sets -- in a row or as a repeated circuit?

Arianwyn_T

I go to Goodlife Fitness, and I've been doing the FitFix circuit (+ about six other machines that I've added in). The circuit is designed for once through with 8-12 reps per machine to muscle failure, once you can do 12 you up the weight. It's been suggested that I should do more than one set of reps, but I've got restricted time; so would I be better off doing two sets per machine with breaks in between, or three rounds of the machines with no breaks since I'm constantly moving to different muscles?

And before you all tell me that machines are a waste of time and I should do free weights, I have a recurring injury and nerve damage, and without the controlled range of motion provided by machines I WILL re-injure, and that will take me out of working out at all for a minimum of 6 months --- trust me, it's happened more than once.

Thanks for your advice

Mighty_Rabite

Machines beat doing nothing any day of the week!

Given the timed circuit, I would complete X number of rounds of it (three rounds is probably sufficient).

When I work out myself, I tend to vary how I do things. Like on arms, I'll vary between completing my shoulder sets, bicep sets, and tricep sets, and completing shoulders-bis-tris a number of times.

Arianwyn_T

Thanks UCB1984 --- the timing is mostly a function of what time the gym opens, and what time I have to catch my bus to work I figured that 3 rounds would be better than 2 consecutive sets in a round, but I've also been learning that in fitness the straight math doesn't always work out the way I think it will!

Thanks for the help -- it's a weights day tomorrow so we'll see how I do