Circuit Training at Home

In our last post we introduced you to the world of Circuit training and the plethora of benefits it brings along with it. Circuit training is ideally a mix of aerobic and resistance exercises but sometimes mixing them up together may get too intense for beginners. Keeping that in mind we’ve devised two individual workouts – one for the gym involving weights and one that can very well be performed at home without any equipment. If you’re an absolute beginner we strongly suggest you start with the one that doesn’t involve weights first. 

Before we delve into the workout you need to understand that this is a circuit routine so you absolutely HAVE to take as less rest as possible (between sets – not exercises). 

Squat (10-12 reps)
Squat is the perfect all-round exercise that works your legs, butt, core and your explosive strength. Make sure to stick your butt out and keep your back straight at all times. Start off with the regular squat and then move to a more explosive variant by jumping as high as you can while standing up.
Push up (10-12 reps)
No exercise works your chest, shoulders and triceps like the push up. If you feel the regular push up is too simple, rest your feet up on a higher surface for an incline. On the other hand if you’re a beginner and find the push up tough, perform a knee or a wall push up.
Mountain Climbers (20 reps each leg)
Most of us don’t have the luxury of climbing mountains so we’ll make do with this exercise. Get into a push up position but instead of doing a push up, slowly raise your right leg towards your chest while resting your other foot on the floor. Now quickly shuttle between the right and left leg so it looks like you’re running in a stationary position. This exercise works your shoulders, abs (core) and legs all at the same time. 
Tricep Dips (10-12 reps)
This is the only exercise in which you probably need a prop. Start by sitting on a chair with both your hands placed right next to your thighs. Slowly slip off the chair while leaving your hands in the same position. This will automatically put the pressure on your triceps. Make sure to bend your knees slightly and lower your body as much as you can and then raise yourself using your triceps. 
Superman 
The Superman as most people like to call it is an exercise derived from a yogic asan called Naukasan in which you lie down on your stomach with your hands and legs outstretched like you’re trying to fly. Now very slowly raise your hands and legs as much as you can and hold that position for 15/20 seconds while breathing in deeply from your nose. Do this only once.

Make sure you perform all the exercises back to back WITHOUT any break and in the same order. Performing all of them continuously is counted as one set. Start off with around 3 sets and make sure you don’t take more than a minute’s rest between each set.