Further along, you could increase the step repetitions, the dumbbell exercise sets or even the dumbbell weight.
- It’s important to keep the weights heavy enough for 10-12 RM, which means you can’t do more than 10-12 lifts without your good form failing.
- It’s very important to maintain good form with each lift. The upper-body lifts in particular should not be done so fast as to lose form and concentration in the target muscles.
- Use each exercise to work the abdominals. Although none of the five exercises targets the abdominals directly, remember to pull those abs into the brace position in preparation for each lift. Do the same when working the stepup. Practice stepping with the abs braced. It sounds a bit odd, but it works after you get used to it. And it doesn’t affect your breathing. Bracing the abs is not the same as holding your breath; neither is bracing the abs ‘pulling your belly button toward your back’ like some trainers seem to recommend. It should feel similar to the contraction in the abdominals as you cough or clear the throat.
- Use a heart rate monitor or manual pulse check if you wish to keep track of the intensity. Calculate your potential maximum heart rate with the formula 220 minus your age. For a forty year old, this would be 220-40 = 180 beats per minute (bpm). This is only a guide and more sophisticated formulae are available yet not required here. Continuing with the example above, a training rate goal would be 70 per cent of 180, which is 126 bpm. Let’s say the range is 120-130 bpm.
- To make sure you are exercising in a safe zone, particularly if you are unfit or have a medical condition, combine the training heart rate zone with the talk test. The talk test implies that you are able to converse adequately, if not altogether comfortably, while exercising. You should never feel completely breathless and unable to talk in this program. If so: slow down, do fewer stepups, and move more slowly between exercises.
- If you don't bother with heart rate monitoring -- and most people don't -- bear in mind that this circuit is designed to raise the heart rate to the point where you are breathing 'somewhat hard' on the perceived exertion scale, yet without being breathless and unable to talk at all.
That's it. Good luck. Let me know how you go, or if you have any questions.
Sources
Park SK, Park JH, Kwon YC, Kim HS, Yoon MS, Park HT. The effect of combined aerobic and resistance exercise training on abdominal fat in obese middle-aged women. Journal of Physiological Anthropology and Applied Human Science, 22, 129-135, 2003
LeMura LM, von Duvillard SP, Andreacci J, Klebez JM, Chelland SA, Russo J. Lipid and lipoprotein profiles, cardiovascular fitness, body composition, and diet during and after resistance, aerobic and combination training in young women. Eur J Appl Physiol.(5-6):451-8, 2000.
Nader GA. Concurrent strength and endurance training: from molecules to man. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2006 Nov;38(11):1965-70.
