Thoughts on Circuit Training

Good morning! long time lurker, first time poster.

I have a question about circuit training to save time in the gym. In the Original Bill Starr 5x5 the exercises were done as a circuit with ascending sets and short rest intervals between each exercise. As the weight got heavier each round the rest got a little longer. Like a giant set, but with rest intervals.

From what I can gather from prior posts, set count (with less that 4-5 RIR) is most responsible for hypertrophy and reps per set are most responsible for strength specific adaptions (i.e. 5s make you better at 5s, 10s make you better at 10s, etc.). Assuming you ran the same set and rep scheme for each exercise, it seems like your outcome from circuit training might be very similar to the traditional one exercise at a time approach (assuming you got decent rest between exercises, maybe 2-3 minutes).

Are there any major down sides to circuit training assuming you chose exercises that don’t majorly conflict with one another? For example, Squat → Bench → Row with 2-3 minutes rest in between each set?

This would not be great for maximum strength development, but it might save time outside of the setup and taking up a ton of space. I don’t think the program is very good either.

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I would not agree with this. Rather, total volume where the proximity to failure is at least 4-5 RIR each set is likely the tightest correlate between programming and hypertrophy.

Intensity determines the rep range available and each have unique effects on adaptations.

Yes:

  1. Performance likely to decrease significantly for each exercise
  2. Intraworkout fatigue higher than if not doing a circuit
  3. Total training fatigue per session likely a bit higher than predicted by training load
  4. Motor learning/skill development likely to be compromised
  5. Reduced maximal strength development Circuit training and super sets can be useful to get training done in a pinch or purposely try and push fatigue higher, but they are not my strategy of choice otherwise.
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Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Time is a bit of an issue for me. I have two young kids that keep me busy, so I’m always looking for a way to make a dollar out of 15 cents training wise. 90+ minute workouts with long rest periods are a mental and social drag over time.

Would you mind expanding on your thoughts about hypertrophy a little? I think what you are saying is that total “stimulate” reps are what matter. For example, a set of 3x10 where only the last 2 reps of each set are within 4-5 RIR (6 stimulate reps) would have less hypertrophic effect than a set of 3x5 where the last 3 reps of each set are within 4-5 RIR (9 stimulate). Is that sort of what you are saying.