Get a Calorie Blasting Workout at Home Without Expensive Exercise Equipment

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!

 

1. 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.

1. 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.

1. 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.

1. 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.

1. 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.

1. 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.

Beginners' Guide to Exercise Equipment in the Gym

It's a happy fact that the days of muscle-men and lycra lovelies dominating our gyms are over. Step foot into a modern health club and you'll spot people of all shapes and sizes working towards their goals - most commonly to lose weight - with not a thonged leotarded lady or bloke in butt-high denim cut-offs in sight.

But if you're new to exercise, the array of equipment can still be daunting. At first glace some of the machines look capable of grating, grinding, and possibly even garrotting you! When you understand what each of them does however, most of the equipment is a lot simpler than it looks.

Most fitness equipment fits broadly into three types - CV machines, free weights and resistance machines.

CV machines

CV stands for cardiovascular. CV exercise is all about getting your heart going and your blood pumping. These include things like the stationary bikes, rowing machines, treadmills, cross trainers, and step machines. On this type of machine you'll be making large, fast movements continuously, usually for at least five minutes at a time.

Use a CV machine to warm your body up at the start of your workout and to gently bring down your heart rate and flush out the waste chemicals your body creates during exercise at the end of your programme.

If your goal is to improve your aerobic or endurance fitness - that is, you want to be active for longer periods without getting tired or out of breath - use a CV machine as a main component of your exercise programme as well. But try and mix it up, so if you're using a bike to warm up, go for a rower or treadmill for your cool down.

Free weights

Weights that you lift directly, without handles, chains, or levers, is probably the simplest way to define this category, which basically describes all weights that aren't part of machines. Dumbbells, barbells, and kettlebells are the types you'll most commonly find in gyms. Dumbbells are small weights that you hold in each hand, barbells are weights you place at each end of a long bar and lift with both hands, and kettlebells are ball shaped weights with square handle at the top which can be held either with one or both hands.

Free weights have several advantages over machines. They force you to work several muscle groups at once because your body needs to support and stabilise itself in order to perform the exercises. You can perform many different exercises with them, rather than moving from machine to machine, and the movements you perform with them tend to feel more natural (like lifting, squatting, etc.) than those that some resistance machines require.

However, free weights exercises can be a little trickier to get right, which means that working with them carries a higher risk of injury. So have an instructor demonstrate simple exercises that work the muscles you want to target and pay attention to performing the movements correctly every time you use them.

Resistance machines

Despite their tendency to resemble torture equipment, resistance machines (sometimes called strength or weights machines) are actually very beginner-friendly.

They're designed to ensure you perform the movements correctly, so there's less chance of injury than with free weights. Plus, most modern resistance machines have instructions printed somewhere on them, which is handy if you haven't used them before or need a refresher. They usually also tell you which muscles they work.

Machines tend to target specific muscles, so if you're wanting strengthen or tone a particular part of your body they will allow you to focus your energy solely on working that single area.

But they're not entirely foolproof and even with the instructions it's not always obvious how to use them properly, so do get help from an instructor the first time or two that you use them.

Now, get training!

You're also likely to spot various other bits of equipment like stability balls, vibration trainers, foam rollers, etc. But the three types above will provide an ample range of exercise to get you started in fitness. When you join your gym you should be offered an induction - if not, ask for one - where an instructor will put together a programme designed to help you achieve your fitness goals and demonstrate all the exercises. If you feel like you need additional support and motivation or a programme that varies from week to week, get yourself a personal trainer. PTs are no longer the preserve of the wealthy and there will almost certainly be several based at your gym.

Julia Buckley is a reknowned writer in the field of fitness, exercise and healthy living, as well as being a qualified gym instructor and marathon runner. She regularly posts articles aimed at beginners to fitness on her website, Fitness Rocks. There is a wealth of beginners exercise information on the site and if you have any questions you can leave Julia a message in the comments section at the bottom of this article on exercise equipment.