Losing That Last 10 Pounds

By Alphonso Allen

The body will sometimes come to a standstill when it comes to losing that last ten pounds. What your body is really saying is that it’s time for a change in the exercise routine.

Circuit training could be one of the keys to help you break that barrier. Circuit training, designed for enhancing muscular endurance, utilizes a series of exercise stations with relatively brief rest intervals between stations. The number of stations may range from four to ten. A typical circuit of four to ten stations might use aerobic warm-up stations, (the stationary bike or treadmill) followed by exercise stations using free weights or single station weight machines.

A good example of circuit training in a more natural environment is par course exercise. This method intersperses walking and jogging with a variety of flexibility, muscular endurance, and strength exercises. Depending on the number of stations, the circuit completed would be equivalent to 20-45 minutes of aerobic exercisce.

The key to success  is to set the workload at each station to 50-70 percent of your functional  capacity. This percentage will depend on the mode, duration and intensity of each exercise station as well as the session as a whole.   This form of training can significantly improve cardio respiratory endurance and to help bust you through the plateaus of shedding that last ten pounds. Remember exercising is half the the battle, the other half is making sure you are following a sound and nutritional program.