Key #1: Circuit style workouts

Principle - the more time you spend resting between sets, the longer it takes to get through your workout.

Imagine my workout for today is made up of three different exercises and that I’m going to do three sets of each exercise.  I have 2 options.  I could do all 3 sets of exercise 1, then move on to 3 sets of exercise 2, and then finish with exercise 3.  When I do this, I rest between sets so my workout looks like this:  

• Ex 1 Set 1 
• Rest
• Ex 1 Set 2 
• Rest
• Ex 1 Set 3
• Ex 2 Set 1 
• Rest
• Ex 2 Set 2 
• Rest
• Ex 2 Set 3
• Ex 3 Set 1 
• Rest
• Ex 3 Set 2 
• Rest
• Ex 3 Set 3
• Done

My other option is to organize my workout into a circuit of three exercises.  When I do this, I only rest at the end of my circuit.  Check it out:

• Ex 1 Set 1
• Ex 2 Set 1
• Ex 3 Set 1 
• Rest
• Ex 1 Set 2
• Ex 2 Set 2
• Ex 3 Set 2 
• Rest
• Ex 1 Set 3
• Ex 2 Set 3
• Ex 3 Set 3
• Done   

With the circuit style workout, I spend ⅓ of the time resting.  I am able to move from exercise to exercise because, in a lot of cases, the lead muscle from Exercise 1 gets to rest while I am doing Exercise 2, and so on.  This isn’t always the case, but that’s a topic for another day.

For now, if you work out but don’t want to spend all day doing it, circuit style workouts are the way to go.  You’ll get a lot more out of your exercise time.  With tomorrow’s post I’ll share a short, core focused circuit style workout so you can get a feel for how it works.

Then I'll move on the Key #2: Opposing muscle resets.