Kick Up Cardio with Circuits
Kick Up Cardio with Circuits
By Stephen A. Black, M.Ed., P.T., A.T.C./L., N.S.C.A.-C.P.T.
Circuit training can create excitement in your fitness center’s cardio programming.
Currently, fitness centers offer a variety of cardio and strength options. They offer a plethora of equipment and classes, yet attrition remains high. However, by combining the science of cardio and strength training with a motivated and energetic instructor, new programming that combines interval and steady-state routines can excite, motivate and retain your members.
What is circuit training?
The purpose of circuit training is to keep participants moving by only allowing minimal breaks between exercises. Rest is part of the circuit, and is based on overall goals. This workout is different from other programs or routines, such as supersets or compound sets that target one or two specific muscles and work with the fatigue factor of those particular muscles to increase the intensity of the workout. Circuit training, on the other hand, works because it creates an environment to keep pushing the body aerobically, while still challenging strength development.
Circuit training was popularized as a way to gain the benefits of both strength and cardio training. It originally involved performing a “circuit” in which exercisers moved from weight machine to weight machine rapidly, performing high-rep sets with low weight and short rest intervals. This was supposedly to keep heart rate up, as well as to gain strength. Unfortunately, this did not really develop either capability. In fact, it proved a significantly poorer method of development on both counts. The prospective research shows unequivocally that training both strength and cardio simultaneously diminished the benefits of both. Further, the research is clear that performing cardio before strength maintains the cardio effect, but enhances the strength-training session.
