'Supercharge' your
Sports Performance with Advanced, Sport-Specific Training Techniques
that Eliminate Fitness 'Weak Spots'

"This concise report tells you how to realise new levels of strength, power, speed and skill – and to be able to do so without overloading your body and risking injury. It's a 'must-read' for every athlete who is serious about winning – not to mention their coach!"
Dear Mircea
Ask practically any athlete or coach what circuit training is, and you'll immediately get much the same answer: a series of exercises performed quickly with high numbers of repetitions, and usually done at the beginning of the sports season to build basic, all-round fitness.
That's correct, as far as it goes – but it's not the whole story. Not by a long shot.
You see most people's understanding of circuit training is largely confined to the old-fashioned, traditional approach used for decades by everyone from school PE teachers to army instructors to improve basic levels of all-round fitness.
But circuit training is now so much more than that.
It's a highly-advanced training tool for improving specific areas of performance weakness – if done the right way.
Because circuit training principles can be used to focus in on any aspect of your training, in any sport you do, in a way that rapidly brings you super-charged results.
But, I say again, only if your programme is correctly structured.
That's why I this special report quickly became one of the most popular and widely-read in the entire PP series.
THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO CIRCUIT TRAINING goes way beyond the conventional explanations of circuit training – the kind of basic information you get in sports books on Amazon or in the sports section of your local bookstore.
Instead, this expert explanation of the principles of advanced circuit training shows you how to apply circuit training to any and every sport where your ability to compete benefits from a major improvement in strength, power, speed, agility or skill.
Read it today and you'll find out exactly how to design an advanced training programme that targets your specific requirements, for your specific sport.
The benefit to you: a customised and concentrated exercise regime that quickly brings powerful results exactly where you need them most.
Here's a brief sample of the kinds of questions that THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO CIRCUIT TRAINING answers for you:
  • How do you choose the right exercises for your desired training outcome?
  • How do you structure an advanced circuit training programme for maximum effect?
  • How do you determine the right number or reps and sets?
  • Given how busy most athletes already are, how do you fit circuit training into the training week?
  • How can circuit training be used to pre-habilitate athletes – i.e. to prevent injury?
  • How on earth can circuit training be used to enhance an athlete's skill – say, in throwing, hitting or catching a ball
  • How can circuit training be correctly adapted for use all year round – even at the height of the competitive season?
  • What's the best way to structure a circuit training programme if you don't have ready access to a gym?
So whatever your chosen objective – to shoot out of the starting blocks like a bullet; run with the speed and endurance of a Kikuyu athlete; tumble-turn in the pool like a seal; hit a ball harder than you imagined possible; leap higher and/or further than ever – be sure to order your copy of THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO CIRCUIT TRAINING right away.
What's more, postage & packing is free. And you've got 30 days in the convenience of your own home or sports club to decide whether or not you want to keep the book or return it for a full refund.
Yours sincerely
Jonathan Pye
Publisher

Core Principles of Circuit Training – how to get the very best out of this often-misunderstood approach

THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO CIRCUIT TRAINING kicks off with a chapter on the fundamental principles of circuit training. Because the key to understanding how you can 'unlock' circuit training's full advanced potential lies in first reviewing the basics.
NB: it's both an excellent 'refresher course' for experienced athletes and coaches, and a great introduction to circuit training for anyone looking at this form of sports conditioning for the first time.
The discussion opens with an explanation of who should use circuit training and why, how to set up a circuit training programme for the first time (including the thorny question of how to determine the right number of reps and sets), and how to combine resistance training with cardio-vascular training in a circuit training programme.
Then we turn to more complex questions such as when it's best to schedule circuit training into an athlete's weekly programme, given how busy most training weeks usually are. Also, how to design a programme to avoid developing muscle imbalances or exacerbating the imbalances that are a normal part of most sports.
Of course, circuit training done properly is an excellent method of avoiding unbalanced muscular development – which is precisely why circuit training is such an essential part in pre-habilitation for advanced athletes. (More on that later.)
The section ends with two excellent illustrations showing just how versatile circuit training can be.
First you get full details of a gym-based circuit training programme designed to develop aerobic endurance – the kind of programme that matches most athletes' and coaches' conventional understanding of circuit training. But then you also get a programme for swimmers that uses both pool and poolside to develop local muscular endurance as well as aerobic endurance.

Endurance-Specific Circuit Training – how to build higher levels of stamina than you can imagine

Now we get straight into the nitty-gritty of the report: how to apply the principles of circuit training to achieve a specific training outcome rather than all-round, general fitness.
In this case, the required outcome is a significant improvement in endurance.
We explain how you take a basic circuit format and adapt it to meet the needs of a range of endurance athletes – in this case, the discussion centres in on middle and long distance track runners, field and racquet sports players and rowers.
In so doing, we address the following key questions:
  • the movement patterns involved in your sport;
  • the energy systems used – whether they are more anaerobic or aerobic;
  • the areas of the body that might need to be strengthened to reduce injury potential;
  • the speed of movement of the actions involved in your sport;
  • the nature of the muscle actions involved – are they dynamic, multi-directional, or more constant?
  • the length of your sport;
  • what type of contact if any, is involved.
Because in so doing you will be able to develop a much more relevant circuit to your sport which will have a potentially greater transference into it and therefore a greater chance of improving your performance.
The discussion includes a special focus on the issue of how best to develop so-called 'power endurance' – a type of endurance ability required of field sport players and rowers, for example. We explain how best to combine the number of repetitions and sets with the right amount of recovery in-between exercises to bring about optimal training results.
This type of training is recommended because it will develop the ability of both slow and, crucially, fast twitch muscle fibres to contribute to endurance performance. It will also increase the athlete's 'performance economy'. If an athlete becomes more specifically 'powerfully enduring', he or she will be able to generate more force when running, rowing, cycling and so on. This will mean that they are able to cruise along whilst applying less effort, thus conserving energy.
The section ends with a detailed explanation of a circuit training programme designed specifically for rowers. This enables you to see exactly how to adapt our advanced circuit training principles to any endurance-based sport.
So we tell you not just which exercises to do, how hard to perform them and in which order, but also why the circuit has been constructed in this way.

Circuit Training for Speed – you're only weeks away from being faster than ever

For many athletes and coaches, circuit training is endurance-centric. It's not something you use to build speed. In THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO CIRCUIT TRAINING we explode the myth.
So in the very next section of THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO CIRCUIT TRAINING we concentrate on circuit training for speed – another key performance component for so many athletes, and across a range of sports.
Again the emphasis is on specificity: how to train to meet your individual requirements.
Now when it comes to training for speed, the key training variable that needs attention is 'quality'. In circuit training this is a matter of the recovery between exercises and the number of reps/time spent on each exercise. Speed obviously requires fast movements to be executed, whether this be in the form of repeated tennis strokes for a tennis player or the number of strides made by a sprinter in a 100m race.
Coaches and athletes should therefore carefully consider the key speed aspects of their sport and the way that this speed is manifested, and select appropriate exercises accordingly. The 'right' speed circuit could enhance both the athlete's actual speed and their resilience for remaining at speed – which will of course dramatically improve their chances of winning.
To illustrate all we use the example of a sprint specific circuit that could be used in the 'pre-competition training phase'. We tell you which exercises are best – and, crucially, why these have been chosen.
NB: Because performance quality is so essential, particular attention needs to be paid to technique. So we point out what to look out for by way of correct 'form', and provide illustration where appropriate.
Indeed, the key to this circuit is the completion of the exercises at the fastest possible speeds (where relevant) without significant tail-off. This circuit uses time on an exercise as the repetition variable and it is performed in series.
As with all circuits, the athlete should start with a manageable time (in this case) and then gradually increase the time spent on each station – however the key difference with this circuit when compared to more endurance orientated ones is the need to maintain the speed of the exercises. If this tails off, then the circuit is not going to meet its goals.
The coach or athlete should be on the look out for noticeable deterioration; if this occurs then recovery should be increased, or the number of circuits. To help the assessment of this, we provide a sample progression in the form of a table of times required to perform each exercise, week by week, as the athlete progresses in fitness.
The specific speed endurance developed in this workout transfers directly into improved sprinting. An added value of the circuit is its ability to strengthen body parts in a way specific to sprinting which will minimise injury risk.

Circuit Training for Sporting Skill – how to laugh in the face of fatigue

The next section of THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO CIRCUIT TRAINING is even more challenging to the convention understanding of circuit training. Because it deals with sport-specific skills.
Skill is often trained in isolation to other sports conditioning elements. Many football players will, for example, do their skills work and weights and running work in separate workouts.
Although this is both practical and a necessary part of sports training this need not always be the case. Incorporating specific sports skill into a circuit offers huge potential and the skills based sports circuit affords the coach a unique conditioning opportunity.
So the skills based sports circuit affords the coach a unique conditioning opportunity – and offers a considerable competitive advantage to the athlete.
Because in the sporting arena, skill can quickly break down with the onset of fatigue – however a relevantly constructed circuit can contribute a great deal to minimising this deterioration.
So in THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO CIRCUIT TRAINING we show you how to build a circuit training programme centred on the construction and the maintenance of this skill even under the most testing of competitive conditions.
First, we must consider the time requirements. What is the typical length of plays within your sport or the average running distances achieved and their velocities? OK, a football match lasts 90 minutes, but much of that time will be spent – depending on playing position – jogging, sprinting, running backwards and sideways and so on.
Thinking about this puts us in the best position to construct a relevant skill based circuit.
Then, we analyse the energy system used in your sport. Field and racquet sports, for example, rely on the anaerobic (without oxygen) energy systems, with the aerobic (with oxygen) energy system providing a base for the former. A base which then allows the athlete to recovery more quickly between on pitch/court efforts.
Positioning relevant recoveries between equally pre-determined periods of effort, in this way, can produce a sports performance circuit highly transferable to your sport.
Step 3 is to analyse the movement patterns required of your sport. Following on from point 2, we need to select exercises that reflect the movements involved in your sport. Consider how turns and jumps and other sport specific movements are performed and implement them into your circuit. To illustrate this point we provide the example of a football skill circuit.
Step 4 is to analyse the body parts and muscle groups that need to be specifically conditioned. The point is to concern ourselves with where you (or the athletes you coach) need power and how your muscles work to provide this.
For example, for most sports the thigh muscles are key. Single leg resistance and body weight exercises could be vital circuit ingredients in this respect, as in most sports, the legs work independently to generate this power. Single leg squats and hops would therefore be relevant exercises.
The final step is to analyse the body parts and muscle groups that need to be specifically pre-conditioned to avoid injury. Following on from point 4, it is equally important to consider the exercises that will reduce the chances of sustaining an injury. Those involved in sports that require sprints should, therefore, include exercises that bolster the hamstrings and Achilles tendons, for example.

Year-Round Circuit Training – how to 'periodise' your circuits work-outs

Traditionally, circuit training is done at the very beginning of an athlete's sporting year. The objective: to build basic all-round fitness in preparation for the more specialised work.
But as we've seen above, circuit training programmes can be designed for any and every training objective.
Now, in this next section of THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO CIRCUIT TRAINING, we show you how an athlete – in this case a track & field sprinter – can 'periodise' his circuit training in a way that allows him to reap the benefits of circuit training all year round.
In all 6 circuits are described and explained, commencing with the 'normal' pre-season general conditioning programme, and culminating with a peak season competition period programme.
Along the way you learn exactly how to add and subtract exercises from an existing circuit training programme in order to match the nature of the programme to the particular training and competition demands of the athlete concerned.
Throughout the discussion the emphasis is on explaining the underlying rationale. Because once you understand the 'why' as much as the 'how' then you can apply the very same principles yourself, whatever your chosen sport, at any time in the sporting year.
A further benefit of this section: we give full details of a circuit training programme followed once a week by world triple jump holder, Jonathan Edwards, for the period 1989-1996. If it was good enough for Jonathan, imagine what such a programme might do for you…

Circuit Training for All Sports – examples of circuits that you can adapt, regardless of what sport you play

Throughout this special report the emphasis is on understanding the underlying principles of circuit training, so that you can correctly apply them to your own sport – and indeed your specific event.
So we've seen how one can use circuit training to improve stamina, speed and skill. And to do so all year round, with the appropriate adjustments made to the programme to accommodate the differing demands of different times in the sporting year.
Now, in the final section of THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO CIRCUIT TRAINING, we hammer that point home in, as always, a highly practical manner, with a series of circuit training programmes across a range of sports. For rugby, for example, we give you details of a pre-season workout that's designed to get the team off to a flying start to the season. For racquet sports we do something similar, providing a pre-season programme that develops both the footwork and the hand/eye co-ordination that makes for a great player – while not neglecting the stamina needed to endure the stop/start action.
Our basketball circuit training programme meets a similar range of sporting needs – both the explosiveness needed on court, and the co-ordination needed for match-winning form.
And there's a speed and power circuit suitable for most athletes that can be used in both the pre-season and early conditioning phases of the sporting year.
Each and every programme is explained in full detail, and comes complete with a handy tabular summary of each exercise included. Everything you need to apply the appropriate programme to your favourite sport.

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Sursa.”Despre inot cu M. Olaru”, ed SSE, 2007
ANTRENAMENTUL PE USCAT
12. CIRCUIT TRAINING
Metodă de organizare a antrenmentului, lansată de Morgan şi Adamson, Univ. Leeds ‑ Anglia în 1958; iniţial a fost folosită în orele de educaţie fizică şcolară în scopul creşterii densităţii şi eficienţei lecţiei, apoi a penetrat în toate disciplinele sportive cu scopul realizării unui volum mare şi precis de lucru sprijinit de aplicarea 'principiului odihnei active', volum adresat unui număr mare de executanţi la un acelaşi tip de efort (raportat fie la spaţiu de lucru, fie la timp).
El poate fi programat în infinite variante acordate cu sarcinile propuse (prelucrarea calităţilor motrice, consolidarea unei deprinderi etc.); este organizat împărţind în mod egal numărul de executanţi la numărul de 'ateliere' dispuse sub forma unui 'circuit'; fiecare executant parcurge 'circuitul' executând
fie:
‑ un număr stabil de repetări indiferent de timp;
‑ un număr stabil de repetări la o durată precisă ;
‑ un număr stabil de repetări la o durată şi o pauză fixă;
sau -
= durata stabilă de efort indiferent de numărul de repetări;
= durată stabilă de efort la un număr precis de repetări;
= durată stabilă de efort la un număr precis şi pauză fixă.
La înot, se apreciază că numărul optim de 'ateliere' este cuprins între 6‑12 (exerciţii diferite), circuitul fiind astfel conceput spre a asigura pregătirea generală sau specială folosind organizarea unor metode de antrenament anume alese (intervale, repetări, ş.a.).
Specialiştii germani indică următorul program de lucru în circuit avînd sarcina prelucrării forţei, detentei la înot:[dati clik pt a mari imaginea]


[După Kreis training, Manfred Scholich, Sportverlag, Berlin,1982]

Iată descrierea unui circuit destinat înotătorilor aşa cum este le prezentat în lucrarea amintită




Obs.: In lucrarea de referinţă ‘Kreistrainig’, autor Manfred Scholich, Sportverlag Berlin 1982, sunt prezentate, pentru diferite discipline sportive (aici pentru înot), circuite de exerciţii destinate pregătirii fizice speciale. Specialiştii din ex-RDG au stabilit că pentru înot sunt recomandate următoarele ateliere:

1/ tracţiuni alternative la simulator,
2/ extensii ale musculaturii spatelui,
3/ lucru pentru musculatura abdominală
4/ lucru pentru tricepsi şi trapez,
5/ tracţiuni simultane la simulator,
6/ întinderi din atârnat la inele,
7/ lucru cu pectoralii şi marele dorsal,
8/ extensii ale musculaturii coloanei vertebrale
9/ ridicări pentru musculatura centurii scapulare şi
10/din flotare- săritură în ghemuit cu salt pe verticala cu genunchii la piept (exerciţiu folosit şi de US Marin Navy pentru testarea capacităţii generale de efort).
Aceste ateliere, în funcţie de regimul dorit de efort pot asigura atât prelucrarea cantitativă (volum mare de repetări cu intensitate scăzută) cât şi cea calitativă (intensitate mare pentru un număr limitat de execuţii) etc.
notă: Procentaj maxim*™: se controlează periodic încărcătura maximă de care este capabil un executant la un singur circuit, apoi valorile obţinute sunt defalcate procentual la fiecare antrenament, pentru fiecare săptămână etc..

ANTRENAMENTUL PE USCAT
Formă complementară, nespecifică a pregătirii avînd ca scop dezvoltarea calităţilor motrice generale (de bază, ajutătoare) şi partea specială (conform graficului probei de concurs, ş.a. obiective) în conformitate cu sarcinile instructiv - educative proprii practicării înotului sportiv.
Conţinutul, locul şi ritmicitatea acestuia diferă în funcţie de obiectivele urmărite:
- de susţinere a capacităţilor aerobe (jocuri sportive, alegări, circuit training extensiv)
- pentru dezvoltarea forţei musculare (capacităţii anaerobe) cu exerciţii diverse, complexe cu îngreunări variate (circuit trainig intensiv, haltere);
- pentru dezvoltarea vitezei (de repetiţie, de reacţie)
- prelucrarea la un înalt grad a mobilităţii articulare şi a relaxării musculare (detenta)
- creşterea experienţei motrice de mişcare (abilităţi).
Antrenamentul pe uscat poate avea ca ‘inventar’ metode de simulare a efortului din proba de concurs la grupele de performanţă cu ajutorul unei aparaturi de înaltă tehnicitate (Miny-Gym, diferite ‘trenajoare sau ’ simulatoare biochinetice asistate ‘/vezi Lab. Specializat al Centrului de Cercetări din Buc.ş.a.)
El poate apărea cu o notă separată în acele cluburi unde iarna nu există cele mai bune condiţii de lucru (bazin acoperit) şi atunci când starea de sănătate nu permite intrarea în apă pentru o perioadă scurtă iar pregătirea fizică nu poate fi întreruptă.
Antrenamentul pe uscat poate reprezenta o 'şcoală de pregătire' ideală pentru obişnuirea cu activitatea ordonată, disciplină, punctualitatea etc.; prin el se poate oferi sportivului o cale de ocolire a monotoniei în anumite momente ale pregătirii.(vezi Anexa nr 5, 6, 7 )
12. 'HARTA' SOLICITÃRILOR MUSCULARE
Fiecare procedeu tehnic de înot sportiv este realizat diferit de suita contracţiilor musculare, în funcţie de structura biomecanicã particularã coordonãrii globale a procedeului respectiv (de ex. mişcãri alternative din poziţia culcat ventral=craul, sau, din poziţia culcat dorsal=spate care biometric seamănă dar funcţional sunt diferit deservite de sistemul muscular, etc.).
Din felul cum se evidenţiazã mãrimile fiecãrui tip de contracţie se poate alcãtui o 'hartã' foarte interesantã pentru antrenorul aflat în faţa moemntului de alegere, selecţie a exerciţiilor principale pregãtirii predilecte a unui procedeu sau altul din cele 4 posibilitãţi existente, astfel:
Procedee de înot sportiv:



*(dupã Mano,Nabatnikova - Teoria dell'allenamento sportivo, Fed.Italiana Nuoto, Roma 1983, traducere . M Iliescu , M.Olaru)
Observaţii: în general, un înotãtor de craul sau spate sau fluture ar trebui sã fie pregãtit mai intens pentru dezvoltarea musculaturii extensoare a spatelui (1), a mişcãrilor de adducţie a braţelor pe segmentul dorsal (2) şi cele de flexie a braţelor(3) pe când un brasist va trebui sã abordeze cu prisosinţã forţa extensorilor coapseor şi gambelor (a), flexorii spatelui (b) şi doar în al treilea rând pe adductorii spatelui (similar cu celeallte procedee).
Un exerciţiu deosebit de simplu care poate fi executat individual în faţa unui spalier este cel de a ’te căţăra cu ajutorul mîinilor, palmelor, pe treptele spalierului, având corpul mereu întins, atârnat’ Acest exerciţiu întăreşte musculature care participă la realizarea posturii, în cazul nostru a poziţiei fundamentale de înot – pluta ventrală (comună la 3 din cele 4 procedee de înot sportiv).
Mişcãrile cele mai puţin implicate în efortul de a înainta în apã, în general, sunt cele de abducţie (1). apoi, flexiile coapselor (2) şi flexia trunchiului (3).
Cert este cã toţi înotãtorii pot sã abordeze predilect adductorii spatelui (a), apoi extensorii spatelui ( craul, spate, fluture) (b-1) iar brasiştii flexorii spatelui
(b-2) şi flexorii braţelor (c).
Aceasta aduce în atenţie exerciţiile deosebit de importante de tracţiuni la extensor cu variantele sale la 'cãrucior' (vezi Anexa nr 6) şi 'simulator la banca izocineticã' (1), apoi exerciţiile de extensie a trunchiului din culcat îndoit pe lada de gimnasticã (2-a) şi exerciţiile de ridicare a trunchiului din culcat dorsal ('briceagul')(2-b) pentru brasişti ; în final avem grupul de exerciţii pentru dezvoltarea forţei flexorilor braţelor (3).
In aceste condiţii antrenorul de înot ar trebui sã aibã cunoştinţe ample despre biomotricitate, gimnasticã medicalã şi teoria dozãrii efortului, care ar completa cunoştiinţele sale de specialitate.
In continuare putem remarca că specialiştii germani, atunci când au formulat setul de exerciţii incluse in circuit trening / kreis-training, au avut în vedere aceste proporţii.