Strength training in a circuit burns lots of calories in a short period of time!

The myth that you need to do endurance training at a low intensity in order to lose weight has persisted for a long time. But this is simply not true! Compared to endurance training, strength training burns more calories in a shorter period of time – particularly if the strength training is carried out in a circuit. Scientific comparison of endurance training and strength training of equal intensity has shown that the same amount of energy is used during the workout, but that thanks to the greater afterburn effect, strength training burns more calories overall (Burleson et al, 1998; Falcone et al., 2014). In addition, strength training – if it’s carried out as a circuit – takes up very little time at all. Moreover, strength and endurance are trained at the same time and burn just as many calories as during traditional strength training with the same number of exercises (Ratamess et al., 2007).

The afterburn effect lasts for up 72 hours.

The body’s increased calorie consumption after a workout is called the afterburn effect. According to some tests, this effect lasts up to 72 hours and, depending on the length and intensity of the training, burns just as much again as during the training itself (Dolezal et al. 2000; Schuenke et al., 2002; Hackney et al., 2008; Heden et al., 2011). After intensive strength training with a calorie expenditure of 400 kcal, another 400 kcal are burned in the following 72 hours! The causes of this include muscle building and the replenishment of energy stores. Strength training therefore has long-term benefits.

First cardio, then strength training.

If you’ve planned to do cardio and strength training in the same workout, it makes sense to start with the cardio. Not only is it easier to start with the cardio, but it also leads to a greater afterburn effect when compared to starting with strength training first (Drummond et al., 2005). Moreover, it’s believed that doing cardio after strength training can have a negative impact on the effect of the strength training (interference effect). The body can’t optimally adapt to the previous workout because it’s busy with the cardio training. So to ensure optimum calorie expenditure, the rule is: cardio training before strength training!

A protein shake increases the calories burned.

As a large proportion of calorie expenditure in strength training is down to the afterburn effect, it’s important that the body can optimally adapt to the previous workout. A protein shake before or after a workout provides the body with the necessary nutrients and optimises recovery. This might sound counter-intuitive, but a shake increases calorie expenditure – even one day after the workout (Hackney et al., 2010). The assumption that eating straight after training reduces the afterburn effect is incorrect. Only when the body is optimally provided with the necessary nutrients can it recover, adapt and thus burn lots of calories. At the end of the day, what counts is the difference between calories in and calories out.

For healthy, permanent, successful weight loss it’s therefore not necessary to go hungry after a workout. It’s more about sensible meals.

In the EGYM Smart Strength circuits you’ll burn even more calories!

Our circuit training is ideal for weight loss! The fitness machines in the EGYM circuit always adjust the training weight so it’s appropriate for the intensity and number of reps of each training cycle. Above all, during the adaptive training you’ll be pushed to your limits as your muscles will be stressed to exhaustion and the body reacts with enhanced adaptation reactions. This leads to both a very high calorie expenditure during the workout as well as to an optimum afterburn phase while the body recovers and adapts to the preceding workout. Circuit training therefore creates the best conditions for weight loss.

In addition, the EGYM Smart Strength weight training machines enable muscles to be worked even harder in eccentric phase training (negative training). This in turn leads to increased muscle building after the workout and a stronger afterburn effect (Dolezal et al., 2000; Hackney et al. 2008).

Compared with jogging, you burn on average 25 percent more calories in the same time with EGYM’s modern and effective training methods – and therefore lose weight quicker.