I love circuit workouts as a solution for people who haven't got much time to train. You move quickly from one exercise to another, each working different muscle groups, so one area of your body gets to rest while another area is doing its thing.
You can create your own circuit workout at home with little or no equipment. You get to choose the exercises, the music, when, where and how you do it. They can be designed for cardio/aerobic fitness or resistance training and can be very specific to your fitness goals. In short, circuits rock!
Think about what you'd like to get from your workout. To sweat it out and go for the burn you'll need to include lots of aerobic moves, or to build strength you'll need to think of exercises that work against resistance. Weights would be helpful for this, but not essential as there are lots of exercises that use lifting your own body weight against gravity to build strength.
Dust off that exercise bike, pump up that sagging Swiss ball, and roll out those old dumbbells. Assemble all the exercise equipment you've gathered over the years, or at least make a list of it.
Now list all the exercises you know how to do, both with any equipment you have or without. But only pick exercises you feel confident you'll be able to perform safely. Once you have your list, split it into four columns - arms and shoulders, legs and butt, chest and back, and stomach/core.
I'm going to recommend you do each of the exercises for two minutes, but you can, of course, increase or reduce this depending on your goals and the time you have available. I'm also going to suggest you repeat your entire circuit of exercises three times. Now you need to divide up your available time. If you're sticking with the three laps of the circuit and two minutes at each exercise station, divide the duration of time you'd like your circuit to last by three to find the amount of time you have available for each "lap" of your circuit. Then divide that number by two to determine how many exercises to include in the circuit. So, if you'd like to create a 30 minute circuit session you'll have time for three 10 minute repetitions of your circuit, so you can include five exercises (two minutes for each). Again, this is just a suggestion, you should tailor your circuit to whatever meets your needs.
Once you know how many exercises you need to include you can go about creating your exercise stations. This may mean putting a piece of equipment in each corner of a room, in a row down the hall way, or even dashing from one room to another if you're really short of space. An exercise station could be just a mat on the floor where you'll do ab crunches or even just bits of paper placed on the floor naming the exercise you'll do in that location. If you're aiming for a full body workout choose at least one exercise from each of the columns on your list. Otherwise tailor your exercise to whatever your aims are.
Place a clock where you can clearly see it, or better still set a timer to beep at two-minute intervals, so you know when to change stations. And go!
Tips:
As with any exercise session, always begin with a gentle warm up and end by gradually cooling down. You may want to devise a flexibility circuit to follow where you visit each of your exercise stations and stretch the muscles you worked there.
Safety first. Your exercise goals could come to naught if you get injured, so make sure all your exercises, equipment and locations are safe and suitable.
Exercises should be performed one after another with no breaks, so avoid working the same muscle in two consecutive exercises to allow it to rest.
Keep changing your circuit routine so it's stays challenging, in line with your goals, and fun.
If you know a lot of exercises you could devise several circuits to use on different days.
Don't be disheartened if it takes a little time to prepare your first circuit or it doesn't quite work as you'd hoped! Once you get good at this, you'll be able to quickly put together combinations of moves and really feel in control of your workouts.
Julia Buckley is one of Britain's top fitness writers. She is also a qualified fitness trainer and marathon runners. She publishes lots of beginner-friendly articles on exercise and fitness at her website, Fitness Rocks. On the site you will find a friendly fitness forum where Julia or one of her team of exercise professionals will answer your fitness questions and give advice on all things fitness.
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