I'm going to do a circuit training class tonight; one hour long accomodating 10-20 people. What would you do? How would you make it interesting? Equipment minimal....
We do a session in one half of the boxing studio on Mondays and Fridays for about 50 minutes. Participants range from us young boxers, Thai boxers and Martial Artists to old women looking to keep fit. Our coach has something different every week. Some times we're doing small circuits of different exercises such as burpees, skipping, jump squats, press-ups, jumping jacks with squats etc. there is always an option for the less fit in the class to ease the workout up a abit, squats instead of jump squats, squat thrusts instead of burpees, press-ups on knees etc. We also sometimes do circuits of resistance exercises for a minute at a time such as jump squats, bench dips, press-up variations, dumbbell exercises. The coach makes sure that everyone is moving, even if it's an easier variation or a slower pace. Rest intervals are usually short of about 30 seconds and the warm-ups are light aerobic exercises and stretching.
What level are the people you're training at? I'm sure you know everything you can include so I'm thinking you're after a fun activity that isn't common... You could pair people up, get them in the push up position with their heads facing each other with the goal being to pull the other persons arm/arms away, first to go down 5 times has to do 10 push ups. Good for a laugh and promotes core stability.
Ive been in similair situations with no equipment so i just used some simple cheap things like masking tape to mark up the floor, washing lines or rope for slip lines, very cheap aswell. some thin elastic about 30p for a meter i got 50m of it and tennis balls was all i had 3 for £1 in a quid shop, i didnt have any bags and had a lot of gloves, focus mitts, bags and hand wraps and stuff stolen by a partner just before the classes lol. i had next to no equipment but i still had to give it a shot, i was trying to make it more for family type classes to get fit and also where they could get a hint on what boxing training is about and the activities involved in training, to get them more interested in boxing as a sport rather than simply using it as a tool to get fit. Bands made from elastic for footwork Masking tape for squares, circles, lines. footwork 1-1 drilling, stops, blocks, parrys, counters, natural counters, etc Mirrors for shadow boxing Shadow box sparring Knotted towels, newby safe body shot drills etc. Slip lines, rope ladders for head movement Paper or cloth hanging on string from a ceiling for snappy straight shots, stops pushing Tag boxing supervised Workable slip bags- made from line and tennis balls (can be punched aswell if ceiling is strong) can also make double end ball out of elastic and tennis balls. masking tape ring generalship squares Masking tape ring gen squares bouncing tennis balls moving around for hand eye foot co-ordination. Masking tape ring gen squares bouncing balls + with live partner to move around/work with. Tag boxing on the slip line. Ive got a lot of activities like this saved in a big file on the computer so if you think any may be useful let me know and ill send you the lot to have a look through, i like to think im quite the DIY man so a lot of equipment i used i made myself and it can all be made quite easily and cheap. Good luck, hope it goes well.
love this drill. i still do that now when training with mates ect and we always end up having a laugh. i think with circuits its just the trainers attitude that makes all the difference. Its got to be hard and to push people but its got to feel rewarding. It sounds daft but praise for beginners goes along way. Also anything team or competitive is always good. With mini punishments like the 10 push ups left said. But piggy back races. sprint races, leap frog races ect are always "fun". What sort of equipment have you got jeff? I go to a great circuit training and they use a school gym. The trainers themselves have nothing just cards with the names of exercises. But steps benches get pulled out. And we found like those gymnastic boxes which we put in the center and have to jump/climb over. Also last week pulled out 3 big crash matts and army crawled on them then sprint round the gym ,crawl , sprint ect ect.
also i keep pushing for them to get the climbing ropes out that are against the gym wall..... but they are a tad worried about liability
One thing that I know to be true is to make it something that all can accomplish. People will not come back if it is too hard or they are too sore to walk for days. I say this based on the assumption that some/most are going to be non athletes looking for a fun, upbeat workout. I think as far as exercises you probably have about 20 times the amount of knowledge on drills they can do than I have.