Research-Based

Benefits Of Circuit Training – Why This Workout Works

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By Leslie Waterson

Reviewed by Juliana Tamayo, MS, RDN - Last Updated

Circuit Training with team

With so many types and different styles of working out and exercising, one of the most well-known is circuit training. Circuit training is popular for good reason, it provides a variety of health benefits while helping consumers build muscles and maintain a low level of body fat.

In this article, we’re going to discuss what circuit training is, what it does to your muscles, and how it can improve your body. We will also dive into the benefits of circuit training and share some of our favorite types of circuit training methods. 

So let’s jump right in!

Circuit Training

What Is Circuit Training?

Circuit training usually requires a person or a trainer to complete a handful of different workout exercises with minimal rest in between. Circuit training should only last 20-30 minutes and that means you’re training your body to have a higher level of endurance.

A lot of fitness celebrities and professionals have sworn by the amazing benefits circuit training provides. Not only is it a fast workout, but it is also an effective and superb efficient type of training.

Not only that, circuit training usually appeals to a lot if not the majority of people because it is a quick workout. We all know how busy our daily schedule can be with work, friends, family, and extracurriculars and most people don’t have the time to spend hours training at the gym.

What Is Circuit Training

Circuit training is also highly functional and recommended as it engages your entire body especially its core and muscles. You also have to take note that incorporating circuit training involves you being able to move fast through 10 exercise stations with little to no rest in between workouts. This can be especially hard especially if you’re used to having 1 or 2-minute rest per set of your workout.

Circuit training also involves about 10-25 reps at each workout, which makes it great for people who have a hard time focusing. It provides users with a unique and different way to workout, with so many different circuits to shuffle through.

Benefits Of Circuit Training

There are countless benefits to circuit training, but we are sharing the top six benefits that have been proven time and time again. 

Benefits of circuit training

1. Actively Engages Many Muscles

Circuit training effectively works out the entirety of your body, especially these specifically targeted parts of the body:

  • Core
  • Arms
  • Legs
  • Chest and Triceps
  • Glutes
  • Back

Circuit training that involves a variety of exercises such as sit-ups, pull-ups, push-ups, planks, use of heavyweights such as deadlifts have a predictive amount of benefits to the muscle areas started above. It increases muscular growth, strength, and endurance as well.

2. Improves Cardiovascular Health

The very nature of Circuit training is completing sets of different exercises with little to no rest in between the sets. This means you are increasing your heart rate and breathing rate at a rapid state compared to regular workouts with 1 to 2-minute rest between sets.

This can significantly improve your cardiovascular endurance because you are repeatedly training your body to work out as much as possible with little rest, this is further proven by a study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.

Research indicates that circuit-style bench press and other forms of exercises that are done through circuit style training had an overall better impact on heart health than the standard training exercises.

This is because, during any exercise that involves circuit training, the heart pumps more blood into the body. It beats faster and over time gets used to the elevated training exercise making it more adaptable in endurance form exercises.

3. Increases Muscle Growth Efficiently

Circuit training is a good style of building muscle because it relies on both cardio and strength training, effectively increasing muscle protein synthesis and muscle strength.

We all know how strength training can build up muscle and lean down your body. With circuit training you are performing these compound exercises with little rest, which pushes on your muscles breaking point. This means more muscle gets broken down to be repaired.

This is especially great for bodybuilders or people who want to build their physique, although it is relatively Important that with a rigid exercise training like this one. You should also be able to get plenty of sleep because that’s the time where your body gets to repair and make these muscles bigger and as well as incorporating a diet that is suitable for your fitness goal.

4. Effectively Burns More Calories Leading To Weight Loss

A study performed by Harvard Medical school confirmed that weight lifting or any kind of workouts such as aerobic workouts accompanied by circuit style training doubles down the number of calories lost.

Another study also proves this, the research which was conducted in the Journal of Physical Therapy Science, the study focused on the effects of a 12-week circuit training program.

The research concluded that each of the participant’s body weight, body fat percentage, and insulin resistance all decreased significantly! This further proves the fact that circuit style training is an effective way to shed off some pounds and improve your fitness goals!

5. Requires No Equipment, Cuts Gym Expenses

While you could always purchase gym equipment, like the Treadly 2 or the Hydrow Rower, why spend your money if you don’t have to? As stated in the study mentioned above, circuit style training can be effectively incorporated if you’re lifting weights in the gym, or even if you’re just working out at home without weights.

You can try incorporating various forms of progressive pull-ups, push-ups and other bodyweight exercises that target specific areas of the body. This can be beneficial to everyone because as we all know not everyone has access to gyms and there are a lot of fitness centers still closed due to the ongoing pandemic.

6. Positive Impact On Hormones 

Circuit training has been shown to positively increase if not double the amounts of growth hormones in the body such as Testosterone, HGH, and other “happy” hormones that elevate your mood and libido.

It is also proven that during a circuit style workout the person’s body releases high amounts of endorphins that have a positive impact on the brain. This is why people in circuit-style workouts may feel more positive, happy, and have more feelings of pleasure and excitement than those who do regular workouts.

Final Verdict: Circuit Training

Your circuit training workouts should always be tweaked to your body’s capabilities, if you can’t do high-intensity circuit training try making it a little slower but the goal is to do little to no rest in between your workout sets.

Also, it is important that if you have physical limitations, it is best to find an instructor that can do just that, also consult the doctor first if you’re trying out circuit training while pregnant or on certain medications that affect the blood and heart.

Intense Circuit Training

Don’t forget to drink enough water, especially if you feel fatigued or exhausted during the workout, otherwise enjoy your circuit training! 

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Leslie Waterson

Leslie has been passionately involved in the health and fitness industries for over a decade. She is constantly reviewing the latest scientific research and studies in order to take a research-backed approach to lifestyle optimization. Her main areas of interest include nutrition and supplementation. Leslie shares her findings on Fitness Clone to help other health enthusiasts choose the products and routines that will help them achieve their goals.