Burn Fat With Conditioning Circuits
If you want to work on your conditioning and burn fat in the process, circuits are one of the most effective ways.
The secret to effective circuits is to set them up in advance in a way that boosts your heart rate and keeps it up for as long as possible while allowing sufficient rest that doesn’t let it drop too much or allow your muscles to stiffen. The next secret is to hit as many muscle groups as you can.
This is for a multitude of reasons. First of all, it ensures an all-over body workout, which means symmetry and strengthening that doesn’t target just one area. Conditioning is about putting your body through the motions in preparation for optimum performance. In the gym when you’re focussing on isolating smaller muscle groups you may be unaware of the stabilising muscles you’ve been neglecting to exercise by using seated exercise machines. By working your body as a whole using circuits you can be more confident these muscles are getting the exercise they need.
Working this way can also be good for your posture. If you’re someone who sits down a lot throughout the day at work, the imbalance of weakened muscles and the selected areas you exercise can leave you hunching over, but by getting all over muscular coverage.
Another reason for hitting all the muscle groups you can is that this required more energy, meaning that you burn off more calories by working more muscle fibres.
Here are 3 highly effective conditioning circuits for your to experiment with:
2:1 Intensity Burn
The 2:1 ratio is common for high-intensity interval workouts as it means you’re going full throttle and allowing your body the minimal rest it needs. This is ideal if you want a workout that avoids cutting corners and sees you working to the max in a much shorter amount of time if you’re in a rush. As with all circuits, you should feel free to vary the exercises involved – as long as you choose a routine that hits all of your muscles. Here are a few ideas, which you may replace as you see fit:
? Burpee
? Pushups
? Lunges
? Squat
? Pullups
? Crunches
Lean Burner Workout
This circuit involves weights as well as working with your own bodyweight. For this, you should go from one exercise to the next with 1 minute in between and perform the entire circuit 5 times. For the first round, you should perform 12 reps of each exercise and then reduce by 1 rep for each following round.
? Dumbbell bench press
? Barbell bent-over row
? Pullups
? Hang cleans
? Jump squats
? Push press
Heart Racer Circuit
This workout is similar to the last, combining bodyweight, free weights and, this time, a slightly more intense regimen with slightly more strenuous resting allowances. The goal here is to activate as many muscle fibres as you can, which will burn more calories. Due to the reduced sets and shorter rest, you will keep your heart rate up and be racing for the duration. Perform the following list as one round and then repeat 3 times with a 3-minute rest in between each round.
? Wide-grip pullups
? Bar dips
? Close-grip pushups
? Alternating bodyweight lunges
? Standing barbell press
? Crunches
? Battle ropes (30 seconds)
? Sprint (30 seconds)
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Our articles should be used for informational and educational purposes only and are not intended to be taken as medical advice. If you're concerned, consult a health professional before taking dietary supplements or introducing any major changes to your diet.