Combing two or more exercises together like burpees and deadlifts or chin-ups and kettlebell swings is not “doing” Crossfit; it’s circuit training. Hamilton Nolan said it best in an article he wrote for Gawker.com, “You can’t trademark working out, you #&%kers…you don’t own that sh*t”. Besides, according to Mel Siff , circuit training appeared to be formalized way back in 1953 by R. Morgan and G. Adamson at the University of Leeds in England, meaning that it was around long before Crossfit.
Anyways, considered a complete training system, circuit training is used to develop strength and cardiovascular endurance simultaneously because it involves pairing two or more resistance training exercises together. Since we like making acronyms in the fitness industry, circuit training with minimal breaks is referred to as HIRT (high-intensity interval resistance training) or HIPT, (high-intensity power training) in the literature. HIRT and HIPT basically share the same concept where moderately heavy resistance training exercises are paired together with minimal prescribed rest periods, with the goal of maintaining a high power output throughout the duration of the workout .
Similar to HIT, HIRT and HIPT have all been shown to be effective at improving body composition by increasing the energy required for post-exercise metabolism,otherwise known as EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) However, I’ll take a step back and state that research seems to be equivocal regarding the effects of resistance training on the duration of EPOC as there is hardly any consistency in the resistance training protocols between studies.
Regardless, exercise intensity and duration seem to be very influential factors at determining EPOC duration and magnitude and it appears that compound exercises performed in a circuit style fashion that focus on loads geared toward muscle building (10-repetition maximum) may optimize post workout metabolism and increase EPOC for several hours, thus leading to more calories burned overall.
Anyways, considered a complete training system, circuit training is used to develop strength and cardiovascular endurance simultaneously because it involves pairing two or more resistance training exercises together. Since we like making acronyms in the fitness industry, circuit training with minimal breaks is referred to as HIRT (high-intensity interval resistance training) or HIPT, (high-intensity power training) in the literature. HIRT and HIPT basically share the same concept where moderately heavy resistance training exercises are paired together with minimal prescribed rest periods, with the goal of maintaining a high power output throughout the duration of the workout .
Similar to HIT, HIRT and HIPT have all been shown to be effective at improving body composition by increasing the energy required for post-exercise metabolism,otherwise known as EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) However, I’ll take a step back and state that research seems to be equivocal regarding the effects of resistance training on the duration of EPOC as there is hardly any consistency in the resistance training protocols between studies.
Regardless, exercise intensity and duration seem to be very influential factors at determining EPOC duration and magnitude and it appears that compound exercises performed in a circuit style fashion that focus on loads geared toward muscle building (10-repetition maximum) may optimize post workout metabolism and increase EPOC for several hours, thus leading to more calories burned overall.
