The key to burning body fat sustainably is to try and maintain the muscle and strength you have worked hard for in the gym. Strength circuits are a great protocol for achieving a better body composition because the setup allows you to train with heavier loads to maintain and even gain muscle tissue and strength while being on a slight calorie deficit.
With 8 years experience of being a personl trainer in St. John Wood I know clients find it hard balancing a busy work, family and social life with being in shape. Strength circuits offer a good bang for your buck system of training, helping you get the most out of it.
Be lean and strong all-year round
Escape the cutting and bulking approach and try to achieve constant lean body composition and strength levels all-year round. As a personal trainer in Marylebone I know it is possible to stay lean and add muscle just like it’s possible through smart training and programming to maintain or gain strength and muscle while losing body fat. To do this, you have to train heavy with intensity. Every program should be designed to make you stronger and leaner, and strength circuits do just that.
Strength circuits
Strength circuits incorporate four exercises, which are arranged in a circuit. I know you’re probably thinking ‘circuit training is nothing new!’ Hold on!! Strength circuits are slightly different, so continue reading! Like circuit training (which does have a proven record of being very successful for achieving fat loss), you perform strength circuits by carrying out one exercise after another in a circuit with minimal rest in between exercises and resting at the end of the four exercises before repeating. This is where it differs from traditional circuit training. Instead of completing a set amount of sets, focus on the amount of reps and let the sets take care of themselves. In other words, completing an exercise when you have completed the desired number of reps.
How it works
Each workout will be made up of two circuits, with four exercises per circuit. Between these two circuits will be some high intensity work to further promote fat loss. The exercise selection in the circuits has to include compound movements (exercises which hit big muscle groups or multi-joint movements) such as squats, push presses and pull ups. If you want to add one isolation exercise into the second circuit, you can. You should consider the type of movement when picking your exercises in each workout to ensure that you hit all muscle groups and planes of motion.
- Hip/hamstring dominant leg exercise
- Quad dominant exercise
- Horizontal pushing movement
- Horizontal pulling movement
- Vertical pulling movement
- Vertical pushing movement
Each circuit should include one lower body movement, at least one upper body pulling movement and at least one upper body pushing movement. Once these are covered, you can be creative with your exercise selection. So, for example, your first circuit may look like this:
- Front squat
- Wide grip pull up
- Sumo deadlift
- Military press
You would perform as many reps as you could on the front squats, then move straight on to the pull ups and perform as many reps as you can, then on to the sumo deadlift and perform as many reps as you can, and finally the same with the military press. Then you rest and go through the exercises again until you have completed all the reps for each exercise, regardless of how many sets it takes you. So, it may take you six sets to complete all the reps on the front squat and eight sets before you complete all the reps on the pull ups. If you do complete all the reps on one exercise before another, that’s perfectly alright. Just cycle through the remaining exercises until they are completed as well. Once you have finished all the reps for all the exercises, move on to the high-intensity work.
How to set the volume
Instead of focusing on the sets, just focus on the reps to measure the volume of work within your session. For example, a good workout would have a range of 210 to 250 total reps. Any more than that and you’re picking a load which is too light with reps too high or you’re doing too many exercises. The number of reps selected may differ from exercise to exercise; as long as it’s within the above parameter, it is fine. Some people prefer to go heavy with back squats. For example, they will set a lower number of reps to be completed but then they may feel that their deltoids respond better to slightly higher rep ranges for the military press, and so they would target a higher rep rate. Aim to make sure that each exercise has a rep range of 20-35 total reps. This is enough to produce neuromuscular adaptation. Any more that that, the load would be too light and too few reps won’t be enough to stimulate muscle growth. Strength circuits must be performed with heavy loads, and so there is a need to have some guidelines for selecting weight and reps. Below are few guidelines for selecting a weight based on how many total reps you have chosen to do per exercise.
20 reps – Select a weight which you can lift 3-5 times. If you can lift it 6 times or more on the first set, the weight is too light, so go heavier. If you can get only 2 reps out on the first set, its too heavy for you, so take some of the load off.
25 reps – Select a weight which you can lift 4-6 times. If you can get 7 or more reps out on the first set, the weight is too light, so go heavier. If you can get only 3 reps out on the first set, its too heavy for you, so take some of the load off.
30 reps – Select a weight which you can lift 6-8 times. If you can get 9 or more reps out on the first set, the weight is too light, so go heavier. If you can get only 4 reps out on the first set, its too heavy for you, so take some of the load off.
35 reps – Select a weight which you can lift 7-9 times. If you can get 10 or more reps out on the first set, the weight is too light, so go heavier. If you can only get only 8 reps out on the first set, its too heavy for you, so take some of the load off.
The high-intensity work
As mentioned earlier, at the end of the strength circuit workout, once you have finished the last rep of the last exercise, perform 180 seconds of high-intensity work to further increase fat loss. This can include body weight exercises such as burpees, mountain climbers and skipping, or power-based exercises such as pushing or pulling a sledge/prowler. By completing this high-intensity work after the heavy loads of the strength circuits, you will increase heart rate and strip body fat, in turn increasing the metabolic effect of the workout.
Strength circuit A: An example
This is the workout I have used of late to whittle down body fat and build on my strength and conditioning for the summer months.
- Back squat (lower body quad dominate): Total reps x 35
- Behind the neck shoulder press (upper body vertical push): Total reps x 35
- Snatch grip deadlift (lower body hip/hamstring dominant exercise): Total reps x 35
- Weighted chin-up (upper body vertical pulling exercise): Total reps x 25
Rest 15-30 seconds between exercises. Once you have cycled through the first circuit, rest for 45-60 seconds and repeat until all the reps for each exercise are complete. If you complete all 25 reps for the weighted chin-up before completing all the 35 reps for the back squat, then just drop the chin-ups and keep cycling through the rest of the exercises until the reps are completed for all exercises. Once you have finished the final rep of the last remaining exercise, move straight on to the high intensity workout as outlined below:
High-intensity workout: An example
- Burpees (as many reps as you can in 45 seconds)
- Sledge pulls (as many yards as you can in 70 seconds)
Complete as many burpees as possible in 45 seconds and then as many yards as you can on the sledge pulls in 70 seconds, then rest for 2 minutes and move on to your second strength circuit (circuit B).
Strength circuit B: An example
- Narrow bench press (upper body horizontal push exercise): Total reps x 25
- Walk lunge (lower body quad dominant exercise): Total reps x 30
- Meadows row (upper body horizontal pull exercise): Total reps x 25
- Hack squat (lower body quad dominate exercise): Total reps x 30
Rest for 15-30 seconds between exercises, and then once you have cycled through the first circuit, rest for 45-60 seconds and repeat until all the reps for each exercise are complete.
Strength circuits allow you to carry on lifting heavy weights even when you’re cutting. This protocol produces great energy expenditure, focusing on fat loss through the intensity. This program can be used once a week alongside a sound nutrition plan and a high volume workout program to promote muscle gain and fat loss simultaneously. For other programs which will help you achieve your health and fitness goals, contact me, your St John’s Wood personal trainer.
Tom Winterbottom personal trainer St. John’s Wood personal trainer Marylebone personal trainer maida vale.