Circuit training has been around for decades. Traditionally used by athletes, but nowadays it's becoming more and more popular and used by personal trainers and fitness enthusiasts.

Circuit training is an excellent metabolic conditioning tool for anyone seeking fat loss and or improved physical conditioning. Circuit training basically combines resistance training with interval training, that's what's so beautiful about circuits!

I'm sure everybody is fairly well familiarized with traditional circuit training protocols whereby you perform a group of exercises (anywhere from 6-12 exercises) for a prescribed number of repetitions or for a certain time period. Moving from one exercise to the next until all the exercises are completed, then resting before starting the next round of the circuit and usually anywhere from 2-6 rounds of circuits are performed depending on how many exercises are used to form the circuit.

Now I want to introduce you to what I like to call 'Descending Metabolic Circuits'. Descending metabolic circuits are real easy to understand, but challenging to perform. Let me quickly explain them to you.

To explain the descending metabolic circuit set up let me use a 4 exercise based circuit and I'll use exercises most people should be familiar with. I will use push ups, inverted body rows, dumbbell front squats and alternating lunges using just bodyweight.

What you do for round 1 or circuit 1 is to perform 10 reps for each exercise, with the exception of the lunges (perform 20 repetitions - 10 per side) with little to no rest between exercises (ideally no rest, but this will depend on your own ability level) until you finish all four exercises.

So that's one round down, now you will quickly (again little to no rest) start round 2 or circuit 2, but this time you will drop 1 repetition per exercise, meaning you will perform 9 push ups, 9 inverted body rows, 9 dumbbell front squats and 18 (9 per side) alternating bodyweight lunges.

All you are doing is dropping one rep for each exercise per round. Usually you will perform a full 10 rounds or 10 circuits, which means that when you get to circuit 10 you will be performing just 1 push up, 1 inverted body row, 1 dumbbell front squat and 2 alternating bodyweight lunges.

The key is to rest as little as possible, but ideally take no rest, between exercises and between the rounds. Your aim is to complete the entire 10 rounds as fast as possible. It's a great mini workout challenge.

What makes these descending metabolic circuits so effective is the fact that you get a full body resistance training and interval based workout in at the same time, and also the most important thing for metabolism boosting purposes is that you will be encouraged to FINISH FAST!!! As the reps start to descend you will quicken up your repetition speed or tempo. This is something that is very important for boosting your post workout metabolism. Too many people ruin their sessions by ending their sessions with something long and slow. I say finish FAST and STRONG!

Overall Structure of the Circuit Workout

More Articles on Circuit Training

• Circuit Training for FAST Results
• Blast Your Body into Summer Shape with Circuit Training

About the Author

Ian Graham

• NCEHS Exercise and Health Studies
• NCEHS Personal Trainer Certification
• USA Track and Field Level II Jumps Coach
• USA Track and Field Level II Sprints, Hurdles and Relays Coach