Circuit Training

For those of you who are getting bored of your workout regime I have a solution, or at least a suggestion…circuit training!! Circuit training is a total-body workout that involves performing a series of different exercises in one training session; typically alternating between intervals of strength training and cardiovascular exercise. It is a great way to burn calories, get that heart rate going, and tone your muscles all at the same time. By getting your weights and your cardio in at once, this is a definite time saver, another bonus. I’ve done this workout several times in the past few weeks and I really like it. I’m not much of a sweater, but for some reason by the time I’m done with the circuit I’ve been dripping! So…Grab a jump rope, some dumbbells, and your Ipod…and give it a shot. J

Jump Rope Circuit

So the Key here is you want to keep your heart rate up the whole time, so don’t stop to rest for too long. Try to move from one thing to the next pretty quickly and if you need to breath walk around too keep the HR going. You can use a timer if you’d like for your jump rope sequences, but I just use my Ipod and estimate it by song length.

Round #1
Warm up Jump Rope 1 song (3-4 min)
Pushups 1 set of 15-20
Balancing Bicep Curls with dumbbells (stand on one foot to increase difficulty)
Plyometric Lunges 1 set of 15 (total of 30)
*with these start down in a lunge, and jump up switch legs in the air and land down in a lunge on the other leg. This counts as 1 rep.

Round #2 (Repeating round #1)
Jump Rope 1 song (3-4 min)
Pushups 1 set of 15-20
Balancing Bicep Curls switch legs this time
Plyometric Lunges 1 set of 15 (total of 30)

Round #3 (Repeating round #1)
Jump Rope 1 song (3-4 min)
Pushups 1 set of 15-20
Balancing Bicep Curls switch legs this time (switch legs ½ way through)
Plyometric Lunges 1 set of 15 (total of 30)

Round #4
Jump Rope 1 song (3-4 min)
At the end of the song do 30 straight jumps jumping as high and as fast as you can1
1 set of 3 way lunges w/10 lb dumbbells (alternating front lunge 10, alternating side squat 10, alternating back lunge 10)
Plank for 1:30

Round #5
Jump rope 1 Song (3-4 min)
Again 30 straight jumps as high and fast as you can
1 set of 3 way lunges w/10 lb dumbbells (alternating front lunge 10, alternating side squat 10, alternating back lunge 10)
Plank 1:30
Jump rope finish 1 song (4 min)

AB Circuit
Sit down Hold 10 lb dumbbell, lift your feet up of the ground and twist side to side (15 to each side)
30 regular crunches
30 crunches with elbows to knees
*repeat this as many times as you want
You’re done!