What is the difference between interval training and circuit training?

[boukilisa]

Can someone help with this please? I can never remember the difference. Especially once you add in HIIT, metabolic training and the rest.

[ebianco]

I have interpreted circuit training as more very short circuits (like 30 to 90 seconds) of one activity then move on to something else quickly, with no rest in between, and possibly repeat the circuit several times...like S90.

I think of interval training as doing cardio for 3-4 minutes, then strength for 3-4 minutes, such as a Firm video. Although that's also classified as AWT...so basically I'm bumping the thread cause I also want clarification!

[icebergslim]

Originally Posted by ebianco

I have interpreted circuit training as more very short circuits (like 30 to 90 seconds) of one activity then move on to something else quickly, with no rest in between, and possibly repeat the circuit several times...like S90.

I think of interval training as doing cardio for 3-4 minutes, then strength for 3-4 minutes, such as a Firm video. Although that's also classified as AWT...so basically I'm bumping the thread cause I also want clarification!

ebianco, I think your explanation is right...

[roz]

one is interval training and the other is circuit training.


Hope this helps!

[roz]

that was a joke and I wasn't making fun of you.

I just couldn't resist.

[Sue B]

Like "eating clean" or "boot camp" or "results", those phrases mean whatever the person saying it want them to mean.

I think of circuit training as going in a circuit - a circle - around a set of exercise stations or machines more than once. But a lot of "circuit" workouts on DVD only go around once.

"AWT" was only used by the Firm, I think.

[MKEMom]

Originally Posted by ebianco

I have interpreted circuit training as more very short circuits (like 30 to 90 seconds) of one activity then move on to something else quickly, with no rest in between, and possibly repeat the circuit several times...like S90.

I think of interval training as doing cardio for 3-4 minutes, then strength for 3-4 minutes, such as a Firm video. Although that's also classified as AWT...so basically I'm bumping the thread cause I also want clarification!

See... I thought these were both circuits. My workouts that have "circuit" in the title usually have cardio alternated with weights... like Low Impact Circuit or High Step Circuit. Something like S90 I would also consider circuits. I've always thought of intervals as cardio, alternating lower intensity with higher intensity. Because Hiit is high intensity interval training.... This is very confusing

I think the fitness industry needs to get their terminology straight

[Calistro]

I think of circuit training as going in a circuit - a circle - around a set of exercise stations or machines more than once. But a lot of "circuit" workouts on DVD only go around once.



This.

Also, I was given the impression that interval training is where you work at a moderate intensity for around five minutes (or how ever many minutes the trainer sets) then ramp up the intensity for 1 minute , then go back to the moderate intensity for 5 minutes again, and so on.
Something like in Karen voights energy sprint or Gin's Intense moves.
Any other thoughts?

[jerebo]

I think Sue is absolutely right. There really isn't an accepted definition for either term. I've always thought of circuit training as involving weights--usually doing a certain number of exercises back-to-back with little rest. Sometimes the circuits can be broken up by cardio. Most of what Collage calls "interval training" I would consider circuit training.

I consider interval training to refer to cardio only (but I might be alone in that!). And intervals are a period of very hard work, followed by a period of recovery. Tabatas and HIIT are just types of interval training.

Metabolic conditioning is very broad and particularly hard to classify. What I've been doing as metabolic conditioning involves doing high-intensity (and often high-impact) bodyweight and/or KB moves with a rest interval. So it's sort of interval training. But they're often done as circuits...

I don't think I helped much--just muddied the waters even further

[Sue B]

Originally Posted by MKEMom

See... I thought these were both circuits. My workouts that have "circuit" in the title usually have cardio alternated with weights... like Low Impact Circuit or High Step Circuit. Something like S90 I would also consider circuits. I've always thought of intervals as cardio, alternating lower intensity with higher intensity. Because Hiit is high intensity interval training.... This is very confusing

I think the fitness industry needs to get their terminology straight

This is what's known as "muscle confusion"

IMO, the strength workouts of S90 are more like superset workouts. You do two or three sets of exercises back to back, rest and do the same group again before moving on. The NROL books work the same way.