Weight training plays an important role in one’s life, from reducing the risk of heart attack to providing more energy.
One very popular method of weight training is circuit training, which aims to increase mobility, build strength, and improve stamina. This method has been around for decades and offers a wide variety of benefits. Circuit training is both a mental and physical workout, where the participant performs one set of an exercise and immediately moves on to another exercise without rest. Exercises can be sequenced in a variety of combinations to isolate single muscles, a group of muscles, or for total body training.
Since muscles can only contract for long periods of time when sufficient amounts of oxygen are available, mental focus during circuit training is directed towards the heart and lungs, as opposed to just the muscles during conventional training. The cardiovascular and respiratory systems feed our working muscles with oxygen-filled blood that is eventually fueled by body fat. During conventional training, the focus isn’t on the heart and lungs because the cardio/respiratory system rests between exercises, allowing the ATP to LA cycle to be the energy supplier. This cycle must be depleted in order for the body to burn fat. By performing circuit training, you don’t give your heart or lungs a chance to relax, which keeps the ATP to LA cycle depleted.
In addition to increasing heart and lung conditioning, enhancing your ability to use oxygen, and burning fat, impressive muscular shape and strength gains will result from doing any circuit-training workout. Research studies consistently show that lean body mass increases with a course of circuit training. A 1-3.2 kg gain in lean body mass can be expected with a consequent decrease in relative fat mass of 1-3%, total weight remaining unchanged. This is a major benefit of circuit training, especially for those who want to get in shape and tone up their muscles.
With traditional aerobic training, a decrease in relative fat mass has led to a decrease in total weight with little change in lean body mass. The resistance work involved in the circuits encourages muscle mass development, and thus any fat loss is replaced equally by muscle gain. This makes it easier to maintain lower body fat or reduce body fat even further because the increase in lean body mass pushes up basal metabolic rate and overall calorie expenditure. These body composition changes would support the use of circuit weight training in a health and fitness setting where toning up, but not losing weight, were the major goals. Circuit training is a great form of exercise that will help almost anyone improve their health and offers lots of benefits.
