Whether you are new to the fitness journey or just trying to find something that works better for you, one option you can consider is circuit training. You may not be familiar with this option, but it has been a trusted approach to workouts for a long time. Circuit training offers many benefits to people, including its accessibility to people trying to get fit, rehabilitate injuries, or want to increase their strength. Reading on, you can learn everything you need about circuit training.
What is Circuit Training?
Circuit training is an approach to working out where you will cycle through several different workouts, usually between 5 and 10. Each exercise targets specific muscle groups, and workouts have no break. When done correctly, circuit training offers cardio and strength training, which is why it’s as effective.
Most people confuse circuit training and HIIT workouts, but it’s not. You are doing consecutive workouts with circuit training, targeting different muscles without breaks. With HIIT, you are alternating between bursts of high-intensity and low-intensity workouts. While some circuit training workouts are HIIT workouts, this isn’t always the case. It all depends on your approach to the circuit workouts.
Benefits of Circuit Training
When you are deciding on whether or not these are the best workouts for you, you should consider the many benefits that circuit training offers. These are important to consider when deciding whether or not circuit training is the best option for your health goals.
Optimized Results in Minimal Time
In reality, most people don’t have much time to prioritize their health goals by working out for hours throughout the day. The good news is that you can get the most out of the time you spend working out with circuit training. You can create as many different stations as you want to do during the allotted time. With the right workouts, you can fit in a decent and effective workout in as little as 15 minutes or upwards of 60 minutes.
Don’t have equipment? You don’t need it, and you can still get maximum results in minimal time.
Challenges to the Entire Body
When people go to the gym, they are lost about what they should do. Circuit training means you have your stations set up to go through what you need to do. Circuit training is designed to have each segment work on specific muscle groups, ensuring you get a full body workout every time.
A tip here is to ensure that the stations alternate between lower-body, upper-body, and core to give the muscles a break during your training.
Can Get Both Cardio and Strength Training in One Workout
Some people love cardio more than weights/strength training, while others may prefer strength training to cardio. Circuit training is excellent because you get the best of both worlds, forcing you to do both since they are both essential for your health. Circuit training offers a practical and comprehensive workout.
Boosts Metabolism
Another benefit of circuit training is that it can boost your metabolism. You can burn more calories in only 20 minutes of circuit training than in an hour on a machine like the elliptical. You burn more calories during the workout and also benefit from burning calories long after your workout has ended. You can sometimes benefit from this so-called “afterburn effect” for up to 48 hours after the circuit training workout has ended.
Avoid Gym Fatigue
Circuit training has such a flexible format that you won’t end up suffering from gym fatigue, making you lose motivation to workout. Change it up as often as you want to prevent boredom while still getting great exercise.
Improves Your Cardiovascular Health
Circuit training can keep your heart rate elevated, which can help improve your cardiovascular health. The heart works harder during your circuit training, which is essential to improving how efficiently your heart pumps. This eventually leads to a reduction in your resting heart rate, which means a healthier heart.
Little Time Commitment
As previously mentioned, circuit training can be very effective in a short period. The minimal time commitment is a benefit on its own. You don’t have to go to the gym if you have the space and equipment to do the circuit training at home. You can make as much of a time commitment as you want, even if you can only do about 15 minutes daily.
What are Some Examples of Circuit Training?
For beginners, there are some different examples of circuit training that you can do. 30 seconds per exercise with about 30 seconds break in between. Complete the circuit 3 times, and you can take about a 3-minute break in between each circuit.
Example #1:
- Jumping squat
- Push-up
- Skydivers
- V-sits
- High knees
- Jumping lunge
- Plank
- Side plank rotations
- Lateral skaters
Example #2:
- Push-ups
- Squats
- Sit-ups
- Lunges
- Chin-ups
Example #3:
- Push-ups
- Dumbbell squat
- Bent over dumbbell row
- Alternating lateral lunges
- Biceps curl to overhead press
- Romanian deadlift
- Ball crunch
- Ball back extension
These are just a couple of easy examples of circuit training that you can do.
Conclusion
Circuit training can be one of the most effective workout options that you can choose from. You are getting a complete workout that you can customize to target the various areas you want to focus on. There are also circuit training classes that you can attend if you want something more challenging than you may get at home. There is a lot of flexibility with this type of workout that you can enjoy.
