Developed as a way to keep fit, integrate the Men’s and Women’s Boat Clubs, and give something back to the greater Balliol community, Mixed Circuits are a bi-weekly training session. Free and open to all members of college, the sessions are great for rowers keeping fit in the off-season, as a supplement to regular training, or for non-rowers who want to get a bit of exercise while seeing the enthusiasm of the Boat Club firsthand.
How It Works
The workout (detailed below) consists of a few sets of “body-weight” exercises, including crunches, press-ups, squats, etc. The pace of the session ensures that it’s perfect for all abilities — high-level athletes will be sweating just as much as first-timers. Sessions are informal, and include a warmup at the beginning and guided stretching afterwards. The entire programme takes just over an hour, and generally increases in difficulty throughout the academic year. The coaches running these sessions take particular care to make sure first-timers know how much to do in order to avoid injury and get the most from the session.
Mixed Circuits runs every Tuesday and Thursday, all year long, at 6pm in the Master’s field Pavillion. After going to Master’s field head to the glass building.
Tuesday Circuit
We warm up with one minute each of sculling squats, jumping jacks (‘star jumps’), and skipping high knees, followed by a three-minute stretch.
Main Circuit (18 minutes)
These twelve exercises are held for 30 second each, three times through with no break. Novices are advised to replace the second set with gentle jogging in place or stretching.
- Sculling squats
- Jumping jacks (‘star jumps’)
- Curls
- Squat jumps
- Press ups (‘push ups’)
- Burpees
- Tricep dips
- Tuck jumps
- Double leg shift
- Elbow-knee curls
- Split jumps, or lunges
- Crunches
This is followed by two minutes of rest and stretching and then the…
Cardio Circuit (8 minutes)
These four exercises are held for 30 seconds each, four times through with no break.
- Running high knees
- Basketball defence
- Bunny jumps
- Double taps
This is followed by two minutes of rest and stretching, followed by the…
Core Exercises
First, we do 40 reps each of six exercises, in time together. Rowers choose the exercises, but typical examples include curls with feet in teh air, double leg shift, elbow-knee curls, bicycle kicks, crunches, straight leg curls, climbing the rope, etc.
We then finish the core with back raises: ‘Superman’ style, hands-behind-the-back, and opposite arm/opposite leg.
Finally, a guided stretching session finishes the workout.
Thursday Circuits
Thursday circuits are identical to Tuesday circuits with two exceptions. First, the main circuit consists of six additional exercises (eighteen total), and so takes 27 minutes:
- Sculling squats
- Jumping jacks (‘star jumps’)
- Curls
- Squat jumps
- Press ups (‘push ups’)
- Burpees
- Tricep dips
- Tuck jumps
- Double leg shift
- Elbow-knee curls
- Split jumps, or lunges
- Crunches
- Back raises
- Skipping high knees
- Inner thigh lift
- Lunges
- Double tap jumps
- Jog in place
Second, the cardio circuit is shortened. Though it consists of the same four exercises as the Tuesday cardio circuit, it is repeated only three times through (total 6 minutes). This is followed by the core exercises and guided stretching as normal.