Are your class members ready to torch calories, boost endurance and hit every single metabolic system? Forget endless reps and boring routines, 2- Minute circuits with Dr. Lori Sherlock is an epic collection of short circuits that target overall fitness and help improve activities of daily living. This aquatic fitness instructor video includes an optional AEA approved online education course worth 2.0 AEA CECs.
Deep or shallow, this class is science-backed, sweat inducing and seriously effective. The key to results in this water fitness class is intensity variability. To help our students prepare for daily life, they need to be prepared to switch from brief bursts of unexpected and all-out movement to longer duration activities, along with everything in between. This requires us to design exercise programming that taps into all the body’s metabolic systems. Who better to help us do that than Lori Sherlock, Ed.D. a professor in the School of Medicine at West Virginia University (WVU). She coordinates the nation’s only aquatic therapy curriculum within the division of Exercise Physiology at WVU. This video is Lori’s debut on the Fitmotivation Video Streaming Platform.
2 Minute Circuit Class-at-a-Glance
This 60-minute circuit class template includes a 10-minute warm-up an 8-minute cool down and over 40 minutes of circuit rounds. There is no equipment required, however a flotation belt should be worn in deep water.
Exercise Segment 1: Tri-Planar Focus 1
This first exercise segment includes three 2-minute circuits. Tri-Planar refers to all three movement planes of the body. Selecting exercises in all three planes, as well as multi-planar movement delivers a total body workout and ensures optimal muscle balance.
Exercise Segment 2: Tri-Planar Focus 2
This segment includes three more 2-minute circuits. By now, your class members are likely noticing the changes in energy demands for each circuit. The 10 second rounds tap into the metabolic systems that provide energy for a sudden demand for all-out effort. The aerobic endurance circuits are fed energy from the oxidative metabolic system that fuels longer duration physical activity.
Exercise Segment 3: ADL Focus 1
This exercise segment will help your class members improve their performance in activities of daily living (ADLs), such as getting up and down, walking and getting dressed.
Exercise Segment 4: ADL Focus 2
This second round of ADL training includes exercises that often cause injury or discomfort, including getting in and out of a bathtub and entering and exiting a car.
Exercise Segment 5: Essential Components of Fitness 1
The circuits in this round feature essential components of fitness, such as muscular strength and endurance and cardiorespiratory endurance.
Exercise Segment 6: Essential Components of Fitness 2
Continuing on with more components and skill-related activities, the circuits in this round focus on flexibility and coordination.
In the video below, Lori talks about the science behind creating 2-Minute Circuits and then continue reading for additional education on the importance of intensity variability in class programming.
INTENSITY VARIATION FOR OPTIMAL RESULTS
Training for Sudden Energy Demand
Sometimes our class members are required to engage in immediate bursts of all-out energy, such as dodging a hazard, catching a falling object, ascending an unexpected flight of stairs, or running through the airport. A good way to train your students for this quick burst of energy is with High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). Fitmotivation has dozens of HIIT videos that feature cycles of work (high intensity) with rest (recovery). As Lori stresses in the video above, the rest is crucial. Ignoring the rest/recovery defeats the purpose of HIIT and negates results. HIIT is considered anaerobic training and taps into the body’s energy systems that include the ATP-PC System and the Anaerobic Glycolytic System. Metabolic systems were not fun to study about in your AEA certification, but these are the two energy systems we include in our classes to help our students with shorter, but intense energy demands.
Training for Longer Duration Physical Activities
When we include aerobic or steady state exercise in our classes, the heart rate stays within a 6-8 on the Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale, for an extended period, such as 30-45 minutes. Working at a steady state of energy expenditure requires a constant supply of oxygen. To provide this, our body taps into the Oxidative metabolic system, which prepares the body for longer duration activities, such as a day at the amusement park or a long day of gardening.
AEA certified? Earn 2.0 AEA CECs with the optional 2 Minute Circuits AEA Approved Online Ed Course. The purpose of this course is to educate and demonstrate the need for intensity variability by tapping into all of the metabolic systems. Doing so provides optimal results for your class members.
2-Minute Circuits was designed by Lori to combine all of the body’s energy systems to better prepare your class participants for anything that life throws at them. Fitmotivation extends a big thank you to Lori for sharing her expertise and designing a workout that will help your class members live their best lives. Stay tuned, there are four other aquatic fitness instructor videos with Lori that will be posting throughout summer/fall 2025. Below is a fun video of Lori’s struggles with those darn on-camera talking parts.