I see good and bad with circuit workouts.

[exercise forever]

Hello ladies,

I have been doing circuit workouts for the past six weeks and have noticed a loss in strength. I went to the beach and noticed I couldn't pull myself out of the water at the pool. This is how I can tell if my weight workouts are working. I am thinking I should go heavy but will I still lose weight not doing the circuits? Should I hold off going heavy while still being summer? I still want my 5 days of cardio and two days of legs. Should I try a strength rotation and which one would be best?

Have lost weight with circuit workouts but hate the strength loss.


Thanks for your advice or help in advance!


kim

 

[SRP]

I just use circuit workouts for a bit of variety.I rely on the full weight workouts to maintain muscle and strength, then throw in a circuit every once in a while to shake things up. I can't advise you on which rotation would work, since I never follow the posted rotations. I can tell you what works for me though... and I love cardio! My schedule seems to maintain muscle mass and allow for plenty of cardio. See what you think:

M - one of the Imaxes
T - power yoga
W - upper body work and core
Th - lower body work
F - kickboxing
S - steady state cardio, upper body work, and core
Su - steady state cardio, lower body work and core

The weekend workouts are time consuming, but it feels good to really push after spending all week at a computer!

 

[dorothyrd]

I agree with Shannon that you should throw in regular weight work but don't give up the circuits. Do both and you get the benefits of both.

 

[tillard]

Right now I'm doing on average four cardio workouts per week, along with two split set days, seperating out upper body on those two days with a strength oriented program (ie GS, PS, SH, P90X) and then do a total body or circuit based routine at the end of the week. I've found for me I do best working in strength and more endurance based/circuit workouts all in one week. The cardio I'm doing is very leg intensive so I'm not really working in a seperate leg workout right now, but there would be room in my rotation schedule if I at some point chose to do so. Plus there is usually legs incorporated in the total body/circuit workout, so I definately don't feel as though I'm ignoring my lower body. An example of this week's rotation for me is:

M-Action packed (Mindy Mylrea)
T-GS Chest and Back
W-Spinning at the gym
R-GS Triceps, Shoulders, and Biceps
F-45 min run
S-Power Hour; 30 to 60 minutes of cardio
S-Off

Deni

 

[toastythemosty]

I am going heavy with upper body, but I will ride my bike and do lower body workouts...especially deadlifts, hamstring curls, squats, etc. for legs at least 4-5 days a week. Now this increases my workout time to exceed to about 2 or more hours so I don't know how much time you have.

Charlotte~~

 

[kathryn]

>I agree with Shannon that you should throw in regular weight
>work but don't give up the circuits. Do both and you get the
>benefits of both.

I agree (with this agreement!).

 

[hippahips]

Kim, I agree with Shannon -- throw in heavy weight work to shake it up. Six weeks of circuits is a long time to be away from heavy weights. When I'm trying to lean out, I always rely on circuits, but every 2-3 weeks I go heavy, just to make sure I haven't lost so much strength. Try doing a 2-day split instead of 3- or 4-day splits. This way you can put in more cardio if that's what you really want.

Pinky

 

[sundari]

Kelly Coffey's "The Shape Of Things To Come" is a great circuit with upper body focus. The upper body strength workout is like a mix of TLT with regular gym style weight training.

The music is also awesome in this workout.