Are there any exercise instructors on here??

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I am studying to become a CPT atm and on monday a classmate and I are running a circuit class in the school gym (which is also a public gym). Does anyone have any pointers for us? My teacher who was meant to be teaching us everything up and quit about a month ago and we have not had anyone else to fill in who knows what they were doing so have not actually taught us much of anything.

Anyone got any helpful tips? (:

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  • BeautyFromPain
    BeautyFromPain Posts: 4,952 Member
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    bump
  • choirgirl1130
    choirgirl1130 Posts: 80 Member
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    i used to teach a body scultping class....when i would do circuit class, i would teach 1 min cardio, 2 min weights. do 5-7 min cardio warm up w some dynamic stretching. then for the circuit, cardio needs to high intensity to get h.r. up quickly- jumpjacks, jump rope, burpees, lateral jumping, running in place w high knees. weight training start w large muscle groups- legs, back, chest- then work into smaller groups- arms, shoulders...i usually would finish my class with 5 min abs & 5min cooldown and stretch.
    good luck :0)
  • kattiek
    kattiek Posts: 83
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    Have you thought about alternating muscle groups in the circuit? Work chest first then legs, then back, then legs but maybe differently than the first leg exercise. That way there's no actual break period in the circuit, but the muscles involved in the chest exercise are resting while doing the leg exercise. I hope this helps!
  • BeautyFromPain
    BeautyFromPain Posts: 4,952 Member
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    i used to teach a body scultping class....when i would do circuit class, i would teach 1 min cardio, 2 min weights. do 5-7 min cardio warm up w some dynamic stretching. then for the circuit, cardio needs to high intensity to get h.r. up quickly- jumpjacks, jump rope, burpees, lateral jumping, running in place w high knees. weight training start w large muscle groups- legs, back, chest- then work into smaller groups- arms, shoulders...i usually would finish my class with 5 min abs & 5min cooldown and stretch.
    good luck :0)

    thanks! :)
    it is a 45 min class so thinking of doing a 10min warmup with dynamic stretching and a 10min cooldown with static and then having 7 stations, stepups, skipping, situps, squats, pushups, deadlifts, and bicep curls so then there is 3 legs, 3 arms and 1 abs. do you think this sounds okay? (:
  • BeautyFromPain
    BeautyFromPain Posts: 4,952 Member
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    Have you thought about alternating muscle groups in the circuit? Work chest first then legs, then back, then legs but maybe differently than the first leg exercise. That way there's no actual break period in the circuit, but the muscles involved in the chest exercise are resting while doing the leg exercise. I hope this helps!

    yup that's what i'm doing :)
    i have 3 legs exercises, 3 arms exercises and 1 abs :)
  • gmjminsz
    gmjminsz Posts: 26
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    Have you thought about alternating muscle groups in the circuit? Work chest first then legs, then back, then legs but maybe differently than the first leg exercise. That way there's no actual break period in the circuit, but the muscles involved in the chest exercise are resting while doing the leg exercise. I hope this helps!

    Good call

    @OP - looks good to me. Burpees are good too as suggested, but they're hard and people generally don't like them!
  • BeautyFromPain
    BeautyFromPain Posts: 4,952 Member
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    Have you thought about alternating muscle groups in the circuit? Work chest first then legs, then back, then legs but maybe differently than the first leg exercise. That way there's no actual break period in the circuit, but the muscles involved in the chest exercise are resting while doing the leg exercise. I hope this helps!

    Good call

    @OP - looks good to me. Burpees are good too as suggested, but they're hard and people generally don't like them!

    yeah... there are generally a lot of older people which come to these classes as well as they are offered to them for free so might not wanna make it too hard on them
  • tiffbou2
    tiffbou2 Posts: 34 Member
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    [/quote]

    yeah... there are generally a lot of older people which come to these classes as well as they are offered to them for free so might not wanna make it too hard on them
    [/quote]

    Just wondered - are you insured in any way by the facility you are running the class in? Just something you might want to keep in mind, particularly if there are older people in your class - to have proper liability insurance where I am from, you need to have a fitness certification and CPR. Otherwise you could be in trouble if someone got hurt and sued you. Unfortunately, it happens.
  • BeautyFromPain
    BeautyFromPain Posts: 4,952 Member
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    yeah... there are generally a lot of older people which come to these classes as well as they are offered to them for free so might not wanna make it too hard on them
    [/quote]

    Just wondered - are you insured in any way by the facility you are running the class in? Just something you might want to keep in mind, particularly if there are older people in your class - to have proper liability insurance where I am from, you need to have a fitness certification and CPR. Otherwise you could be in trouble if someone got hurt and sued you. Unfortunately, it happens.
    [/quote]

    See, that's the problem. This is a student run gym, which students and the public also go to.. so I only started my certs 8 weeks ago and we aren't up to that part of the course yet. But I have to do it for assessment, if that makes sense.
  • tiffbou2
    tiffbou2 Posts: 34 Member
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    Oh ok, it sounds like maybe then the gym would have its own liability.
    I think your plan sounds great, but one thing I would stay clear of with older folks is going from a higher impact, cardio intense move to lying down on the floor for sit-ups. What I generally do in a circuit is alternate a cardio move with a muscle conditioning move such as a standing ab on a bosu, a tricep dip, a squat or lunge, a rope challenge, a kettle bell exercise, etc... and then save my pushups and floor abs for the end after their heartrate has come down a bit.