the triad exercise programCircuit Training for Strength
The average modern person is very busy. He or she doesn’t have
hours and hours to train in the gym, is not an elite athlete train-
ing for some type of competition, and is not a movie star trying to
tweak a particular area of his or her body. That said, building lean
body mass is not only healthy for our metabolism (blood sugar
control and immune function), but also helps us function in our
daily lives, especially as we get older. I am a big fan of circuit train-
ing. It is fast; there are no weights to put away; it is safe; you don’t
need a partner or coach; it works different muscle groups in their
full range of motion; it works the body symmetrically; it is easy for
anyone to use after maybe one or two sessions of instruction; and
it has some cardiovascular benefit (not a lot) if you keep moving.
You can get a very efficient workout in fifteen to thirty minutes.
I included fifteen minutes because that is what it takes me: fifteen
minutes at a consistent pace to do six different upper-body exer-
cises and six lower-body exercises.
Just do circuit training in the above-mentioned fashion for two
months (along with a whole-food, plant-strong diet). If you want
to speed up the process, do the circuit training every other day for
a month. If you want to spend twenty-five to thirty minutes doing
circuit training, do just ten to twelve different upper-body exer-
cises and ten to twelve different lower-body exercises. The key is
moving steadily between stations; alternate arm and leg exercises
so you don’t fatigue a group of muscles. Do as many different ex-
ercises as the machines allow before repeating an exercise so you
work as many different muscle groups and go through as many
different ranges of motion as possible. Keep the number of sets
of exercises even between the upper and lower body to help keep
some balance between the strength and bulk in our lower bodies
compared to our upper bodies. Do ten to fifteen repetitions with
each exercise. When you can do fifteen or more repetitions easily,
try increasing the weight, number of plates, or resistance on the
machines. Likewise, if ten repetitions are too strenuous, decrease
the weight.