{"id":1574,"date":"2025-05-02T00:35:15","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T00:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncpic.org.au\/blog\/uncategorized\/circuit-training-vs-interval-training-understanding-the-differences.html"},"modified":"2025-05-02T00:35:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T00:35:15","slug":"circuit-training-vs-interval-training-understanding-the-differences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncpic.org.au\/blog\/fitness\/circuit-training-vs-interval-training-understanding-the-differences.html","title":{"rendered":"Circuit Training vs. Interval Training: Understanding the Differences"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"gallery-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.healthdigest.com\/img\/gallery\/circuit-training-vs-interval-training-whats-the-difference\/intro-1609174962.jpg\" data-slide-url=\"https:\/\/www.healthdigest.com\/302672\/circuit-training-vs-interval-training-whats-the-difference\/\" data-post-id=\"302672\" data-slide-num=\"0\" data-slide-title=\"Circuit training vs interval training: What&#039;s the difference?\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" alt=\"woman doing box jumps\" title=\"\"><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Circuit training and interval training sound similar, but they are two distinct types of workouts. Circuit training involves transitioning between different exercises throughout your session &#8211; such as a circuit of pushups, squats, kettlebell swings, box jumps, and crunches. Conversely, an interval workout emphasizes the intensity of your exercise rather than the specific activities you perform (via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shape.com\/fitness\/tips\/whats-difference-between-circuit-training-and-interval-training\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Shape<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Circuit workouts are excellent for elevating your heart rate while building muscle strength, offering a combination of cardio and strength training. This makes it ideal for busy individuals who find it challenging to allocate more than a few hours each week for exercise. &#8220;If you&#8217;re looking for a full-body workout in 30 minutes or less, circuit training does the trick,&#8221; Dr. Michael Smith shared with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.webmd.com\/fitness-exercise\/a-z\/circuit-training\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WebMD<\/a>. A typical circuit consists of eight to ten exercises, each lasting from 30 seconds to three minutes, and can be performed with gym equipment or body weight at home (via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.acefitness.org\/education-and-resources\/lifestyle\/blog\/6750\/circuit-training-basics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ace Fitness<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Interval workouts are quite flexible. They often focus on cardio activities such as running, cycling, or rowing, or they may concentrate on a single exercise like burpees. Sometimes, they integrate a circuit-style sequence of exercises into a set. Typically, interval sets use body weight exercises for practicality and safety, making them a great choice when exercising at home. As long as you maintain a cycle of intense effort followed by rest, you are engaging in an interval workout (via the Mayo Clinic).<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2>Which one should you do?<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"gallery-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.healthdigest.com\/img\/gallery\/circuit-training-vs-interval-training-whats-the-difference\/which-one-should-you-do-1609174962.jpg\" data-slide-url=\"https:\/\/www.healthdigest.com\/302672\/circuit-training-vs-interval-training-whats-the-difference\/\" data-post-id=\"302672\" data-slide-num=\"1\" data-slide-title=\"Circuit training vs interval training: What&#039;s the difference?: Which one should you do?\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" alt=\"woman doing mountain climbers\" title=\"\"><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Often, the two types of workouts are combined in classes &#8211; like a bootcamp where you aim to complete a series of circuits within a set time before taking a break and moving to the next timed set. Therefore, the question isn&#8217;t which workout to choose, but rather how frequently you should engage in high-intensity workouts like these. Don&#8217;t worry if the two workout types are used interchangeably at times. Some coaches might refer to a circuit-type workout as an interval workout due to the rest periods between exercises or sets. Always focus on the actual content of the workout instead of its label (via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.livestrong.com\/article\/333939-circuit-training-vs-interval-training\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Livestrong<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>However, be cautious if you engage in circuit and interval training at high intensity more than a few times per week. &#8220;Excessive high-intensity training can lead to overtraining, potentially causing adrenal fatigue and disrupting hormone balance,&#8221; warned Pete McCall, a personal trainer and spokesperson for the American Council on Exercise, in a discussion with Shape.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Circuit training and interval training sound similar, but they are two distinct types of workouts. Circuit training involves transitioning between different exercises throughout your session &#8211; such as a circuit of pushups, squats, kettlebell swings, box jumps, and crunches. Conversely, an interval workout emphasizes the intensity of your exercise rather than the specific activities you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fitness"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncpic.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncpic.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncpic.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncpic.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncpic.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ncpic.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncpic.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncpic.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncpic.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncpic.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}