grrlAthlete

I LOVE these 6 minute circuits! OK to do on off days or are they too intense and would hinder my resistance training the following day?

Victoria,

You should be fine. Give it a test and see how you feel for your resistance training the following day. If you find you don't have enough 'push' for your resistance workouts, then maybe cut back on the volume you do for each 6 min circuit. Like only complete 3 mini circuits instead of 4, or cut back on the reps within each exercise of each mini circuit.

But overall I would guess that you should be fine and won't really need to do much modification if at all.

It just might take you a week or two to get conditioned into doing the 6 min circuits one day and your resistance training the next. So for the first few times if you feel its too much back off a bit on the circuits volume, and then build up to the full program.

Glad you like them, and please let me know how it goes.

John

Thanks, John. I appreciate it. I'll be incorporating them into my TT workouts starting next week. I'm planning on doing them one day each week on my "cardio" or HIIT day. I'm looking forward to trying them.

I do have an additional question. I'm interested in the logic behind the 4-minute rest between each mini circuit. Rather than one continuous workout where you may take 60 seconds rest between supersets or circuits, it looks like several small workouts broken up into short bursts. Is that the intent? Just curious.....

Victoria,

At the intensity that we were doing the circuits at, we needed about 4 mins rest to get the next mini circuit done at full intensity!

We tried shorter rest periods however we found that it compromised our strength/endurance for each successive mini circuit too much, we ended up having to use lighter and lighter weights to get through each successive circuit...this was not the intent.
So we ended up at 4 mins rest as our final desicion on rest between mini circuits that allowed enough recovery to hit each mini circuit with maximum intensity.

After the first mini circuit 4 mins does seem a bit long, but after the second and third our athletes appreciated the rest for sure!

You can easily adjust the rest as you see fit. You can shorten it down to 1, 2 or 3 mins if you like. It's really up to you.

Put it this way, if you were working out with me and we went through the workout at max intensity, you would be pretty happy about the 4 mins rest!

John

Victoria, will be very interested to see how you go doing that if you care to post up here in due course.

I'm wondering about doing a subset of the circuits as my intervals for TT - am going to post a separate qu for John.

Ahhh...makes sense. It also sounds like I'd probably want to start out pretty light with the weights just to see how I get through it. I can't wait to try it! John, thanks again!

scorpiogrrl wrote:Victoria, will be very interested to see how you go doing that if you care to post up here in due course.

I'm wondering about doing a subset of the circuits as my intervals for TT - am going to post a separate qu for John.

I'd be happy to post after I try it. I'll be doing it this Saturday so I'll post after that.

Thanks !

I've been reviewing all the circuits trying to decide which one I want to tackle first....like being in a candy store!!!

John, I have a couple more questions, if you'd be so kind!

1) I see no mention (unless I've missed it) of tempo for each exercise. So, just use a controlled, deliberate pace for each or should it be done as a speed thing?

2) I'm assuming the core circuit is only done once?

Thanks, John!!!

Victoria,

I didn't really stress a specific tempo...its really up to you...I end up doing them in a constant rhythm and kinda quick even. The weight you choose will determine how fast you can move the dumbbells for example. Also a persons bodyweight will determine how fast they can rattle off 10 push ups.

You can completely change the way they feel by changing your tempo.

The speed I do them at ends up making the working set last between 60-90 seconds (this incidentally is where the 6 minutes comes from...if each set lasts 90 seconds you end up doing 6 minutes of work per mini circuit)

Core circuit is outlined to be done once, but you can repeat it in whole or in part if you like. Since its included every day you don't necessarily have to...you can mix that up as your energy levels allow.

Hope this helps.

John

Great...thanks, John!!!

Ok, I did the Beginner #1 circuit today.

This was definitely a challenge for me...and kind of fun. I visualized this routine several times last night and this morning before doing it. And, for some reason I kept feeling a bit nervous about getting through it. I guess I didn't think I could. But, I did.

I was pretty close to completing it in 45 minutes--57 min. to be exact. Toward the middle and end, my 60 second rests starting stretching into 65 seconds here and there but I just kept pushing. You were right, John, the 4 min. rest between circuits was, indeed, a welcome break.

The only change I made was subbing the Reverse Lunge for the Quick Split. I'm looking forward to seeing the video, as I just wasn't sure of the movement. I decided to keep it simple and chose only one weight to take me through the workout, 10# dbs. I wasn't near failure on any of the exercises muscle-wise, though the push-ups started getting pretty tough after the 60th or so, and the rows were the only exercise on the very easy side, but overall it whooped by butt! I'm glad I tried it! These will definitely remain in the mix!

Thanks, John....very cool!!!

Victoria,

Glad you liked it...reverse lunge is a good substitute for the quick splits (I have to say that quick splits are actually tougher than reverse lunges are! So this circuit will be harder once you see how a quick split goes! )

4 mins rest doesn't seem too long any more eh! I was hoping this rest interval worked for everyone...this also makes me think you are doing the circuits at a good intensity level

taking 65 seconds rest is fine too...I'll bet those 65 seconds feel like they go by in 10 seconds!

I find these circuits are always a challenge for me....once you get really good at one you just need to push a bit more weight, or just a bit faster and it makes them more challenging and harder again!

Keep me posted as you work through them!

John

Thanks, John! I will happily post my next Death by Fusion workout!!!

Beginner #2 tomorrow.....I'll post my experience with being run over by a freight train after I'm able to crawl back upstairs!!!