Circuit training and HIIT workouts are both highly effective at helping you reach your fitness goals. However, many people confuse these two terms, thinking they mean the same thing.
While there are some similarities between HIIT and circuit training, they are significantly different styles of exercise and serve different purposes.
Let’s dive deeper into this topic to understand the key differences and similarities between circuit training and HIIT.
Circuit Training vs HIIT: Which One Is For You?
First of all, let’s break down HIIT and circuit training to clearly see what each focuses on and how they differ from each other.
- Circuit Training: Circuit training involves completing several exercises back-to-back, targeting different muscle groups, with minimal to no rest.
- HIIT: HIIT workouts focus on short bursts of intense exercise, mainly bodyweight, followed by brief rest periods. The primary goals of HIIT are weight loss and improving cardiovascular health.
Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned gym-goer, it’s important to understand the differences between circuit training and HIIT, as it will simplify your workout planning process.
What is Circuit Training?
Circuit training can also serve as a cardiovascular exercise, as it involves a series of exercises, mainly a mix of strength training and cardio, completed back-to-back. There can be a variety of combinations, ranging from dumbbell flys to sprinting and rowing.
Side note: Do not confuse circuit training with supersets.
To give you an example of what a circuit training workout can look like, take a look at this sample taken from the Workit App:
| Exercise | Reps/Time | Focus Area |
|---|---|---|
| Push-Ups | 12 reps | Chest, shoulders, triceps |
| High Knees | 30 seconds | Cardio |
| Dumbbell Rows | 12 reps (each side) | Back, biceps |
| Plank | 30 seconds | Core |
| Lunges | 12 reps (each leg) | Legs, balance |
| Jumping Jacks | 30 seconds | Cardio |
The example above is a full-body circuit training routine. You may come across many different styles of circuit routines, as each is designed for specific goals and needs.
As you can see, the example includes forms of cardio like jumping jacks and high knees. In a way, circuit training is similar to cardio since they may share similar exercises, but it also includes weighted exercises like dumbbell rows.
Circuit training can be considered a dynamic fat-burning workout, where you can also build muscle, improve cardiovascular health, and burn a lot of calories.
Circuit training is great for busy individuals who have little time to work out and want to get the most out of their exercise sessions.
Advantages of Circuit Training
There are multiple advantages to circuit training, such as flexibility, effectiveness, fat burning, muscle building, and engagement. Let’s break this down further.
- Circuit training is great because it’s highly flexible and can be tailored to any fitness level, with intensity that can always be adjusted.
- You’ll perform a variety of exercises, making the process fun and engaging.
- Time-based exercises with limited rest between them burn extra calories, elevate your heart rate, and ensure you finish your workout quickly.
- Focusing on different muscle groups for each exercise allows for a full-body workout in a short amount of time.
Circuit training is excellent for toning, losing weight, burning fat, and improving overall well-being. If you combine circuit training with a protein-rich diet, you’ll see amazing results in no time.
If you need further help planning workouts and nutrition based on your personal needs, download the Workit app for access to personalized workout programs and meal plans.
Disadvantages of Circuit Training
There are no downfalls to doing circuit training. In fact, there are no downfalls to any type of exercise.
However, depending on your fitness goals, certain training styles might not be the best fit for you. For example, due to the nature of circuit training, with limited rest between exercises, it’s not ideal for maximum strength training, as it doesn’t allow for effective incorporation of progressive overload.
Since circuit training is high-intensity and involves a lot of movement, be sure to warm up properly before starting your main exercises.
What is HIIT Training?
The name itself, High-Intensity Interval Training, explains what HIIT is about. Essentially, it involves very high-intensity workouts, more intense than circuit training, with brief rest periods in between.
HIIT is generally cardio, usually performed as bodyweight exercises. If you incorporate resistance training or weightlifting into HIIT, it becomes a variation of the training, commonly known as HIRT (High-Intensity Resistance Training).
The main exercises in HIIT include burpees, jumping jacks, mountain climbers, sprints, high knees, and many more.
If you’re curious about what a HIIT workout looks like, here’s a sample workout from the Workit App:
| Exercise | Duration | Rest | Focus Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burpees | 30 seconds | 10 seconds | Full-body |
| Mountain Climbers | 30 seconds | 10 seconds | Core, legs |
| Jump Squats | 30 seconds | 10 seconds | Legs, glutes |
| High Knees | 30 seconds | 10 seconds | Cardio, legs |
| Plank | 30 seconds | 10 seconds | Core |
| Jumping Lunges | 30 seconds | 10 seconds | Legs, glutes |
As you can see from the workout sample above, all exercises are time-based and include brief resting periods in between. HIIT workouts are generally full-body and burn a lot of calories.
A HIIT workout typically lasts between 15 minutes to 1 hour. HIIT workouts usually don’t include weight exercises or resistance training, as that would make the workout especially challenging and exhausting.
Advantages of HIIT Training
HIIT training is particularly effective for losing weight and shedding extra pounds. It’s an amazing cardiovascular exercise that can help you get fit, toned, and in great physical shape.
However, HIIT exercises are not ideal if your goal is building muscle or increasing strength and muscle mass.
Here are some key benefits of HIIT training:
- HIIT can be done at home, outdoors, or at the gym.
- HIIT workouts burn more calories compared to other types of exercise, making it an excellent choice for weight loss.
- High-intensity interval training increases your anaerobic threshold and enhances cardiovascular health.
- Also known as EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption), HIIT keeps burning fat even after your workout, depending on its intensity.
- HIIT can improve sleep quality, and the intensity can be adjusted to suit all fitness levels.
HIIT workouts are generally bodyweight-based, but if you’re feeling competitive, you can integrate resistance bands, dumbbells, or kettlebells. Just be careful not to overdo it, as HIIT can be quite taxing.
Disadvantages of HIIT Training
HIIT training is excellent for your health and getting in shape. It’s especially ideal for weight loss, as long as you maintain a healthy diet along the way.
The important thing with HIIT workouts is not to overdo it and avoid exhausting yourself. When structuring and planning your workout, make sure you have a clear understanding of your fitness goals.
HIIT workouts are not as beneficial for building muscle mass and maximum strength, as they are primarily suited for cardiovascular fitness and burning a lot of calories.
HIIT vs Circuit Training: Fat Burning
Both HIIT and circuit training are effective for burning fat. The mechanics of HIIT and circuit training are quite similar, as both involve minimal rest times and incorporate high-intensity intervals into their respective workout regimens.
However, HIIT is more effective at burning fat because it can trigger the ‘after burn’ effect, allowing you to continue burning fat even after your workout is finished.
The difference in fat-burning potential is negligible, but depending on the intensity of your workout, HIIT really maximizes the fat-burning process and helps you burn those extra calories.
Another important point is the role of muscle mass in burning more calories. Studies have shown that the size of your muscle mass greatly impacts calorie burn, as muscles require more energy to function. The calorie burn is even higher during resting time (Basal Metabolic Rate, or simply BMR).
For example, to illustrate how larger muscle mass contributes to burning more calories, imagine a scenario where you swap 100 pounds of fat for 100 pounds of muscle. This would result in burning an additional 300 calories every day.
Another example: if someone weighing over 300 pounds loses weight and goes from having 180 pounds of fat to just 20 pounds, they will burn 480 extra calories throughout the day because muscle burns more calories than fat.
To conclude, building muscle is quite effective at burning fat, making circuit training highly beneficial if you build a significant amount of muscle mass.
HIIT vs Circuit Training: Muscle Mass
If your primary goal is to build significant muscle mass and maximum strength, it’s better to transition to traditional weightlifting. However, if your goal is to build muscle mass while burning fat and achieving an aesthetically pleasing, lean physique with visible muscle definition, circuit training will be great for you.
Compared to HIIT, circuit training is more effective for building muscle mass, while also improving your cardiovascular fitness. Remember, circuit training incorporates weighted exercises, which are key to muscle growth.
HIIT can help tone your body and provide some muscle definition, but the results won’t be as pronounced as with circuit training.
Circuit Training vs HIIT: Time Management
One of the biggest perks of circuit training and HIIT is that the workouts can be finished relatively quickly.
Due to the high-intensity nature and minimal rest times between exercises, it’s possible to complete a highly effective workout in just 30 minutes.
When planning your workout, it’s important to do it well. For example, if you’re doing circuit training, choose exercises that target different muscle groups to avoid overlap. The same applies to HIIT (for example, are you doing TABATA, training, 30:30 training, 30-20-10 training, or something else)—make sure you get adequate rest between high-intensity intervals.
So if you have a tight schedule and can only work out for a limited time, both HIIT and circuit training can work for you, as they allow for effective workouts to be completed in a short time.
Maximize Results and Adapt As Needed
If you’re not sure which type of training is right for you, try both HIIT and circuit training, see how they make you feel, and then decide which one you want to stick with.
Remember to properly structure your workouts. For example, are you doing time-based, rep-based, or AMRAP (as many reps as possible) circuit workouts? The same goes for HIIT—are you doing TABATA, EMOM (every minute on the minute), 30:30, 30:20:10, or something else?
It’s important to have a well-structured workout program in place, as it’s crucial to your progress and results. Ideally, let us create a workout program for you by downloading the Workit app, or have your fitness coach do the planning.
If you find the workout program you’re following to be underwhelming or overwhelming, adjust it as your body tells you—lower or increase the intensity as needed.
As you progress and improve your fitness level, both circuit training and HIIT allow for proper progression, as the intensity can always be increased—whether time-based, weight-based, or repetition-based.
Conclusion
To summarize the HIIT vs. circuit training comparison, it’s hard to give a definitive answer on which is superior, as it largely depends on your personal needs and fitness goals.
If your goal is weight loss, HIIT is slightly superior to circuit training, but both are highly effective for burning fat.
If you want to build muscle mass while burning fat, circuit training is the better choice, as it incorporates weighted exercises along with HIIT movements, making it a great combination for muscle growth.
Whether you’re short on time or prefer shorter workouts, both circuit training and HIIT can fit your schedule, as they allow for workouts that can be completed in as little as 30 minutes.
So, to answer the question of whether HIIT or circuit training is superior, the answer is—it depends. At Workit, we design workout programs that include both HIIT and circuit training, so if you’re looking for a world-class program, make sure to download the app.