12 Minute 'Barbell Tens Circuit'

Location: Woodcock Sports Centre, Aston University
Date: 14th April

Workout: Barbell Tens Circuit

Total Time: 12 minutes

Post Workout Nutrition: eggs, coconut cream, pumpkin seeds, 45 minutes later.

I 'invented' this routine because I wanted to minimise rest time by just using 3 bars with three different weights. There is more detail on the routine here. As you can see, it involves 3 x 10 on 6 major exercises in 12 minutes.

Of course this is just another point on the continuum between traditional sets and rests that give rise to hour+ sessions and Body by Science that polishes it off in as little as 8. In my view is that this is more fun than the latter and clearly more efficient than the former.

The trick is getting the weights right so that you start to approach failure in the final round. My weights were:

Bench Press - 45kg
Romanian Deadlift - 50kg
Clean and Press - 25kg
Bent Over Row - 45kg
Squat - 50kg
Floor Wipers - 45kg

...which was about right in each case, except deadlift, which could have stood another 10.