One of the biggest misconceptions about circuit strength training is that you can’t build muscle when you combine aerobic exercise with strength training. This is especially the case with men. It’s no secret that men and women have different goals when they hit the gym, and while a woman might sign up for a yoga class or hop on an exercise machine, men go straight to the weights. What most men don’t understand is that circuit training is not an easy and fluff program, and if designed and performed correctly, not only will it tone muscles, but it can also get rid of the fat around your midsection and make those hard-to-get abs pop!
The next misconception is for both men and women. When it comes to strength circuit training, there is usually a line drawn in the sand, between how much weight a man should use and how much weight a woman should use. This is a cyclical argument because the real answer has nothing to do with the amount of weight, only with the quality of how you use it. Movement quality is characterized by the amount and duration of tensions that muscles have to work against in any given exercise. If you’re lifting weights that are too heavy, but speeding through the reps in order to get them done, you’ll lose form, lose muscle tension time, and lose results.
The same theory should be applied to women on the strength training circuit. The truth is, women always gravitate toward lighter weights, and sometimes they tend to go much lighter than they should for fewer repetitions than is necessary for muscle response. Again, stress time is the most important factor in making a circuit work for you.
Additionally, because the circuit is known for short rest periods between sets, somewhere between 10-15 seconds, your heart rate is constantly challenged, so while it has “aerobic components” woven into the framework of the workout, it’s not technically considered aerobic in nature. What men and women often misunderstand is that the aerobic components of a circuit workout mimic traditional aerobic exercise, but are designed to create a low-intensity “fat-burning” workout in between strength training. The aerobic bursts of power used in the circuit are not like logging some face time with a stair stepper because of the intensity of the cardio-healthy activity. Therefore, increasing the challenge and utilizing stored energy sources in a short period of time is part of the circuit, in order to take in sugar and calories within the system and challenge the total oxygen consumption.
Women tend to like circuits for their aerobic components because these types of exercises seem to be more popular with women, but if the circuit is performed incorrectly, you will not be in the aerobic zone long enough to produce the same effects. These effects, the downside of aerobic exercise, that keep men out of the cardio room is that it tends to raise cortisol levels in the body (which is when muscle tissue begins to break down). Circuit strength training It can benefit both men and women, and is a combination of some of the best training techniques to be found on the fitness market.
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