Anyone here use circuits? need some advice/critique

[ArnoldsProtege]

Hey all

Recently due to work commitments my time to workout has been cut short. So, I have resorted to doing weight lifting circuits at low rep/high weight volume, including 6-10 compound exercises, breaking it down into Upper Body and Lower body splits, 4 times a week. I am getting good results, and the intensity and cardiovascular workout I am getting is allowing me to skip cardio in the gym, and do sports/outdoor activities instead.

I was just wondering if any of you do something similar, and u could give me advice for what I am doing? I try to hit as many large muscles as possible, mainly using free weights and maintaining good form. Heres a sample of my workout:

Upper Body circuit day

Dumbell Chest press 3x5-8
WG pullups 3x5-8
Bicep Curls3x5-8
Standing Shoulder press 3x5-8
Dips 10
Bent over rows 3x5
Hex bar Deads 3x5-8
Decline crunches/twists with a 45lb wt 3x 15-20

I was wondering if I could be doing anything better or more efficiently. I am considering switching the Rep ranges up each week, as I have been doing the low rep high weight range for about 3-4 weeks (with great success) but wanna switch it up. So, does anyone here have any receomdnations or suggestions to make my workout better and more efficient? any exercises I should add in to hit my muscles better? Do you think that doing this, intensely, can somewhat substitute for post workout cardio? Thanks alot guys, I appreciate the feedback.

 

[ArnoldsProtege]

Anyone done or have been doing any type of circuit training?

 

[Hoglander]

I run a circuit on my leg day on some of my exercises. I don't do back squats or deads on a circuit. I've run circuits for upper before. For me I like to bust them into two circuits. Compounds like bench, rowing, shoulder press and pull ups are one. Then I ran a smaller one with curls, tris and sit ups after that with some other isolation on areas I wanted to improve examples would be forearms, neck, flies etc. I don't think you should have curls in yours as it would interfere with your compounds. For me at least... I wouldn't have dips in there either for the same reason.

IMHO

 

[Built]

You need some low-rep heavy work in there or you're going to lose size. How about twice a week, a heavy whole-body workout, and twice a week, do your circuit-style training?

The whole-body could all be one workout, something like this:

3 sets of 5-8 of all movements
squats
deads
chins
push press
rows
bench
abs

You could train in antagonist pairs to save time if you like - set of squats, rest, set of deads, rest... then on to puch presses and chins in pairs, then rows and bench in pairs.

Follow it with a fast incline walk for 10 minutes if you have time.

Thoughts?

 

[Hoglander]

I'll throw one more thing out there. I am kind of a volume junkie. I also try to keep it close to an hour. To be honest, I'd run a circuit on my workout more but just leaving the plates on the bars and tying up the stations at the gym does not go over well.

I like my reps 8 or less. When I can get 10 I increase the weight so I can get only 4 or 5. With that in mind I still think of myself as a 5x5 kind of guy. BUT, Bottomline on that is that I go for 24-30 reps total broken into sets of 3-6 reps.

What I do now to make this work for me is supersets of two movements, push and pull. So it might be that I do bench and one arm rowing. When I do this I have the dumbbell right next to the bench.

Then I rest for 1-4 minutes and hit the next push pull superset. Some days I need all 4 minutes other days I don't. This is the most important to me. If I got in a fight with my wife and I'm drained from that or something else I don't ignore that. I must be psyched up for the next superset, sometimes it takes longer.

My whole workout of an hour or a bit more is better for my cardiovascular system then "cardio", IMHO. I have a knack for intensity so this works for me. I don't see anyone else don't anything close. I guess you might be over training by doing this if it's not for you.

 

[Thundaxat]

It doesnt seem like your goal is to burn extra calories but maybe the outline in this article may help you out a bit
TESTOSTERONE NATION - Destroying Fat: War Room Strategies to Maximize Fat Loss
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