Why You Need Circuit Training

Circuit training is time efficient and effective for so many people, you really should give it a try.

Confusion from the Fitness Industry

There is so much confusion out there on the internet. Some people tell you that you do not need to perform cardio and they use misinformation to try to sell you their “top secret” to losing weight. Others take the opposite approach and try to get you to perform high intensity intervals claiming by extrapolating the number of calories burned by extremely fit individuals and trying to apply them to everyone. The truth is that neither of these approaches focuses on reality and neither of these is a great approach for someone that suffers from obesity or is new to training and exercise.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Resistance Training

Resistance training, or weight training, is extremely advantageous for individuals who need to build muscle strength or mass. By choosing the correct rep ranges and planning appropriately you can work toward your specific goal.

By training for strength, you program your muscles and your nervous system to be able to push harder. As your muscles need more power to overcome more resistance, they are able to recruit more powerful nerve impulses and more of the muscle fibers. This results in a small amount of muscle growth and a large amount of muscle strength but does not burn a lot of calories. Also, new lifters often gain strength with relatively light weights because they have experienced the same amount of muscle and neuronal adaptation.

Training for mass works similarly to training for strength except that as you push yourself harder you go past the point where the adaptation is largely neuronal. In mass training you training to a point where you are recruiting as many muscle cells as possible as your muscles start to fatigue. This results in numerous changes including building extra energy capacity by incorporating more mitochondria and producing signals that lead to more vascular development. Eventually, the muscles are trained past the point where they can simply adapt, and more muscle cells are produced.

Although there are numerous benefits to resistance training, I would like to point out three major benefits. First, whichever rep range you focus on you will develop strength and add muscle mass, the main difference will be which one is emphasized. By adding lean muscle mass, you will be increasing the number of calories that your body can burn at rest. Second, resistance training stimulates osteocytes to breakdown and rebuild bone which leads to stronger bones; helping to guard against some of the common injuries many people experience as they age. Finally, resistance training increases angiogenesis to the muscles meaning that it increases the number of capillaries able to supply the muscles; in turn this results in better muscular endurance by allowing better exchange of oxygen and metabolites.

For all the benefits of resistance training there are also some disadvantages when compared to other forms of training. First, resistance training generally does not burn very many calories compared to cardiovascular training. This is especially true for beginners that have not already developed a large amount of muscle strength or mass. Second, resistance training is not going to lead to huge gains in cardiovascular endurance because you often take long rests between sets and completion of a set can easily take less than a minute in many cases. Finally, beginners may find resistance training boring at first because of the slow pace as compared to an all-out cardiovascular workout.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Aerobic Training

Aerobic (or cardio) training helps to burn more calories is extremely beneficial for those that want to improve overall health and endurance. No matter what form of cardio you choose you can improve respiratory and cardiovascular health along with muscular endurance. Specific types of training can also be used to increase agility, speed, or power.

Steady state low intensity training such as walking, light biking, or less rigorous hikes are all great places to start for individuals that need to increase activity. Anyone can go outside and take a ten-minute walk after a meal or hop on a bike for a short ride on the weekend. Low intensity workouts generally will not burn a lot of calories but will help your joints get used to moving and by increasing your heart rate and breathing above baseline will provide cardiovascular and respiratory benefits as well.

Steady state moderate intensity is in many respects the most frequently thought of form of aerobic exercise and may include a moderate run, biking, or hiking. Generally, this form of activity requires that someone has already achieved a certain level of fitness. If you are not quite to this point you may end up taking breaks or needing to slow down to keep from overexerting yourself. Steady state moderate intensity aerobic activities are great for burning calories and building muscular endurance. They also offer a great amount of cardiovascular and respiratory benefit and noticeable changes in resting heart rate with consistent training.

High intensity aerobic training is often performed by individuals that need to increase power or speed. This generally includes very high levels of effort that cannot be sustained for long periods of time. In fact, a lot of this training can become anaerobic due to the intensity with which the muscles involved are stressed. Although, some people try to use this form of training to lose weight more quickly, the truth is that this form of training does not significantly increase the total number of calories burned given its generally short duration. Increases in cardiovascular and respiratory function can be extremely high with this type of exercise, but the intensity is such that you must be careful not to over-train (especially when new to rigorous exercise).

Although there are numerous benefits to aerobic training, I would like to point out three major benefits. First, whichever form of aerobic exercise you start off with you will burn more calories and oftentimes feel fewer hunger pangs. Second, as you progress in your aerobic tolerance you will notice easier breathing, lower heart rate, and better endurance. Finally, aerobic training can be used to improve mobility and agility which in turn make other activities easier and more enjoyable.

For all the benefits of aerobic training there are also some disadvantages when compared to other forms of training. First, it can be hard for obese individuals to perform aerobic exercise at a high enough intensity to elicit substantial benefits. This is largely due to either limitations in movement or the risk of injury causing exercise adaptations that are less effective. Second, aerobic training is not going to lead to significant gains in muscle mass or strength in most cases. Finally, aerobic training alone does not have the same benefits on the musculoskeletal system and aging as resistance training.

Why Circuit Training is the Answer

The best approach is a combination of resistance training and aerobic training, otherwise known as circuit training. Circuit training has numerous advantages when compared to resistance training or aerobic training alone.

In circuit training you can benefit from all the advantages of both resistance training cardiovascular training. By completing set of bodyweight and weighted exercises without resting between each exercise you gain the cardiovascular and respiratory benefits of an aerobic workout. Also, by eliminating rests you tax the muscles more which means that the lighter weights that must be used by beginners can still be effective. Finally, by using a mix of both bodyweight exercises and resistance exercises we are limiting the amount of stress on the joints meaning that the circuit can be performed without alterations making it less effective if you happen to be obese.

You are probably wondering what one of these circuits looks like. Generally, we are going to want to take advantage of as much equipment as we can to minimize any downtime caused by changing weights. This means that I like to use the barbell, a couple sets of dumbbells, and a pulley machine. But it is completely possible to use just one set of dumbbells and get an effective workout.

Generally, having a circuit of 5 to 7 exercises is ideal. When we move from one exercise to the next we want to try to work either an opposing muscle group, or a muscle group that was not worked in the previous exercise. We also want to incorporate primarily compound movements because by using these multi-joint exercises we can work more muscles and burn more calories.

Here is an example circuit:

Bench Press 12–15 reps

Cable Seated Row 12–15 reps

Bodyweight Squats 15–20 reps

Dumbbell Overhead Press 12–15 reps

Dumbbell Neutral Grip Deadlift 15–20 reps

Moderate Speed Mountain Climbers 10 each side

Rest 60–180 seconds

In this circuit we used moderately high reps for upper body exercises and high reps for lower body exercises because we are assuming the individual is new to training and has a goal of improving overall health while losing weight. It is best to start newer people off with lower weight and the higher reps help them to get used to the exercises while also working more metabolically and building endurance. We also suggested a rest time of one to three minutes which we would decrease as we were able to get through the circuit more easily.

Wrapping it up

The great thing about doing circuits is that it gives you a full body workout in a shorter amount of time than traditional style training. You can also alter the repetition ranges and exercises depending upon your specific goals and level of training. Although you may not achieve the massive muscle growth or strength gains of traditional resistance training, the ease of fitting the training into your day and the ability to gain aerobic benefits at the same time often outweighs this for busy individuals whose primary goal is lose weight, maintain a nice physique, or to just generally reap the health benefits of consistent exercise.

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