Is It Strength Training or Circuits?
SpecialSundae
Posts: 795 Member
I've been doing a personal training programme based largely on machines which I'm now doing on free-weights at home too. I do the following exercises on the following reps:
Leg Press (Squat at home) - 8-12 x3 (moving to single leg presses at work soon because I'm working with the whole stack at 140kg plus a 5kg plate, squatting 22.5kg at home but moving up fast)
Chest Press (Bench press at home) - 8-12 x3 (currently 55kg on the machines and 22.5kg on the barbell)
Pull-ups - As many as I can x3 (currently 0-1, so doing 10x3 bicep curl at 6kg and 12x3 dumbbell row at 15kg, both at work and at home)
Shoulder press (dumbbell shoulder press at home) - 6-10 x3 (currently 35kg on the machines and 7.5kg at home)
Once I can do two full sets at a weight with good form on an exercise then I go up 1.25-5kg (depending on the exercise, 5kg for leg press, 2.5 for chest press, 1.25 for shoulder press, although that'll be 1kg at home).
Because I do it as a circuit (i.e. one set on each exercise, take a 60-90 second break and then move to the next exercise and repeat until done), does that mean that it isn't strength training? Is it just "glorified circuits"?
I'm planning to move to SL 5x5 once I'm fully set up at home but that'll be a few weeks off at least (I need to save up for 10kg and 20kg plates and pick up my squat rack).
Leg Press (Squat at home) - 8-12 x3 (moving to single leg presses at work soon because I'm working with the whole stack at 140kg plus a 5kg plate, squatting 22.5kg at home but moving up fast)
Chest Press (Bench press at home) - 8-12 x3 (currently 55kg on the machines and 22.5kg on the barbell)
Pull-ups - As many as I can x3 (currently 0-1, so doing 10x3 bicep curl at 6kg and 12x3 dumbbell row at 15kg, both at work and at home)
Shoulder press (dumbbell shoulder press at home) - 6-10 x3 (currently 35kg on the machines and 7.5kg at home)
Once I can do two full sets at a weight with good form on an exercise then I go up 1.25-5kg (depending on the exercise, 5kg for leg press, 2.5 for chest press, 1.25 for shoulder press, although that'll be 1kg at home).
Because I do it as a circuit (i.e. one set on each exercise, take a 60-90 second break and then move to the next exercise and repeat until done), does that mean that it isn't strength training? Is it just "glorified circuits"?
I'm planning to move to SL 5x5 once I'm fully set up at home but that'll be a few weeks off at least (I need to save up for 10kg and 20kg plates and pick up my squat rack).
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I believe circuit training has alternating intervals of strength, cardio, and rest. Jillian Michaels calls her famous 3-2-1 approach "circuit training" which is 3mins strength, 2mins cardio, 1min abs (she calls the ab intervals recovery because you're laying on the ground so your heart rate goes way down).0
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Strength training. I believe for it to be considered a circuit it would have to contain cardio.0
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strength training, but why not just do all of the workouts with free weights? you'll get so much more benefit from it.
and if you can do the whole stack, you are well past ready to use the barbell.0 -
strength training, but why not just do all of the workouts with free weights? you'll get so much more benefit from it.
and if you can do the whole stack, you are well past ready to use the barbell.
In the three months since the OP, I've switched to pure barbell work and I'm doing pretty well.0 -
I don't really understand this circuit thing....
How to you do weights for lets say 5 min then go jump on a cardio machine for another 5 then go back to your weight training, and again, interrupt it soon just to go do a little more cardio?
Pardon me but this just doesn't make sense.
How are you supposed to even fatigue a muscle group like this?0 -
I incorporate 1 circuit training session into my training each week where I do 10 squats, 10 dead lifts, 10 overhead presses with a barbell loaded with 50 pounds for each sets , 10 push ups then a sprint of 300 metres on the treadmill. Each circuit takes around 5 minutes, I have around 1 minute rest inbetween and then I go again for a total of 5 circuits.
On average I burn around 300 calories for around 30 minutes work. I use this training purely for cardio and the calorie burn.
My body as a whole is fatigued after this session as appossed to a specific muscle group being fatigued.
I Strength train twice a week with Strong lifts 5 x 5 with much heavier weights which does fatigue the muscle group that I am working on. I do not complete any cardio on this day except for a warm up and cool down session ofn the Elliptical.0
