Circuit Training Weight Loss: The Myths and the Truth

You don't have to be a gym genius to know that circuit training weight loss is one of the most affirmed and successful facts cited by those who circuit train correctly. However, what is really needed is a clear delineation made between circuit training workouts and low repetition, lightweight strength training. This is imperative, because some people, women especially, tend to fear "bulking up", and making this distinction helps to remove the stigma associated with strength training and provide some clear cut rules for circuit training.

To begin with, the myth that light weights are best to avoid building muscle and to increase weight loss needs to be busted wide open; let's unpack some of the data that proves that light weight isn't ideal for weight loss. Light weight is defined as an amount of resistance that you can complete 20-25 reps with ease. This is too high if an amount of repetitions to qualify for the type of circuit training that incurs weight loss, and deters "bulk".

As a fitness community, we need to understand that the range is vast for determining correct "lifting" weights, but in circuit training you shouldn't lift any amount of weight within a sequence of exercises for more than 12-15 repetitions.

Why? Let's discuss hypertrophy. Hypertrophy is that scary word that defines what "bulking up" actually is. This word basically explains what happens when the muscle is built up under the workload of a certain amount of additional weight. For the muscles to be in the peak zone for hypertrophy, the muscle is under tension for 30-70 seconds.

What people don't know is that those who lift heavy weight for only 8 to10 reps are in the same hypertrophy category as those who lift 3-5lbs for 20-25 repetitions, meaning that they both build muscle. Of course the gain in muscle is going to look different between the person who lifts extremely heavy and those who use the extremely light, but the bottom line is that those types of exercises build muscle; they do not increase weight loss.

The truth is that weight loss can only be instated when the correct exercise is chosen, the debate has been wrong all this time. Instead of trying to figure out how much weight and how may repetitions, the design of the program needs to be geared toward weight loss. That is why circuit training is the best way to lean out and lose weight. It is a combination exercise that is completely free from the number of repetitions and the weight associated with those reps. The nature of the exercise has to have a structure firmly rooted within the combination of high intensity strength building and balanced by short spurts of challenging aerobic exercises. The goal in weight loss is calories burned and increased muscle mass. When muscle increases within the body you will avoid "bulk" by balancing it with high spurts of plyometric or callisthenic training, such as sprints, power jumps, or agility drills coupled with appropriate weight training.