The Aerobic Strength Circuit

The Aerobic Strength Circuit

March 2, 2021

Aerobic capacity is a mandatory trait to have for complete health and performance. Health-wise, it begets brain¹, heart², lung³, and metabolic function⁴; performance-wise, it provides the foundation from which huge volumes of physical activity can be performed without over-stressing the body⁵. It’s also essential for fast recovery⁶.

On the opposite end of the fitness spectrum lies strength. Strength is equally important from a health perspective in that it’s reflective of nervous system function⁷, it’s necessary for bone, muscle, and connective tissue resilience⁸, and it reduces the risk of injury⁹. Performance-wise, strength is a hugely desirable attribute in and of itself, and it also sets the foundation for improvements in power and agility¹⁰.

The point is that both aspects of physical fitness, aerobic capacity and strength, are essential for living a high-functioning life – and of course I’d be remiss to mention that high levels of both traits pay huge dividends in the attainment of a low-fat, high muscle-mass physique¹¹. One is not more important than the other. To feel well and perform great it’s imperative that we simultaneously improve aerobic capacity and strength.

Buddy gets out of breath while walking up a flight of stairs, but at least his arms are huge.

Here’s the problem: The traditional view of training suggests that the two aspects of fitness must be trained separately. And while professional athletes might have the resources to dedicate a full hour to strength-train in the gym, and another hour to train aerobic capacity through skills practice or long runs, swims, or bike rides, the average fitness enthusiast doesn’t possess that kind of free time.

Here’s a quick thought experiment. Think of what traditional aerobic training means to you. Did you conjure up an image of runners or cyclists striding and peddling their way to better cardio for hours on end? Yup, me too. Now on the opposite end of the spectrum, think of what traditional strength training means to you. Did you daydream of gigantic powerlifters gooning huge weights off the floor while taking unnecessarily long breaks in between sets? Yeah, I did too. Now while there’s a time and a place for those modalities of training, especially if the goals are specific to competing in endurance or strength sports, from an exercise physiology standpoint they’re definitely not the most efficient way to simultaneously improve aerobic capacity and strength for non-elite athletes. Time to get creative then…

This guy has the bone mineral density of Joe Biden, but at least he can run a marathon.

Aerobic training, as much as it reminds us of ultramarathons, or even Jane Fonda workouts, doesn’t have to involve cyclical movement, and it absolutely doesn’t require 1970’s-style follow-along fitness tapes. All that is required for the improvement of aerobic capacity is a sustained effort of low-to-moderate intensity work performed over a long period of time¹⁰. This can be accomplished with any movement modality, from hiking, to dancing, to even circuit training, as we’ll discuss later. Strength training as the late great coach Charles Poliquin described is more skill-building¹² than shotgunning a can of Monster and huffing ammonia before haphazardly trying to lift enormous tonnage off of the floor. At its core, strength training is simply a style of training that allows the body to progressively produce more force. This is best done through multi-joint compound movements that mimic the fundamental movement patterns of daily living¹³. Interestingly, these types of strength movements can easily be incorporated into circuit-style training as again, we’ll discuss later. By avoiding traditional forms of aerobic and strength training and stepping outside of the box to view aerobic capacity and strength from a well-schooled exercise physiology perspective, it becomes clear that we can gain all of the aforementioned fitness gains (e.g. fat loss, injury prevention, metabolic health, etc.) with a single modality of training: The Aerobic Strength Circuit.

The Aerobic Strength Circuit is a style of training that I developed and more importantly used during a period in my life when I was putting in ~70 hour weeks working as a personal trainer and studying to receive a kinesiology degree. I knew how important it was to have great aerobic capacity and strength, but between bouts of shuttling textbook knowledge to the dome and helping others achieve their fitness goals, I simply didn’t have the time or energy to train for more than an hour per day, if that. The answer came to me as I began to piece together clues from the modalities of training developed by renowned strength and conditioning coaches, along with my newly acquired (and very practical, thanks to a couple amazing professors I met in university) understanding of exercise physiology. Over time, I developed a style of training that concurrently improves aerobic capacity and strength in the most efficient and effective way possible. By consistently performing the Aerobic Strength Circuit and relentlessly applying the principles that the ASC are based on, I was able to stay lean (I maintained 6-pack abs, although just a heads up to everyone – that’s not a good indicator of health), strong (I was able to deadlift 350 pounds), and aerobically fit (I ran a full marathon with no preparation) while only training 3 to 4 times per week due to my busy schedule. The ASC is awesome and I hope that it can help you, fellow fitness enthusiast, as much as it helped me.

Now before we jump into how to perform the Aerobic Strength Circuit, we should quickly run through the exercise science foundation that the ASC is built upon. Because in the same way that a chef should understand the principles of how to make food taste amazing (e.g. through adding fat or acidity) before haphazardly memorizing a few recipes, I feel that it’s important for you to understand the exercise principles behind the ASC before committing a few exercises to memory and throwing them into a circuit. However, if you truly couldn’t care less and are clawing at the gates to get after it, then by all means skip ahead – I too am sometimes too ADHD to be lectured by the why behind the how, so I won’t be offended. But anyways, back to the Aerobic Strength Circuit must-knows…

This style of training works best for intermediate-to-advanced athletes who have spent enough time in the gym to have a deep understanding of a) proper breathing mechanics and pacing, and b) the limits of their physical strength. Understanding how to breathe, and being able to pay attention to breathing “checkpoints” (we’ll touch on this later) is key to staying within the confines of the aerobic energy system¹⁶ and on a grander scale, key to perfect health^{17, 18, 19, 20}. Now I understand that high-intensity interval training is all the rage, and there’s absolutely a time and place for HIIT, but building pure, unadulterated aerobic capacity has huge cardiorespiratory benefits (e.g. improving the elasticity of the heart¹⁴) that cannot be gained through short and fast-paced training modalities. On the flipside of the fitness coin, the ASC calls for an understanding of one’s maximal strength as well. Knowing how strong you are, and by extension, being able to estimate how much weight can be maxed out on any specific lift is essential to performing the ASC correctly

The only exercises used in the ASC are variations of the fundamental movement patterns. The 7 patterns of gait (walking and running), lunging, squatting, hinging, pushing, pulling, and rotating are all multi-joint compound movements; these types of movements are key for challenging the cardiorespiratory system. And as mentioned previously, real-world strength is a skill that needs to be developed. As such, it’s helpful to break down real-world movement into its constituent parts in order to practice the skill of “functional” strength.

The fundamental movement patterns can be loaded in a variety of different ways.

Rest is minimized while performing the ASC. Sustained low to moderate intensity activity over a period of time is aerobic capacity training. Rest is counterproductive to this goal. Furthermore and contrary to popular belief, strength does not require lifting to failure. The great strength coach Pavel Tsatsouline described how “greasing the groove”, or performing strength movements at submaximal intensities more often is a superior way of building the skill of moving strong¹⁵ which equates to massive physical adaptations in the long run. Conveniently, avoiding maximal-effort lifting to failure allows for the minimal rest model of ASC training

The duration of the training session, exercise selection, minimizing rest, and paying close attention to breathing and movement quality are the most important aspects of successfully performing the ASC. Sets don’t have to be counted. Reps also don’t necessarily have to be counted.

“FFS Pat, I just want to know how to do the ASC.”

Okay, sorry. I get really hyped talking about exercise phys…

Here’s how you perform the Aerobic Strength Circuit:

Pick 3-5 fundamental movement patterns from the following list: Gait, squat, hinge, lunge, push, pull, rotation.
Pick a strength training variation of each movement pattern that you chose. For example, if I chose squat, lunge, and pull, then the variations I would use might be Zercher squats, heel-elevated split squats, and chin ups.
Cycle through each exercise, performing 5 reps at a time until you hit your 10RM weight (read: the approximate weight where you would barely be able to perform 10 reps, even if you slammed a couple shots of espresso beforehand). This should take ~15 minutes. This part is easy to mess up, and is the reason why having adequate strength training experience is so important for doing the ASC properly; you need to be able to ballpark your 10RM weight without actually performing a 10-rep set.
Set a timer for 30 minutes and continuously cycle through your 3-5 exercise variations, performing 5 reps at a time. Keep your mind focused on the following key points:
- Lift well. Make sure your technique is on point. No sketchy reps.
- ONLY breathe through your nose.
- Take no more than 20 seconds of rest in between exercises. If you need to go from 5-rep sets to 3 or 2-rep sets to maintain a nasal breathing pace with short rest intervals, do it.

Andddddd THAT, dead internet friends, is the Aerobic Strength Circuit. A simple training modality, based on timeless training principles, to get you aerobically strong and actually strong at the same time. And hey, if you’d like to dive deeper into this type of health and performance training, or if you have other training issues that need troubleshooting, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me – no bullshit, I’d like nothing more than to help you get to your goals :)!

Working towards high levels of aerobic capacity and strength is paramount for health and performance. Both play a role in becoming as high-functioning of a human being as possible; one is not superior over the other. Nobody wants to be a skinny-fat cardio-bunny and conversely, nobody wants to be an out-of-breath-while-going-up-the-stairs, powergut-having meathead either. The problem is that only professional athletes or the highly privileged have time to dedicate two separate sessions a day on aerobic capacity and strength. The solution then is to forego traditional exercise dogma and view training from outside the box with a deep understanding of the principles of exercise physiology – there is a way to train both aspects of fitness at the same time! Now with that being said, there’s absolutely a time and place for separating LSD (long, slow, distance) training sessions or max effort lift days. We should set aside days to train aerobic capacity or strength by themselves for enjoyment as well as to test the limits of our fitness from time to time. But for the simultaneous improvement of both ends of the fitness spectrum the Aerobic Strength Circuit is the way to go. So now that you have the tools to do it, get out there and breathe and lift your way to better health and performance.

Pat Koo

BKin, CSCS

PK Health and Performance