Circuit training

Circuit training strings five to eight exercises into a loop. You work at one station, move briefly to the next, and only rest properly once you have been round the whole thing. Setkit’s default circuit gives you 40 seconds of work and 20 seconds to move on, for three rounds, with a minute of rest between rounds.

The order of the exercises is what makes a circuit work or fail. A good one alternates between lower body, upper body and core, so one area recovers while another works. Your heart rate stays high, but nothing gives out early and ruins the rest of the session. A bad circuit puts similar movements next to each other and falls apart into sloppy reps. The generator handles the alternation for you.

Circuits trade weight for density. The load has to stay moderate because fatigue builds up across the loop and never fully clears. That makes them very good for conditioning and strength endurance, and a poor choice if your goal is a bigger squat. On a busy week it is usually a trade worth making.

Pick exercises you could keep doing for twice the work interval when fresh. The last round will tell you whether you chose well.