The Benefits of Circuit Training

Circuit training has recently grown in popularity, because of the great benefits that it provides. Circuit training is a way of blending your weight-training with cardiovascular exercise into one very-intense workout. The purpose of circuit training is to burn a lot of calories in a short period of time, build solid muscle mass, and boost your metabolism.

A typical circuit training workout consists of several machines, each targeting different muscles in the closely related muscle groups. For example, lat-pulldown, seated row, t-bar row, dumbbell curls, and barbell curls. Another day might include: dumbbell bench press, triceps cables, dips, butterfly, etc. The stations are performed in rapid succession, moving from one to the next. A typical rotation would include 5-7 stations. After each station, there is a brief rest period, and then you work through the stations again.

By rapidly moving from machine-to-machine, you will maintain an increased heart-rate- getting your cardio exercise while you lift weights. A typical workout would consist of 3-6 cycles through the rotation, depending on your level of experience.

Because the workout stations performed quickly, they must be performed with less weight than you are accustomed to lifting. This can give the wrong impression at first that the workout is not as good because the amount of weight that you are lifting is considerably less- this is not true. Just like with pushups or pull-ups, it is true that you will not build enormous bodybuilder muscles, but you will build solid, toned muscle.

I do not endorse any particular circuit training programs, because I think it is best to change up your workout periodically to re-stimulate your muscles.

But, I do recommend that you make sure whatever program you choose works out the entire body through the course of training. The muscle groups should be divided up into separate workouts, to be performed on separate days. Here is a sample workout:

Day 1: Dumbbell bench press, triceps cable, incline dumbbell bench press, triceps cable, overhead shoulder press
Day 2: Lat pulldown, t-bar row, barbell curl, dumbbell curl, seated row, shrugs, hammer curls
Day 3: Leg press, leg curls, lunges, leg rotation (hips), calf raises
Day 4: Rest

* Do 10-12 reps at each station. Take a 1-2 minute break after each rotation. Perform 3-6 rotations.