Circuit Training - Benefits and Common Mistakes

It is proven again and again that circuit training is a very powerful technique to help see results faster. Now pretty much any workout can be considered a circuit since most of the time people go from one workout to another in a somewhat ordered processes; however, there are several mistakes or key elements that people forget about when they hit the gym.

One of the most important aspects that people forget about is keeping your heart rate up. I see it ALL the time, people go in do one set, get up and then like 3 minutes later do another set. Sure if all you're trying to do is build muscle this will work, but in terms of getting an overall workout you're doing very little. In order to burn calories and hopefully lose weight, you have to keep your heart rate up. To do this, you must have limited breaks in between sets. I'm not saying do one set after another after another but instead limit your break between sets to 30 seconds or 1 minute.  Circuits are designed to be fast paced which in turn gives you an awesome muscle-building, calorie burning workout.

The second element that I believe is very important is mixing up the types of lifts or activities being done in the workout. I'm sure many people have heard of the term muscle confusion training. For those of you who have not, basically it's where you never do the same workout over and over. Your body gets use to things and eventually the workout will not be as effective. There for by mixing up the activities in each workout, you in turn get better results.

Overall circuit training can be very beneficial. By decreasing the down time in between sets, this keeps the heart rate up giving you not only the strength training you wanted but also gives you some endurance and cardio training as well. Having your heart rate up the whole time also increases the amount of calories you burn during your workout. Lastly and one big reason I love circuits so much is keeping the pace fast, this decreases the amount of time your total workout takes! There are many many different circuits and fine tuning them to your level of fitness is key. Know your limits and make sure you keep good form. I will be posting circuits I have personally created and or found in the past which will hopefully help others in their training.