A little advice

[Zozo]

I was just wondering if anyone could give me any advice:
I have been following a strength rotation for two months now (one month slow and heavy, second month gym styles) I have seen an unbelievable increase in strength, which is what I want, but I know that change is vital. So... I have tried to put together a circuit rotation. Will a circuit rotation set me back in terms of strength?

This is one week:
Sun: GS legs and core
Mon: GS chest and triceps with 1 minute intervals
Tuesday: Drill max lower body premix
Wednesday: GS shoulders, back and biceps with 1 minute intervals
Thursday: The viper + core work
Friday: Low max with push up intervals
Saturday: The Gauntlet

Any comments are welcome! Thank you

 

[Stacy]

For me, a circuit rotation was a nice change of pace, but when I followed one for too long I felt like I lost that hardness feel to my muscles, but it came back quickly when I jumped back into a more traditional weight training rotation.

To me your rotation looks a bit ambitious, especially for the lower body. Also there's no rest day which is going to lead to over-training and possibly injury. In your rotation what do you mean by "1 minute intervals"?? A circuit rotation alternates btwn strength and cardio....will you be doing 1 minute cardio bursts btwn strength sets???

 

[Zozo]

For me, a circuit rotation was a nice change of pace, but when I followed one for too long I felt like I lost that hardness feel to my muscles, but it came back quickly when I jumped back into a more traditional weight training rotation.

To me your rotation looks a bit ambitious, especially for the lower body. Also there's no rest day which is going to lead to over-training and possibly injury. In your rotation what do you mean by "1 minute intervals"?? A circuit rotation alternates btwn strength and cardio....will you be doing 1 minute cardio bursts btwn strength sets???

I very rarely do rest days, unless I am not at home and therefore cannot do a workout, but i understand what you are saying about overtraining, and I will consider it. By '1 minute intervals' I mean 1 minute of cardio: Probably jumping jacks or something similar.
I don't want to lose that 'hardness' to my muscles, so I think maybe 2 weeks only of a circuit rotation, just to get y body out of the routine it's in might do it.
In light of what you have said, I think I may change thursday's workout, or even take a rest day then: that way my lower body should be less tired. THank you very much for your response!
xxxxxxx

 

[morningstar]

Hi Zozo,

Your rotation is interesting. A couple of things might be problematic about it over the long haul, in my opinion.

Circuit training burns a ton of calories. However, the focus on cardio between strength segments actually keeps you from building strength comprehensively. You won't lose strength, but you won't make any major gains either. Which can be fine, if muscle maintenance and calorie burn is what you're going for.

It seems that every single workout is a circuit workout. Now, I love me some circuits, but I think I would burn out on them pretty damned fast if that's all I did.

You are not giving your various muscle parts time to recover - and growth happens in the recovery period, not the workout period. You may burn calories that way, but that's it.

I agree that an active recovery day (not a rest day) is important. I tend not to schedule them into my rotations because I know I will take them when I need them. Good choices for a recovery day are yoga, walking, hiking, playing frisbee, etc.

Given all that, and that I love to create rotations, here is my suggestion for slight changes to your week's rotation (if muscle building is your focus, though, I would not add in the 1 minute cardio intervals in your upper body strength work, and instead do a cardio session after your strength work):

Monday: Strength-lower body + core (GS legs and core)
Tuesday: Cardio (Drill Max Ultra Cardio Blast premix)
Wednesday: Active recovery
Thursday: Circuit - Chest and Triceps (GS chest and triceps with 1 minute intervals)
Friday: Cardio + core work (Low Max + core work)
Saturday: Circuit - Shoulders, Back and Biceps (GS shoulders, back and biceps- with 1 minute intervals)
Sunday: Cross Training (running, swimming, dancing, martial arts, calisthenics, running stairs, biking - just something different from Cathe workouts) OR active recovery if you need it

 

[Zozo]

Hi Zozo,

Your rotation is interesting. A couple of things might be problematic about it over the long haul, in my opinion.

Circuit training burns a ton of calories. However, the focus on cardio between strength segments actually keeps you from building strength comprehensively. You won't lose strength, but you won't make any major gains either. Which can be fine, if muscle maintenance and calorie burn is what you're going for.

It seems that every single workout is a circuit workout. Now, I love me some circuits, but I think I would burn out on them pretty damned fast if that's all I did.

You are not giving your various muscle parts time to recover - and growth happens in the recovery period, not the workout period. You may burn calories that way, but that's it.

I agree that an active recovery day (not a rest day) is important. I tend not to schedule them into my rotations because I know I will take them when I need them. Good choices for a recovery day are yoga, walking, hiking, playing frisbee, etc.

Given all that, and that I love to create rotations, here is my suggestion for slight changes to your week's rotation (if muscle building is your focus, though, I would not add in the 1 minute cardio intervals in your upper body strength work, and instead do a cardio session after your strength work):

Monday: Strength-lower body + core (GS legs and core)
Tuesday: Cardio (Drill Max Ultra Cardio Blast premix)
Wednesday: Active recovery
Thursday: Circuit - Chest and Triceps (GS chest and triceps with 1 minute intervals)
Friday: Cardio + core work (Low Max + core work)
Saturday: Circuit - Shoulders, Back and Biceps (GS shoulders, back and biceps- with 1 minute intervals)
Sunday: Cross Training (running, swimming, dancing, martial arts, calisthenics, running stairs, biking - just something different from Cathe workouts) OR active recovery if you need it

Thank you so much for putting this together for me! It does look a lot more, errm, sensible than my own I much prefer the term 'active recovery day' as well, so thankyou for that!
The only thing I think I won't follow is Sunday, as I am verylimited in my options as far as non cathe cardio is cncerned (I can do other instructors of course) as I live in the middle of nowhere, and it's flooded here at the moment, so running is out!
I will start this on Sunday I think.
Just to check, I am not looking to lose weight, I am looking overall to gain strength, and to becomore more 'definied', I decided on a circuit workout mostly because I thought it was time to just give my body a change. Also, with Christmas events going on, it's easier to get a goof full on workout in less time, if I do circuits
Thank you again!
xxx