Exercises

Running the Circuit

While being lighter often helps you achieve faster race times, you also need to ensure that your cardiovascular and muscular systems are getting stronger. When desiring a lower body fat percentage, a focus on nutrition is not the only consideration. Incorporating high-intensity circuit training that supports key muscle groups is one way to lose fat, improve your overall fitness and benefit your running. Exercise selection is important here. You want to choose exercises that increase your heart rate, use the most energy and target running-specific muscle groups. Seated bicep curls just won’t cut it.

The Workout

The following exercises are performed with kettle bells, but can easily be done with dumbbells. Perform this workout once a week (either on a run day or off day of your choice). These three exercises are designed to be performed in a row, which, in the fitness world, is called “a complex .” Essentially, a complex is a series of exercises performed in succession with t he same piece of equipment. So, it’ s like a circuit, taken up a notch because of the lack of rest bet ween exercises.

Here’s how this workout will be performed: do two reps of each exercise in succession, then rest. When you feel almost recovered, do four reps of each exercise. Rest again, and then perform six reps per exercise. Repeat this sequence, adding two reps to each exercise per set until 12 reps. After that, continue the sequence, but remove two reps per exercise until you’re back to two reps of each exercise.