6 Exercise Conditioning Circuit

As any father will tell you, especially those with young children, time is a precious commodity. Two months ago my wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. With a two month old and a six year old, I found myself in a position that demanded I get creative with my time spent in the gym.

Throughout the summer, while my older daughter was on summer break and my wife was on maternity leave, I was able to hit the gym on my way home from work and spend about two hours working out. Any more than that and my wife would become overwhelmed with the kids and get upset about my spending too much time outside of the house.

With Fall Soccer about to begin and my wife back to work, I needed to trim down my time in the gym. I’ve since cut out all of the cardio machines out of my regimen and stick to strength training. I make up for the missed cardio at home, in the evenings, when things settle down around the house. It isn’t ideal but I seem to have found my rhythm and am making it work.

On Friday I was able to get out of work earlier than expected and made my way to the gym. Since this was a deload week for Wendler 5/3/1 – I was finished with my workout in short order. Not having anything pressing on my schedule, I thought I’d bang out some cardio / conditioning right then and there.

Explosive Warm-Up Tips with Brian Alsruhe

A couple of weeks back I came across a video on Alan Thrall’s Untramed Strength YouTube Channel where he featured Brian Alsruhe of NEVERsate Athletics. I was impressed with Brian’s video and made my way over to his channel. While there I devoured a bunch of content and subscribed.

Among the what seemed like dozens of videos I’ve watched since then, I watched one on Explosive Warm-Up Tips. In that video Brian went on to recommend a handful of fast-paced bodyweight exercises that would warm up the body and make your heart rate soar.

I thought I would take some of those movements and create a circuit in the functional training room of my local gym – Anytime Fitness of Gilbertsville.

Conditioning Circuit

With a basic idea in mind, I took Brian’s suggestions for explosive movements and paired them up with less taxing exercises. The objective was create a short period of active rest that would keep me working but allow my heart rate to come back down.

I performed the first pair of exercises five times before moving on to the second. The second was performed five times before moving on to the third. I tried to minimize breaks but allowed myself a few seconds to catch my breath as needed.

Pair 1

Burpee Broad Jumps (Across the room and back)
Farmer’s Carry (50lb Dumbbells)

Pair 2

Animal Walks (Across the room and back)
Step-Ups (10 per leg on a Plyo Box)

Pair 3

Tire Flip (Across the room and back)
Sled Drag (Moving backwards with 200lbs)

The circuit wound up being rather difficult but I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. One thing is for sure, it definitely beats hopping around in my cramped basement after the kids have gone to sleep.