What is circuit training? Right off the bat, one of the advantages of circuit training is that you can do it with out any equipment and you don’t need a fitness center, because this workout can be carried out with any kind of exercise (including those with weights and machines, of course).
When you’re doing a circuit routine, you are doing sets of exercises without taking a rest in between. Every time you finish one set of an exercise, you immediately move on to the next exercise and perform a new set. Once you have completed the first “run” through the exercise-series, you begin with the first one again. You go around this circuit of exercises several times.
With “normal” exercise routines, you will be taking short breaks in between sets of an exercise. The reason for this is, of course, to allow each muscle some recovery time in between sets. At the same time, you stimulate each muscle group multiple times by doing more than one set of repetitions. Recuperation time is absolutely essential. Particularly when you are training to failure (i.e. do repetitions until you can’t move the weights anymore), then a recovery-period for the muscle tissue is something you can’t do without. Even if you wanted to, you couldn’t do a set to failure, instantly followed by another set of the same exercise.
With a circuit workout, you’re still granting each muscle enough time to recover, since you are constantly changing exercises. However, you are giving yourself an almost non-stop whole-body workout as you are not taking breaks in between the different exercises.
While this makes circuit training very tough, it’s also very beneficial. The higher overall intensity of your workout results in more energy burned, more growth stimulated and a stonger hormonal reaction (natural Testosterone) from your body. Because of this, circuit training regimens are very well suited to gain lean muscle mass.
Are there any disadvantages to circuit training? In a gym, it can be problematic, because the circuit routine relies on every set of weights and machine to be unoccupied when you need it. This workout method is also not one that should be done for the long-term, as the overall stress on your system might be too great. The best use of this kind of exercise is to do it occasionally, to give your body a new growth impulse with a new and intense workout. I recommend doing circuit routines for two weeks every two to three months.
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