Circuits

Jo gives circuit training a go

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Like most women, I joined my local gym in a frantic, post Christmas ‘fatty’ freak out. I signed up to a discount fitness centre (less buff, ‘gym bunny’ types) close to my flat (less walking involved).

After last year’s ‘no carbs’ fiasco in which I almost lost my boyfriend, all of my friends and my job due to a hunger induced, uncontrollable fury,
I decided that eliminating the foods I love just wasn’t going to cut it for me. I would eat in moderation, and work- out five days-a-week. This lasted for all of three weeks before minor laziness set in. I had previously attended gym classes with a friend, who moved to Amsterdam to start a new job.  Following her departure, working out became boring and repetitive with no one to chat to on the treadmill, or for that matter, come round at 8.30a.m, prise you from your bed and guilt trip you into your gym gear.

This gym offered the luxury of booking online gym classes, and after a glass of wine too many one night (not on the diet plan) I signed up for five consecutive classes, a different one each day in an attempt to break the emerging, monotonous pattern in my workout routine. Clicking and selecting your class, you can view how many other gym members are attending and usually this is a maximum of ten. I’ve always fancied circuits so I signed up for an hour long session the following day.

When I arrived, wandering around the gym as though I had just entered a foreign land, my lost demeanour attracted a trainer who informed me that he was taking the class. Obviously, I was the only one who had turned up. I now had the option of going ahead with the class I was surprisingly looking forward to or just getting on with my regular workout (he didn’t want me to feel uncomfortable), in my eyes, it was a little late for that.

For those of you who don’t know, circuit training is a type of endurance training, designed to help you sustain a more cardio vascular demanding workout for a longer period of time. The idea is you take a group of exercises usually tailored for your A. problem areas (bum, thighs etc) and B. ability level. You work your way round the circuit spending a short burst of time on each exercise and on to another in rapid movement. 

The benefits of this include very little use of gym equipment which means you can do it at home if you can’t afford/ don’t have time to go to a fancy gym, it is structured to provide a whole body workout and you don’t feel intimidated because you are working in a group (usually). In fact many sports use circuits in resistance training because it can be tailored to work various areas of the body applicable to any particular sport.  Most importantly for me, you really work up a sweat, which may not be to everyone’s liking, but I don’t really feel like I have worked out unless I return from the gym panting, sweating and unable to climb the two flights of stairs to my apartment in less than an hour and a half.

Six rounds of bench dips, press ups, shuttle runs, tricep curls and then what quickly became my exercise nemesis... squats on top of a balance trainer. This piece of equipment looks like an inflated stability ball often seen in Pilates classes, but cut in half so that one side is flat. The idea is you squat whilst balancing at the same time. This actually became my favourite exercise in the circuit, until I fell, face first onto the suspiciously pleased looking trainer.

Following our involuntary one- on- one circuit session, I woke up the next again day unable to move but feeling proud of my muscular pain (which I later had to take Ibuprofen to combat), I really felt as though I had had a proper workout. What’s more I went back the following week, to my surprise and delight I had a few acquaintances this time round, which made the experience much easier and less of a challenge, particularly seeing the same faces each week.

So I’ve conquered circuits, what’s next? Spinning... and I’m not looking forward to it!