The traditional type of Big Circuit calls for 10-20 exercises to be set up in one big circuit.
You put one client per station and away you go doing 2-3 rounds of the circuit with a minute on each station.
It’s simple, but it has a lot of downsides.
Downside 1: If you’re being a smart, safe trainer you are going to need to instruct everyone in how to do the 10-20 exercises before the circuit even starts. And just like that, your warm up you just did is undone.
Downside 2: Because of Downside 1 you now have a bunch of impatient campers on your hand who ‘Just want to exercise!’.
Downside 3: Once the circuit begins there’s not a lot of interaction between your clients in this type of circuit as they are all on different stations.
On the other hand, take the Mini Circuit.
The Mini Circuit has only 4, maybe 5 stations. You need to group up clients on each station (so you do need multiple pieces of equipment) and they’ll usually do the circuit 3-4 times before it changes to a new set of exercises.
It’s a lot faster and more fun.
Upside 1: Four stations only take up a small amount of space meaning that you can keep a close eye on all of your campers the whole session. This is huge when it comes to keeping the energy and enthusiasm high.
Upside 2: It’s quick to demonstrate just 4 exercises meaning that the down time between exercising is kept to a minimum.
Upside 3: By having multiple campers on each station you’ll see more encouragement and comaradarie between campers. They’ll have a sense of forging onwards together through the workout as they go from station to station.
Kyle Wood created Bootcamp Ideas in 2010 when he was hunting around on the internet for workout ideas. He ran a successful bootcamp in Victoria, Australia and spends his spare time managing this site, adventuring (or lazying) with his wife and find new ways to make bootcamps even better.
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