Your Source For Circuit Training Exercises.

Circuit training exercises offer an endless variety of choices for getting fit. They can be performed using resistance--whether it be weights, medicine balls, or sandbags--they can be performed with your own body weight , with sprints, or whatever else you like that's both safe and challenging.

Benefits of Circuit training:

• You can create your own program.

• Allows to you to work different muscle groups in the same training session.

• Can be used with or without machinery.

• If done properly addresses all 5 Components of Physical Fitness .

At my training center we have a couple of classes that use circuit training exercises as a theme. Our clients really love training with this method, moving from one exerciseto the next.

Another great thing is that since you're always moving you really don't have time to think about how tired you are.

Building a Circuit

When building your program it's important to choose your exercises wisely.Of course you want your program to be tough and challenging but don't discourge yourself by choosing things that you can't do right now.

For example, if you can't perform one chin-up you'd be better off strength training another day rather than adding chin-ups to an already demanding circuit. So it's important that the components(exercises) that you choose from are demanding yet achievable.

We have a class simply called "circuit city" and I'll have the group do anywhere from 4 to 10 different exercises.

Keep in mind--we rarely use equipment other than medicine balls or maybe a swiss ball, so we mostly focus on bodyweight conditioning. Including the warm-up and cool down the class lasts about 45-50 minutes.

What I like to do is to start with one component at a time, make sure that everyone can perform it properly, then build on that.

Once we've gone through all the components that we'll use for the class I'll put all the exercises together again. Again, I use anywhere from 4-10 components but the usual average per class is 8 components.

Another important note: when I choose the sequence of the exercises I like to move from upper body to lower body just to keep the blood flowing from one part of the body to the next, thereby promoting good circulation.For example,

I'll go from an upper body movement (say push-ups) right into something for the legs (like jump squats) then into the plank position for the core. This is just an example; you can make an endless variety of combinations when you work like this.

Something else that you'll need to consider is how long each circuit training exercise will be performed for. Now because I like to keep things moving at a frenzied pace.

I don't like to perform any one component for too long, so I have my clients do each component for 30-45 seconds--depending on the degree of difficulty--then we go on to the next component. Once we've gone through all of the circuit training exercises we'll perform active rest (light jogging for example) and then we'll go through all the components again, changing the order around.

We do the whole routine 4-5 times depending on how much time we have.

This is a formula that my trainers and I use when performing circuit training exercises, but remember, the great thing about this kind of training is that it can always be modified. Here's an example of a bodyweight circuit .

You can have one circuit targeting the upper body, , another the core, and one for the legs. You can build strength, develop agility, and burn fat. In short, this is one of the most creative and effective ways that you can increase your fitness level.

On this page you'll find a variety of circuits that can be performed just about anywhere, at as well as a with a brief explanation and instructional video.

We'll also discuss how to create great routines on your own using the ladder-building process. Be sure to check back often as we will be adding a new video every couple of weeks.

Upcoming circuits will include medicine balls, stability balls, bands, sandbags and whatever else we can get our hands on. Our goal with this type of training is to keep everything moving, everything flowing from one exercise to the next while building muscle, burning fat, and keeping your body guessing.

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