A Favourite Thing: Sport Centre Circies! (Circuit Training)

Member Name: Wease

Product:	Circuit Training
Date:	09/08/02 (1890 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great way to stay fit, Meet loads of people, Oh too numerous to mention just go on and read the op you naughty naughty wee scamp!

Disadvantages: Some places try and charge extorniate amounts!

I loves me sport I does so and when I discovered that Jillmurphy was asking us dooyoo peeps to write about a favourite thing in celebration of her 4 years of cancer-free living I decided (after a brief battle with The Sound of Music) that I had to write about one of my favourite past times – circuit training!

The basic premise (I seem to be loving that phrase at the mo!) of circuit training is to simultaneously improve many areas of fitness including flexibility, endurance, strength and stamina. This is done by creating a circuit of stations. Each station boasts a different exercise e.g. press ups/skipping/bicep curls and the individual must perform that exercise for a given number of seconds or repetitions before moving onto the next station (which will feature a different exercise). The idea is to give yourself a nice workout as you move from station to station until the circuit is complete. Everybody understand? Goodety good!

Circuits can be performed nearly anywhere with any sort of equipment. You could use machines in the gym, or work with your own body weight in your back garden (I have done this on many occasions... although the neighbours tend to give me rather odd looks when they see me sprinting round the garden red-faced before dropping to the floor to do some press-ups)! I, however wish to concentrate on gym circuits in this particular op!

Before you get put off (if you haven’t been already that is!) by these sort of terms which as well as creating images of heavily muscled athletes dripping with beads of sweat as they push their bodies to the limits, almost tire one out by just thinking about it, it is essential to remember that circuit training is as easy or as hard as you make it: - you decide at which speed you perform your reps, you decide how far you squat or how fast you run, a lot of the decisions are down to you!

I have been regularly circuit training for the past five years and love it for many r
easons. For a start a good gym circuit works practically all the muscles in your body but at intervals so that muscles and muscle groups get a chance to recover. This combination is the reason why circuits are so good for building speed, strength, flexibility, endurance and toning. As an athlete and a lady all of these things matter very much to me and circuits is the ideal way to improve them all in the shortest amount of time. Plus by varying the exercises I have been able to prevent my training regime from becoming tedious!

Of course another beauty of circuits is that you can make it specific for a sport. Tennis players, for example, may wish to focus on upper body strength and to achieve this they will include more exercises involving the muscle groups in the arms such as press ups, tricep dips, bicep curls than say a hockey player wishing to improve their speed and aerobic capacity who might include more aerobic exercises such as burpees (awful things which involve lots of explosive jumping) and shuttle runs. As a triathlete I spend lots of time working on most aspects of fitness but include specific stations too... in the past this has meant including stations which involve popping on a helmet and jumping onto a horse (no a gymnastic horse silly), then jumping off again and taking the helmet off – practising for those all important transitions don’t cha know!

However, let’s get back to talking about the sort of circuit training sessions you will find at your local leisure centre or sport centre!

Every good leisure centre type jobby place should run it’s own circuit training sessions. From what I have experienced in the past they all tend to be pretty similar and absolutely great – well laid out with clear instructions – but I will talk about the sort of circuit sessions they run at Fareham Leisure Centre (as that is where I am currently training and I don’t imagine they will vary too much fro
m anywhere else!).

~ ~ Getting Involved ~ ~
Most centres will operate on a pay and play basis – turn up before the session (always allow yourself plenty of time to get there as you don’t want to be missing any of the all important warm-up if there’s a queue in reception), pay the cost (can vary from as little as £1 to about £5 depending on the popularity of the session and it’s venue (try and find out if there are any special offers you can take advantage of – by joining the gym as a gold card member at my leisure centre I pay £35 a month for free exercises classes, use of the gym, pool and sauna... a great deal for me when you consider I often visit the place 6 days a week and would otherwise be paying £3.85 for an advanced evening circuits session and £2.60 for a swim!). Once you’ve paid (and most probably been given a receipt which you will have to hand to the dude taking the session to prove you have indeed paid) just jump on in and join in!

Don’t be let yourself be intimidated or daunted by some of the fitness freaks who look like they spend every waking moment sat in the gym “pumping iron”. Remember why you’re there and think of the benefits you’ll be getting out of the session! Most of the guys, and indeed the majority of people I’ve met at circuits are a great bunch – you’ll see the same people there at more or less every session so smile and you could make some new friends! If confidence is a problem with you take a long a friend and that way you can work and help each other and you won’t have to share a mat with a stranger!

~ ~ Things To Take With You ~ ~
(!) A drink! You will get hot and sweat a lot so make sure you take a drink to prevent dehydration. You should always drink before, during and after exercise as it will allow you to work harder for longer and prevent stitches and cramps. Try not to drink water on it’s own R
11; add a touch of cordial and possibly even a small amount of salt. Water on it’s own will wash straight through you. You will feel refreshed but it will not really help hydrate you. The extra glucose from cordial and salt help your body absorb the fluid quickly (don’t use more than a teaspoon of salt per 500ml though! Even better you could take a special sports drink such as Lucozade or Powerade – these are specially designed to help you achieve as much as you can from your work out!
(!) A towel! Sweating is more or less inevitable and a towel can help keep you a bit drier – v useful if you’re doing press ups or something (they are awful to try when your palms are slipping on the mats!).
(!) A change of clothes! Don’t be smelly and unhygienic! Take some clean clothes with you to change into after – if you can grab a shower before changing that is even better!

~ ~ What To Expect ~ ~
The centre will more than likely have all of the stations set out for you already along with handy little cards with diagrams which will show you what to do at each one – very handy as some exercises seem a little odd if you haven’t seen them before!

Expect to find a couple of people who fit into typical gym stereotypes... you’ll have for sure Mr all gear and no action, a lady with an ABBA mullet wearing fluorescent work-out clothes that were oh so sadly popular in the 80’s, a psycho who will be ultra-fit and belt it round everything (although he/she is probably cheating and lifting lightweights or stopping for a drink on all the hardest stations!), a lesbian – no circuit training session is complete without one – and of course you Joe and Jolene Bloggs like me and you who are there because we want to look after our bodies and have fun!

Loud dance music tends to be the sound of choice at circuit sessions. I like this sort of music and I find that it is often handy to hav
e a beat to work to – particularly when you are getting tired!

A friendly, well-qualified instructor, will always be hovering around... throughout the session they will be the one who shouts out the countdown (mass circuits tend to be worked on a timed basis so that every one moves on at the same pace) through the wee microphone thingy. These guys are you’re friends so make sure you tell them if it’s your first time or if you have an injury (if you’re worried about your health always seek the advice of a doctor before embarking on a new exercise regime!). If you get stuck on what you’re meant to be doing at a station or which station to move onto next just ask them and they’ll help you along :)

Oh yes and expect your instructor to come out with many of the core stock of phrases related to circuit training.... “Half way.... keep it going now.... come on pump those reps out.... 5 seconds.... in three.... two.... one.... next station”

~ ~ Warm Up ~ ~
This is an essential part of any exercise session and you will find it taking a good 10 minutes out of your circuits hour. It should begin with a pulse raiser – such as en easy jog – this prepares the heart for exercises. A good instructor will combine this with a few limbering up exercises such as side steps and heel flicks (when you run but put the emphasis on flick your heels up to touch your derriere). They will then move onto a brief aerobic workout... this will involve things like toe touches (you know where you sort of step from side to side in a Mr Motivator sort of style)... before hitting actual stretches. Once every muscle group has been warmed up its time to find a station to start with!

~ ~ The Core Session ~ ~
Once you have found a station (normally a case of just finding a free mat – it doesn’t really matter where you start as you will be doing every single station anyway) your instructor shoul
d give you a brief intro e.g. “Tonight we’re working clockwise around the mats with shuttles in the middle, and I think we’ll spend 45 seconds on each station.” The exact setup will vary from week to week, venue to venue and instructor to instructor... some may opt for a large number of stations and only one lap... other prefer a smaller number of stations with 2 repetitions e.g. if you had a row of mats you could work across them for 45 seconds per station for the first half of the session then after a small drink break (literally like 30 seconds) you could work down the rows spending 30 seconds at each station... a further way of exercising is to host two different exercises at a station, so the participant spends a minute there but does one exercise for the first thirty seconds and the other exercise for the remaining thirty seconds.

The exercises you are likely to do will depend on the equipment and space available but to give you and idea here are a few examples that regularly feature in my sessions:-

EXERCISING WITH BODY WEIGHT – Press ups, tricep dips, abdominal curls, sit-ups, reverse curls, twisting sit-ups.

STRENGTH/POWER – Bicep curls, squats, butterfly curls, lunges, upright rowing, bench press, shoulder press

AEROBIC – Jacks (essentially star jumps), burpees, squat jumps, lunge jumps, shuttle runs, step ups, toe taps, ski jumps, skipping

You may also discover there are generally different ways of doing an exercise e.g. if doing tricep dips an expert may use a bench so the muscles are working harder (due to the increased height) whereas novices may just perform them as normal from the floor. It is also possible to vary exercises to suit what you are working for e.g. with weights you could use a lighter dumbbell and perform lots of reps quickly – endurance and speed – or a heavier weight to perform a lower number of reps slowly – power.

Someti
mes muscle groups are exercised on successive stations but you will find the individual muscles being used are different - a good circuit will mean you are not exercising exactly the same muscle on two successive stations. An example of this could be having bench presses after bicep curls.

As I said before circuits can be as hard as you make it. It can be very easy to give up on one station so I also see circuit training as a mental challenge. I often think, “My God I don’t think I can keep this up!” But then I force myself to think, “Come on you can do it for a measly 30 seconds and think of the difference it will make!” Determination is something you should find yourself developing!

~ ~ Cool Down ~ ~
This is yet another essential part of any exercise session as it will help prevent injury my relaxing the muscles nicely and preventing blood from pooling (when you exercise blood is sent where it is most needed – the working muscles – and if you stop exercising suddenly and don’t stretch and cool down then suddenly there is all this blood lurking around near the muscles that suddenly isn’t needed anymore - something which can have disastrous affects on the body!

A cool down should begin with what is known as a cardio shunt (this will get your heart beating a little bit faster again so that the muscles can be cooled down and stretch effectively) it generally takes the form of a sprint or run. Light aerobic exercise will allow your heart rate to gradually return nearer it’s resting rate. Floor stretching will then allow you to make sure you aren’t going to end up with any nasty injuries. This is basically stretching the muscles of your body but while lying down. This means that the stretches which differ slightly from traditional methods but it is ever-so effective!

~ ~ Benefits ~ ~
As I stagger out of the sports hall I always feel kinda funny... I’m of
ten absolutely knackered but I tend to have a huge grin on my face and feel great. I’ve helped detox my body and improve my fitness. It’s been greatly proven that exercise will: -
- Improve you mental well being
- Improve your physical appearance
- Help you lose weight
- Help you lead a healthy lifestyle
- Reduce the risk of heart disease
- Strengthen the immune system
To name but a few good reasons!

So to summarise if you want a fun way of getting fit working on a variety of fitness components, want to work more or less at your own pace but don’t mind sweating and like other people to motivate you then circuits will suit you down to a tee!

If you work hard for just a few hours a week you should see a marked difference in yourself both physically and mentally!

"Jill Murphy asked me to write about one of my favourite things to help her celebrate her fourth anniversary of cancer-free living and to remind ourselves of all the nice things in the world. It takes more muscles to make a frown than a smile you know. If you'd like to join in, whether you've only just joined dooyoo, or you've been here ages, you're more than welcome. Just write about one of YOUR favourite things, make your title "A Favourite Thing: [your choice]" and include this paragraph at the foot of your opinion. And post before Friday, 9th August."

I cut it fine Jill but just about made the deadline! All the best :)

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