I'm cutting and I try to balance (whole body) lifting, circuits, and cardio (MISS and HIIT). If I have 5 evenings per week to workout, how should I allocate these types of workouts? I know I need to do at least 2 days of lifting, probably 3. If I did lifting Mon/Wed/Fri could I do 1 HIIT on Tue and 1 circuit session on Thurs?

Basically, my question is: Does circuit training count as lifting (and therefore should NOT be done immediately after or before a day of traditional lifting) or does it count as cardio and CAN be done 1 day before or after traditional lifting? If it counts as lifting, would you do 2 traditional lifting + 1 circuits + 2 cardio (MISS or HIIT) per week?

My circuit sessions are three circuits of the following (with little/no rest between exercises):

20 Push-ups
20 Sit-ups
20 Bent-over DB rows
12 DB Lateral Raises
12 DB Step-ups or lunges (per leg)
12 DB or cable curls
12 Tricep extensions
1 min jump rope

Each circuit takes about 10 minutes.

I'm cutting and I try to balance (whole body) lifting, circuits, and cardio (MISS and HIIT). If I have 5 evenings per week to workout, how should I allocate these types of workouts? I know I need to do at least 2 days of lifting, probably 3. If I did lifting Mon/Wed/Fri could I do 1 HIIT on Tue and 1 circuit session on Thurs?

Basically, my question is: Does circuit training count as lifting (and therefore should NOT be done immediately after or before a day of traditional lifting) or does it count as cardio and CAN be done 1 day before or after traditional lifting? If it counts as lifting, would you do 2 traditional lifting + 1 circuits + 2 cardio (MISS or HIIT) per week?

My circuit sessions are three circuits of the following (with little/no rest between exercises):

20 Push-ups
20 Sit-ups
20 Bent-over DB rows
12 DB Lateral Raises
12 DB Step-ups or lunges (per leg)
12 DB or cable curls
12 Tricep extensions
1 min jump rope

Each circuit takes about 10 minutes.

Do you go through each circuit a few times?

If it were me, I would have two heavy-lifting days, probably on monday and friday. You could use wednesday for a circuit. I wouldn't do a circuit back-to-back with a heavy lifting day, especially if you are doing some HIIT in between. If you did, I don't think it would make or break your progress, but I would prefer to keep them separate.

You could even separate your full-body workouts into something like a lighter day (circuit), a heavy day (5 reps), and a medium day (8-10 reps). This is more what I do. My light day is more for pull-ups, push-ups and other bodyweight exercises.

Do you go through each circuit a few times?

If it were me, I would have two heavy-lifting days, probably on monday and friday. You could use wednesday for a circuit. I wouldn't do a circuit back-to-back with a heavy lifting day, especially if you are doing some HIIT in between. If you did, I don't think it would make or break your progress, but I would prefer to keep them separate.

You could even separate your full-body workouts into something like a lighter day (circuit), a heavy day (5 reps), and a medium day (8-10 reps). This is more what I do. My light day is more for pull-ups, push-ups and other bodyweight exercises.I do that circuit three times with around 1.5-2 minutes rest between circuits. Total session is 35-40 minutes.

So, don't do circuits a day before or after traditional lifting. So my schedule would be:

Mon: traditional lifting (whole body, 60 mins)
Tue: cardio (MISS, 40 mins, 80-83% avg HR)
Wed: circuits (3 circuits, 35-40 mins)
Thu: cardio (HIIT, 20 mins, 10 2-min intervals, 95-99% max HR)
Fri: traditional lifting (whole body, 60 mins)

I like your idea of having a heavy and medium lifting session each week.

For maximum fat loss, is it worth it to replace a traditional lifting session with a circuits session or should I just doing traditional lifting 3X/week?

I do that circuit three times with around 1.5-2 minutes rest between circuits. Total session is 35-40 minutes.

So, don't do circuits a day before or after traditional lifting. So my schedule would be:

Mon: traditional lifting (whole body, 60 mins)
Tue: cardio (MISS, 40 mins, 80-83% avg HR)
Wed: circuits (3 circuits, 35-40 mins)
Thu: cardio (HIIT, 20 mins, 10 2-min intervals, 95-99% max HR)
Fri: traditional lifting (whole body, 60 mins)

I like your idea of having a heavy and medium lifting session each week.

For maximum fat loss, is it worth it to replace a traditional lifting session with a circuits session or should I just doing traditional lifting 3X/week?


I like that schedule better than doing circuits next to heavier lifting days. And...by following this for awhile, you have the option of changing things around. If you are maintaining good nutrition, you can add in extra cardio or weight days, add addtional HIIT sessions, or add complexes to your weight days. I would reserve adding any of these until your current fat loss slows down, but this way you have room to make adjustments if needed.

Doing a circuit for one of your lifting days is fine. I wouldn't replace one of your two remaining heavier days, but keeping a circuit on Wednesday is great.

I believe Cosgrove has a protocol in his Warp Speed Fat Loss that is essentially the following:

Lifting Days (3 x / week)
1-2 heavy compounds, 2-3 x 5-6 (strength)

2 circuits lasting 10 minutes apiece (similar to Staley's EDT, typically with an A/B exercise, antagonists or big muscle group/small muscle group)

Intervals cardio

Cardio Days (3-4 x / week)
Intervals + LISS

Interesting concept, combined with some dietary prescriptions (see Lyle McDonald for Interval + LISS post-feeding recommendations, sharp guy) and has given some people nice results in short time. No magic bullet, a little overhyped for Cosgrove, but a good short term program for quick loss (or a good longer term program without the restriction of the dietary piece).

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll do the 2 days traditional lifting, 1 day circuits, 1 day MISS, and 1 day HIIT.