“Weights Up, Ready Lift”

It was shortly after 0500AM Monday morning, and we had just completed a warm-up run and made our way back to the weight room. Everyone was trying to mentally prepare themselves for the suffering that was about to begin. It would all start with the words “weights up, ready lift”. It was high school football circuit training, and it was something that our head coach, Coach Carberry, viewed as a fundamental building block to developing exceptional athletes and the most mentally tough players in the county, if not the state. Circuit training consisted of roughly forty stations that in total worked every muscle of the body, each exercise lasting 12-15 seconds with only 5-10 seconds between stations. Exercises consisted of bench press, squat, power clean, trap bar, military press, leg presses, box jumps, neck-bridge bench, hack squats, jump rope, arm curls, leg curls, pull-ups, pushups, and a host of other challenging lifts. If you tried to cheat, everyone paid the price. There were multiple setups for the same exercise. It was an honor system, when you moved to a station you were expected to pick up the weight that was appropriate for you. If Coach caught you picking up a weight that he deemed too light (you always got caught, it was like the guy had eyes in the back of his head), Coach would wait until the exercise was completed and then say “take it back, Mike Gilbert didn’t pick up the varsity weight”. So, everyone got to do the same exercise again, while already fatigued from the prior lift. You didn’t want to be “that guy” that resulted in everyone having to go backwards during circuit training. We would start the summer with 1.5 circuits and work up to three by the end of the summer (with a few minutes for water in between each round). Following the completion of the circuits, we would make our way down to the stadium to run sprints up the stairs and a couple 220-yard track sprints. The coach monitored effort and only gave credit if everyone put out. In addition to building phenomenal strength, speed, and explosive power, this built a mental toughness that led to a conference championship and several league titles while I was at the school. Coach would always say “we may lose every game, but we will be the most well-conditioned and well-prepared team to step on the field and if we lose it will only be because the other team consisted of a superior set of athletes”.

Circuits are a series of exercises performed one after the other with minimal rest, where each set of exercises completes one circuit. The great thing about circuit training is that you can put it together using any number of different exercises, from working your entire body to focusing on just a couple different muscle groups. The combinations are endless, which keeps the workout both exciting and challenging.

There are a number of benefits of circuit training, some of these include: efficiency, cardiovascular health, weight management, muscle strength and muscle endurance. By executing a series of exercises with minimal rest in between, you can pack a ton of lifting in a very short period of time. Depending on what your goals are, this can be your best bang for your buck, with the “buck” being your time. Because of the intense lifting and minimal rest, you can push yourself into the high end of Zone 3 (heart rate = 70-80% of max heart rate), driving significant improvements in cardiovascular fitness.  With sustained time in Zone 3 and at times the lower end of Zone 4, you will be actively burning calories at a significant pace (it’s not uncommon for me to burn 400-500 calories in 25-30 minutes of intense circuit training) aiding in weight management. By gradually increasing the length and/or intensity of the circuit training (progressive overload), you will build further strength and endurance as your body adapts to the training.

For many years following high school and into my mid-thirties, I focused on just lifting weights using standard sets (3 sets, 10 reps of Bench Press, then 3 sets, 10 reps of inclined bench press, etc. etc.) while I found I could build and maintain decent strength and endurance, I didn’t burn a significant number of calories and with 1-2 minutes of rest in between sets, workouts would drag out in excess of an hour during a period in which I was time constrained between work and my personal life. While I felt strong, I didn’t feel incredibly fit. I began to build my own circuit training program. Instead of doing full body circuits, I broke it into three days of weight lifting: Chest & Triceps, Biceps & Back, Legs & Shoulders. After I had a solid routine in place, I added in two days of plyo/agility circuits to maintain agility and explosiveness.

Prior to starting any circuit, I do a brisk walk (5-10 mins) and then dynamic stretching (5-10 mins) to warm up. This helps to loosen up the muscles and get the heart rate elevated. I then go into the circuit which is typically 2-3 rounds consisting of 12 exercises with 8-12 reps per exercise, with a 2-minute water break in between each circuit. I alternate between muscle groups (example: chest, triceps, chest, triceps, chest, triceps) to allow for momentary recovery. This gets me roughly 24-36 sets, all within 25-30 minutes. Here’s an example of a Chest & Triceps circuit that I perform:

• Dumbbell Bench Press 10-12 Reps
• Triceps Dumbbell Kickbacks 10-12 Reps
• Regular Pushups 25-30 Reps
• Standing Dumbbell Triceps Extension 10-12 Reps
• Inclined Dumbbell Bench Press 10-12 Reps
• Triceps Dumbbell Kickbacks 10-12 Reps
• Wide Pushups 25-30 Reps
• Dumbbell One-Arm Triceps Extension (Forward) 10-12 Reps
• Dumbbell Bench Press Flys 10-12 Reps
• Dumbbell One-Arm Triceps Extension (Side) 10-12 Reps
• Diamond Pushups 15-20 Reps Triceps Dips 25-30 Reps

While this style of training is not for everyone, it has tremendous advantages for those that may be time constrained and want to maximize their output. I have gotten more into running over the past several years and circuit training has been a massive help for me in maintaining strength and endurance while freeing up time to invest in my running, my main focus area. While circuit training may not be something that is a long-term focus, it can also be used to just break up the monotony of your current program while stimulating an adaptation that improves your overall fitness. Weights up!!!