It's a Circuit Around Here

Sorry I haven't posted for a while -- got deadlines coming in hard and fast. Good thing I've been training, as I've been able to dodge them. (If you are reading this and you happen to be my boss, obviously I am kidding.) Ahem. On to the topic of this post: circuit training!

On the first day of the April tryout for the U.S. women's rugby 15s team, the backs (generally thought of as the smaller, faster players) were working on footwork and agility outdoors, while the forwards (generally misrepresented as big strong brutes, but just go with it) were doing ... something else inside the gym.

I didn't concern myself with what exactly they were up to at the time -- after all, we backs were busy frolicking around picking daisies, to hear the forwards tell it -- but whatever it was, they looked truly wrecked afterwards. My friend Cheeks looked particularly sweaty and wild-eyed afterward, but she says that was because she got the heaviest kettlebell

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IT HAS SINCE COME TO LIGHT that the forwards were doing a killer 12-station circuit workout, and said workout is posted below, should you want to give it a go.

Clarification from Candi Orsini, assistant coach of the U.S. women's rugby team: "The circuit the forwards did is NOT what the backs should be doing. The backs don't need circuit training, they need SPEED training." Duly noted. Any rugby backs reading this, don't even think about it. All others, enjoy!

RUGBY WORK-IT CIRCUIT
There are 12 stations. Do each exercise for 35 seconds, rest 10 seconds, and repeat the exercise for another 35 seconds. You then have 10 seconds to move to next station. Make sure that you focus on your form even as you get tired (i.e., continue to engage your core and explode from the hips).

Station 1: Dumbell Pattern

• Holding a dumbbell in each hand, one arm at a time, repeat this pattern for time: overhead press, punch out at head height, punch out at chest height, uppercut

Station 2: Figure-8 Situps

• Continuous situps
• Each time you come up, move a small med ball (2 to 3 lbs.) in a figure-8 pattern around and through your legs

Station 3: Jump Rope

• Continuously jump rope; try to add some doubles and triples

Station 4: Wall Ball

• Hold ball at chest height and face a tall, bare wall
• Perform a full squat and explosively come up out of it, following through with hip thrust and throwing ball to a marked point about 10 feet overhead on wall
• Catch ball and repeat

Station 5: Air Squats

• Continuously perform bodyweight squats
• Maintain form, meaning you should drop all the way down to 90 degrees, explode back up and follow through to hip thrust

Station 6: Burpees

• Plank position, pushup, burpee with explosive jump and arms up

Station 7: Resistance Band Rows

• Stand on looped band with both feet, holding upper part in both hands
• Pull up to perform an upright row, with elbows up and out

Station 8: Toe Boxes

• Stand in front of a low plyo box; secure box against wall
• Quick toe touches between box and floor, alternating feet
• Concentrate on quick feet

Station 9: Overhead Squats with Plates

• Using plate of appropriate weight, hold plate overhead with arms fully extended, shoulders and lats engaged
• Perform continuous squats, lowering under control to 90 degrees and then rising explosively

Station 10: Side Planks

• Lie on one side on the ground, weight supported on your elbow and feet stacked together
• Engage your core and maintain body position in a straight line; switch sides

Station 11: Lunge with Plate

• Hold plate of appropriate weight at chest height, close to your body
• As you lunge forward, push plate straight out away from chest; keep knee above ankle
• Push off with front heel and stand up, pulling plate back into chest as you do

Station 12: Across-the-Floor Pushups

• As you explode up and out of a pushup, hop your hands laterally across floor
• Do 3 in each direction and repeat
• If can't move laterally to start, practice pushing off hard enough to get air under your hands

Bonus Round: Kettlebell Swings

• 30 kettlebell swings, putting the bell back past your knees on the backswing and thrusting your hips forward on the upswing

Seriously, why were the forwards tired after that? Got questions? Answers? Comments? Share 'em ...