Circuit Training - Variety and Enjoying Your Workout

I don't know how many of you readers exercise regularly or do circuit training, but I thought I'd write a little about it.

Everyone knows about the benefits of exercise, such as better heart health, losing fat, reducing your risk of diabetes, boosting your metabolism, and cutting your risk of stroke because of better vascular health and lower blood pressure.  Plus it's pretty cool seeing your body change form and become leaner, more muscular, more whatever-you're-going-for.

I lost 20 pounds last year by eating right and working out, but before that, my work outs were spaced out inconsistently and it took me a while to figure out a pretty good way to get back into working out regularly.

It all started when I became really bored with running and decided to experiment with the cross-country setting on a treadmill, along with taking a break from running to lift weights.

As I started getting more  into circuit training, I noticed I actually enjoyed working out, haha. In my variation though, I'll run 2 miles or cycle 7-10 miles and lift weights until I fatigue.  When I lift weights I typically focus on biceps and triceps (using dumbbells), and will do barbell reps standing up if I have some energy left over.

I don't think it'd be wrong to say that human being are variety junkies, especially in this modern age of multi-tasking.  Circuit training lets you do a little bit of everything while working towards one goal: becoming healthier.  It definitely engages you more, and while you're on one activity, you don't really get bored if you think about what you'll be doing for the next activity.

If you don't circuit train or it's not accessible to you and you just jog or cycle, I have some great advice: the time trial.  Time trials can make any distance-oriented workout such as running, swimming, or cycling more exciting and more engaging.


If you've been cleared by your doctor or you're a healthy person looking to work out or try something new, run/cycle/swim at a comfortable pace.  That's the easy part.  Next time, try to beat that time and try to run that time consistently, but without putting too much strain on your heart.  This way, you can see actual progress being made during the time it takes for your body to lose weight and for your blood pressure to lower.  It's a great feeling beating your old time by a minute, or even five minutes.

Running 2 miles was a big effort for me last year when I was 20 pounds heavier, but now I can run 1.75 miles easily with a sore leg and complaining back, haha. 

My next entry'll be on heart health and endurance.  Thanks for reading.