Research

Mixed

High-intensity circuit training (HICT) produces strength and lean body mass gains equivalent to traditional strength training (TS) in trained women when sets are taken close to muscular failure, while significantly reducing total session time.

If you are a trained woman looking to save time, try High-Intensity Circuit Training. Perform 3 sets of 8-15 reps for each exercise with short rest (35s) between sets and longer rest (5min) between circuits. Crucially, you must push close to failure (RPE 8-9) to get the same strength and muscle gains as traditional training, but in less time.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Both groups similarly increased 3RM across all exercises... There was a main effect of time... for both groups on lean body mass... Therefore, both HICT and TS are similarly effective for increasing strength and lean body mass and decreasing body fat percentage in trained women.
Samuel Carpenter et al. · European Journal of Sport Science · 2025

Why this rating

Randomized controlled trial but with a very small sample size (n=14) and lack of dietary control.

Source

Effects of High Intensity Circuit Versus Traditional Strength Training on Physiological Responses in Trained Women

Samuel Carpenter et al. · European Journal of Sport Science · 2025

DOI 10.1002/ejsc.12298

rct · n=14Cited 2×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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