What is circuit training

You may be familiar with circuit training but if you have never heard of it before let me explain.

Circuit training is another method of training, whether in sports or just at the gym. It was initially designed for athletes who needed to train to improve at certain sports, but circuit training soon made its way into gyms. It is a great workout that can help you to achieve your fitness goals.

The truth is, circuit training is an advanced method and not really suitable to everybody. You need to already have built some basic strength and endurance before you embark on circuits. But having said this, circuit training is also fun and you can easily see your body making progress from session to session, even though it can be tough.

Circuit training consists of doing a series of different exercises one after the other that will help you improve your fitness level, if you are just a fitness enthusiast and not a professional athlete. For athletes it is more complicated.  Circuits are usually pretty intense and very good for cardiovascular conditioning. Among other things you will not only break into a sweat but you will burn fat and become leaner.

Circuits are a great way to add variety into your training sessions and a good way to stay motivated especially during winter months.

The kind of exercises you can include:

All exercises that make you move upwards like jumping, skipping rope and stepping up. There are also variations like crossfit that are becoming quite popular in the fitness world.

• All exercises that you move downwards, like squats and lunges and all exercises that include runs and gallops. You can also include resistance either with weights, elastic bands or medicine balls.

Circuits provide endless possibilities and they can easily be adapted to all fitness levels and age groups.

Frequency and intensity:

You should include these kinds of circuits a couple of times per week. It all depends on your fitness level and goal. Since circuits are rather intense do not include them on consecutive training days. Always leave one resting day in between. Doing even short circuits all the way through the year is also a great way to avoid holiday weight gain.

How long?

Between 20/30 min is optimal. This way you improve your cardiovascular fitness and activate the fat burning machine.

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