Energy cost of circuit weight training

The metabolic cost of circuit weight training was determined in a group of 20 men and 20 women, 17 to 36 years of age, who volunteered to participate in this study. Performing 3 circuits (10 stations/circuit), using a work (30-sec) to rest (15-sec) ratio of 2:1, and a total exercise time of 22.5 min, the energy expenditure was found to be highly related to body weight (r = 0.84 and r = 0.67 for men and women respectively). The average gross energy expenditure was 539.7 and 367.5 kcal/hr. (9.0 and 6.1 kcal/min) for the men and women respectively, but was 7.0 and 6.0 kcal/kg-hr when expressed relative to body weight, and 8.1 and 8.2 kcal/kg(LBW)-min when expressed relative to lean body weight. Thus, when body composition was considered, there were essentially no differences in the energy expenditure for males and females.