By Enrico Marjes, Personal Trainer, Fitness First DIFC
There are thousands of potential circuit training exercises that can be used to develop an appropriate routine, plenty of which require little or no equipment at all.
You get the benefits of muscle building and toning along with an intense cardio workout; the exercise options are endless and helps improve aerobic and anaerobic fitness.
Below you will find a list of exercises aimed at those who need the conditioning and strength element.
4 Sets in
total
(12, 12, 15, 20 reps)
One of the best exercises to perform with a barbell, it is a full front squat into shoulder press. It combines strength, power and coordination.
Technique
- Perform thruster with your feet shoulder width apart and with a barbell in your hands.
- Raise the barbell up to your collarbones.
- With a proud chest and engaged core muscles, lower your body down into a deep squat, allowing your glutes to drop lower than parallel.
- Drive your elbows up as you push away from the ground to return to standing.
- Just as your hips are about to extend to standing, squeeze your glutes and push off of the ground, allowing the bar to float up overhead.
- Lower the bar to collarbone height.
Burpees
Training virtually every muscle in your body including your core, chest, legs and sending your heart rate through the roof for awesome calorie-torching and muscle building benefit.
Technique
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, weight in your heels, and your arms at your sides.
- Push your hips back, bend your knees, and lower your body into a squat.
- Place your hands on the floor directly in front of, and just inside, your feet shift your weight onto them.
- Jump your feet back to softly land on the balls of your feet in a plank position. Your body should form a straight line from your head to heels. Be careful not to let your back sag or you butt stick up in the air, as both can keep you from effectively working your core.
- Jump your feet back so that they land just outside of your hands.
One of the most convenient exercises around, you can do them pretty much anywhere; all you need is a bar and your body.
Technique
- Hang from the bar, with feet in contact with a surface beneath you.
- Using both hands and starting with arms fully extended.
- Jump and pull yourself up until your chin exceeds the height of the bar.
It’s an amazing exercise that offers a ton of great benefits with no fancy or expensive equipment required, engaging your chest, shoulders, triceps and core for a complete pushing exercise as well as improving your physique and muscle endurance.
Technique
- Position your body with your arms straight out, abs tight, holding your body in a plank position.
- Hands and arms should be positioned slightly below your shoulders, fingers pointed forwards.
- Shoulders are pushed down away from your ears.
- Lower your body until your chest is an inch or two above the floor, elbows pulling back at roughly a 45-degree angle.
- Push your torso away from the ground until your arms lock.
- Bring your knee towards your elbow and alternate.
Part of the plyometric family, it helps tone the calves, glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps and core.
Technique
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Start by doing a regular squat, then engage your core and jump up explosively.
- When you land, lower your body back into the squat position to complete one rep.
- Land as quietly as possible, which requires control.
Great exercise which will condition your whole body by improving strength, mobility and coordination.
Technique
- Get down on all fours.
- Try to keep your hands underneath shoulders.
- Try to keep your knees underneath your hips.
- Lift knees off the ground.
- Allow the posture of your body to be natural.
- Move forward, move back
(1, 2, 3, 4 mins)
Skipping is a full body workout, which uses your abdominals to stabilise the body, legs for jumping and finally shoulders and arms for turning the rope.Lower the bar to collarbone height.
Planks work all the muscles you need to maintain proper posture, like your back, chest, shoulders, abs, and neck.
Technique
- Start by getting into a press up position.
- Bend your elbows and rest your weight onto your forearms and not on your hands.
- Your body should form a straight line from shoulders to ankles.
- Engage your core by sucking your belly button into your spine
