Circuit training is any routine of exercises repeated quickly in succession with minimal rest between sets. There are many forms of circuit training: alternating bursts of high-intensity aerobic activity such as running or jumping rope with conditioning (i.e. strength training) exercises such as ab or arm routines, or even just moving quickly through conditioning exercises. Rests should be as short as possible, which for me means no pause between exercises and a count to five between sets.
Don’t rob yourself of success
I have always struggled with circuit training, ever since beginning work with a personal trainer when I was about ten as part of my figure skating training. My trainer would scold me for not moving between exercises fast enough. I made excuses about needing water or needing to pee in order to sneak a longer break. It’s pretty much common knowledge among fitness experts (I am not one!) that moving quickly between exercises is more effective than taking longer breaks. What I was doing was basically sabotage.
Ten years later, I still make excuses to rest longer than I should. I take a sip or five from my water bottle, I skip through countless songs on my iPod, etc. Drinking water while exercising is important and I can’t stress that enough, but it’s also far from necessary to drink after every exercise. Motivational music is good, too, but is finding a song I want to hear more than another song worth more than getting a good workout?
This past weekend, I headed over to the local high school’s outdoor track for a quick run with my brother. My brother is really into fitness as well and probably reads up on it even more than I do, so after our runs I asked if he would show me some new exercises to work my core. He didn’t yell at me when I rested too long, but something he said when I was struggling with one of the exercises really hit home.
He told me: “Don’t cheat yourself.”
I’ve heard “don’t cheat” before. “Wiggling is cheating.” “Butt on the ground.” “Curl down slowly; don’t fall back.” But I had never thought of it as cheating myself when I had bad form or rested too long.
Suddenly, my whole perspective changed. No longer was I disappointing others by cheating. I was only hurting myself.
Today, I thought like that. During my ab circuit, whenever I felt like taking a break or lapsing into bad form, I reminded myself of what my brother had said. “Don’t cheat yourself.”
With such a simple attitude change, I found it far easier to motivate myself to move from exercise to exercise, set to set. Even with today’s increased repetitions, I was able to push through and found myself itching for more.
It’s obvious attitude before and during any workout is going to affect the experience, but let me tell you, it’s a lot more satisfying to go home knowing that I did well for myself than it is to go home thinking, “At least I did something.”
Next time, try thinking about how what you’re doing is for yourself, rather than just thinking about how you have to get it done.
Don’t cheat yourself.