6-Minute Circuits - More info...

I've always believed supersets are best, but strength coach John Barban is now telling me I'm wrong!

John put together a program called, "6 Minute Circuits", so I grilled him about the methods and why his way is "supposedly" better than mine.

Like myself, John is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, and a varsity strength and conditioning coach, specializing in training female varsity athletes, and has his masters in nutritional science and human physiology from the University of Guelph.

CB: How does a 6-minute circuit compare to 30 minutes of slow cardio? How can 6 minutes of exercise possibly be just as good, or even better than traditional cardio workouts?

JB:
The 6-minute circuits workouts uses all the muscles of your whole body, and they are at a high enough intensity to build some lean muscle mass which stimulate your metabolism long term.

Slow cardio usually only engages your legs (like jogging, biking, efx trainers etc.) and not enought to really build any muscle.

Our circuits work your back, chest, arms shoulders core as well as your legs. You end up doing alot more work in the same amount of time.


CB: Do you have an example of the exercises you would use in a circuit?

JB:
Do the following exercises back to back to back no rest between each:

Reverse Lunges 12 reps per leg
Incline Push up 12 reps
Squat and Press 12 reps

I'll use different exercises in each mini circuit to workout all the muscles in the body in different ways.

Typical slow cardio can't get this many muscles working this hard.


Also the intensity is much higher with these workouts. You end up burning more calories during the workout, and getting a longer afterburn (the calories you burn once the exercise is over) Slow cardio has much less of an afterburn effect.


CB: Why are people so hung up on doing a LOT of cardio for fat loss?

JB:
I think they just get used to it, its easy and you don't have to think about it, and they probably read the calorie counter display once on a cardio machine and believe that they are accurately showing them how many calories they are burning.

These machines have been shown to be off by as much as 20% in some cases, so I wouldn't put too much stock in them.

Whole body high intensity circuit intervals don't have any sort of calorie counter attached to them, so people may not be able to visualize how many calories they are really burning with these types of workouts, and I can assure you its more than any slow cardio session of the same length.



CB: I totally agree, it's a lot harder to "think" your way through a tough workout than to do mindless cardio.

JB:
Also, I think people may be afraid of high intesnity workouts if they have never tried them.

They might think it's not for them or only for advanced trainers.

This is simply not true. Anyone can do a higher intensity workout by just moving their bodyweight with a few dumbbells. My circuits workout is actually very easy to set up and follow.


CB: John, how would you set up a 6-minute circuit? I don't need a bunch of machines all set up in a row, do I?

JB:
Each mini circuit can be completed just with a set of dumbbells and your bodyweight. A bench helps, but if you don't have one, you can use a stability ball.

If you are doing the circuits at home and you don't have either, a chair or the stairs, or even the edge of your couch can be substituted in for many of the exercises.

In the workout I explain how to make these substitutions at home.

At the gym you will be fine, all you need is one bench and a set of dumbbells for the whole thing!


CB: Interesting, this could change the many trainers look at fat loss workouts. How did you even come up with the idea?

JB:
It was part of our athletic training program for our women's varsity hockey team.

I needed to create a whole body workout that gave the girls a great cardio workout, as well as strength conditioning.

The other catch is we needed to be able to get it done in a limited amount of space. (in the winter we didn't have access to the track).

So we created this workout, it met all our needs, it got them in great cardio and strength endurance condition, in minimal time.

They continue this workout throughout their competitive season. The workout became available to everyone when my regular non-athlete clients started asking what I was doing with the athletes.

The female athletes were in great shape and my other clients demanded to be put on the same program. And the rest was history, now everyone is doing it and loving it.


CB: Since we talked last, I've had guys asking me, can the 6-minute circuits program work for them if they are short of time? Would you change anything
for guys?

JB:
Yes, this program definitley works for guys too.

I have some guys on it right now and I currently use it 3 times per week for strength conditioning myself. I find that if I follow the program exactly as it is written I can handle about 80-90% of my usual weight for each of the lifts.

If guys want to use it for max strength I would suggest giving some more rest between circuits and dropping some of the reps down to a power range between 6-8.



CB: Very interesting. John has challenged the fitness world to give up slow cardio and try 6 Minute Circuits.

Let me know what you think...

Sincerely,

Craig Ballantyne,
Author, Turbulence Training

PS - If you are looking for fast results in minimum workout time, 6 Minute Circuits is your answer.

Every time I train with John I learn 3-5 brand new training ideas perfect for advanced fat loss. Just when I think I've seen it all, I schedule a session with John, so I can "steal" his best ideas!

And not only that, but John has got the psychology of training for fat loss perfected. I've watched him train clients, and he can motivate them to move mountains.

The 6-minute circuit routines are fresh, and full of real exercises that will get you REAL results. I wish I'd thought of this myself!

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