Circuit training v.s. Strength training...what's the difference?

hukimama

Okay, so here is my question. I'm fairly new here, have been logging my food and activity, and going to the gym for the last month or so. I've been reading on here, and a pretty consistently have heard people say how they had wished they had started "strength training" earlier. So several times a week I have been doing a circuit of the weight training machines. There are 10 machines, and I do 3 sets of 12 reps per machine. Then 45-60 minutes of cardio. My questions are..... Is circuit training and strength training the same thing? Am I doing enough to build muscle and lose weight?

law102189

Great post and I hope to learn more about this myself. I'm in the same position, but free weights really intimidate me. I so cardio and the Cybex machine circuits

rileyes

This is my take:

Strength training = power (getting stronger through lifting heavy)
Circuit training = power (getting stronger through cardio)

Strength training can be considered if you are building your power base by progressively moving heavier weight. Plyometrics can be another form of building power. This type of work is very focused with each lift, jump or throw with longer rest periods between sets.

Circuit training can help build strength too. This can be more of building your endurance through resistance training as you have less rest between fast-paced circuits.

AnvilHead

hukimama wrote: »

Is circuit training and strength training the same thing?

Circuit training (as you're doing it, with weight machines) is a form of strength training, yes.

hukimama wrote: »

Am I doing enough to build muscle and lose weight?

a) Losing weight is primarily a function of your caloric deficit. Strength training doesn't burn a lot of calories, so it doesn't deepen the deficit much.

b) You don't build appreciable amounts of muscle while you're in a caloric deficit. Many people see a couple/few pounds of "newbie gains", and it's theoretically possible to continue putting on a small amount of muscle if your deficit isn't too deep, your protein intake is sufficiently high and you're progressing in your strength training (lifting more weight as time goes on). The more important aspect is that it will help you retain what muscle mass you currently have. Most people saying they wish they had started strength training earlier are saying that because they discovered that they lost a lot of muscle along with the fat and arrived at their goal weight looking like a smaller version of what they were when they were overweight/obese - still carrying a lot of bodyfat with no visible muscle.

It's very advantageous to retain as much muscle mass as you can (it's inevitable that some of your loss will be muscle mass, but strength training can help minimize the ratio). Putting muscle back on is much harder (and slower!) than most people realize. A woman, under optimal diet/training conditions (while in a caloric surplus, no less), can expect to put on about 1/4 pound of muscle per week. That's a pound of muscle per month. And it's also going to involve gaining back some fat, probably in close to a 1:1 ratio with the muscle. So if you lose 5 pounds of muscle, you're looking at 5 months (under optimal conditions) to put that 5 pounds of muscle back on. Along with 5 pounds of fat to go with it. So you can see why it would have been much better to have done everything you could to hang onto that 5 pounds of muscle in the first place!

cafeaulait7

I agree that it is strength training, and with the above post in full.

But to break it down into categories you also hear, it's resistance training in the hypertrophy range, whereas 'strength' ranges tend to be lower reps with heavier weight. The rest periods are also more like supersetting (or what I consider supersetting) with circuit training, where you do another body part during what would normally be your rest period, so it will burn more calories. The heavier the weight is, the more true rest most people need, so that's not always possible when folks 'lift heavy'.

I get too worn out now and need real rest between sets, but I do stretch other muscles during my rests or maybe do a nice easy strength yoga pose using a different part There's no name for that that I know of, lol.

Make sure you do a progressive plan, whatever you do. Your muscles adapt and need more weight stimulus ( or volume - reps and/or sets) or it kind of becomes general fitness, imho. I don't know that that's enough to preserve muscle in a large deficit or not. To see strength increases, you'll need it, though. And later when not in a deficit, you'll need it to put on muscle.

Sued0nim

All of that

But particular emphasis on the comments on progression

If you're doing a circuit of 3 sets, next week increase the load and the next and the next