During the summer, when I come back to California from Hawaii, I train in the gym more than I do at any other time of the year. A group of us meet in the mornings at our friend Don Wildman’s (see page 162) gym in Malibu, and we spend 2 to 3 hours doing a workout that we call the Circuit. More than a specific workout, the Circuit is a strategy for working out—one that I believe is the single best approach for training in the gym. Here’s why: On your next visit to the health club, notice how much time people spend sitting around between sets. Not only does all this rest decrease the intensity of your training, it means that your workout will take forever! And if you’re logging all this time hanging around the gym getting mediocre results, eventually you’re going to become unmotivated and burned out. The Circuit enables you to dial up your intensity while keeping yourself stimulated. If you apply yourself to this method of training, you’ll get much greater results in half the time.
THE IDEA On the pages that follow, I’ve outlined a group of 15 exercises that resembles the Circuit we do in Malibu. Once you understand the basics behind this kind of workout, you’ll have a formula for training with whatever equipment’s on hand. Even if you only have a pair of dumbbells, you can create a routine that works your entire body. And if you’re in a fully outfitted gym, you can adapt the Circuit endlessly so that you’ll never become bored. It all works if you keep these fundamentals in mind.
KEEP MOVING The Circuit is all about continual motion; you want to get your heart rate up so you’re getting a cardio workout while you’re lifting. That means moving from exercise to exercise with as little downtime as possible. The key to being able to do this is to strategically plan the order in which you perform the exercises.
ALTERNATE BETWEEN MUSCLE GROUPS If you do three exercises in a row that all work your quadriceps muscles, you’ll get tired fast and have to stop. Which is why, in the Circuit, you’ll alternate between muscle groups on each exercise. After an upperbody exercise, for instance, the next move might be for your lower body. You can also alternate between opposing muscle groups such as biceps/triceps, quadriceps/ hamstrings, or chest/back. That way, you can maintain a higher level of intensity. You’ll be pumping blood up and down your body throughout the workout and minimizing your need for rest.
USE YOUR CORE During the Circuit, you want to engage your core whenever possible, particularly when you’re using a machine that isolates a certain body part. Machines are great at targeting a specific area, but that’s not the way we use our strength in real life. When I’m on a seated machine, rather than letting the rest of my body shut down, I try to also incorporate core work into the exercise. It could be as simple as keeping my midsection tight throughout the movement. Or I might perform the move while standing on an unstable surface (which forces you to engage your core), such as an inverted Bosu ball or a balance board or while balancing on one leg.*
WRITE YOUR WORKOUT IN PENCIL AND ERASE OFTEN You’ll get far more out of your workouts if you vary them often rather than repeating the same routine over and over. Changing things up keeps your body on its toes and prevents you from becoming too complacent. There are many ways to shake things up. You might switch the order and do the Circuit from back to front; you might decide one day only to use machines that you’ve never used before. The next day you could try using only dumbbells. You also need to consider the layout of the gym when planning your Circuit so that it flows optimally. If the chest machines are located a football field away from the back machines, take that into account. Always make sure you can move efficiently from one exercise to the next.
KNOW WHERE YOUR EDGES ARE AND GET CLOSE TO THEM Ideally, during every workout, you’d max out your muscles so that on your last rep of the day, you were totally spent. In practice, that’s pretty hard to do. However, you do want to make sure that you adjust the weights according to your ability. If it’s easy to complete a set, then increase weight incrementally. It should be difficult but not impossible to finish your reps. This is especially important on a short set, where you’re doing only 5 reps. Those 5 reps need to be high quality. If you get to 5 easily, add a few more reps and increase your weight next time.
HAVE A CARDIO CHASER When we do the Circuit at Don’s, we follow it with an hour-long mountain bike ride to help flush the lactic acid out of our muscles. Whenever you’re lifting hard, it helps to finish your workout with at least 15 to 30 minutes of riding, running, rowing, swimming—any activity that gets your body moving. You don’t have to go hard, but the movement itself will help with recovery.
*All of the exercises that call for standing on an inverted Bosu ball can also be done standing on the ground. Before increasing the degree of difficulty on any movement, make sure that your form is perfect. If you’re not sure about any movement, enlist a trainer to critique your form. If your technique’s off, nothing you do in your training will really work that well. Also, practicing bad form is a good way to get injured.