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In today's world, with demands for your time from family, friends, and work, most of us don't have hours to spend at the gym, but we still want a trim, toned body, and cardiovascular fitness. If you want to cut your workouts in half and still get the desired results, jump into circuit training, which is a mix of strength training and endurance training. This fun, total-body workout usually consists of 6-8 compound exercises, done with minimal rest periods between them. Depending on your fitness level, you might do one circuit or several circuits in one training session.

The Cooper Clinic study found that participants who did traditional weight lifting programs improved their cardio fitness by 12% and their strength by 17%, while the circuit-training group improved their cardio fitness by 17% and their strength by 22%.

FLEXIBILITY
Because there are limitless possibilities in circuit combinations, you can tailor workouts to fit individual needs and fitness goals. This variety will help fight boredom and keep you motivated. By changing the amount of resistance and the length of rest interval, you can change the difficulty of the routine.

FAT BURNER
Circuit training has been known to reduce body fat by 3%. Working at a steady pace with oxygen and blood flow to the working muscles, aerobic activity causes the body to use fats as a fuel. Putting more compound movements into your circuits will increase the challenge to your muscles and aerobic system resulting in greater strength and fat burning. Jogging, step-ups, jumping jacks, and jumping rope are great activities to increase the aerobic system.

INCREASED ENDURANCE
Circuit training uses low resistance and high repetition, therefore, you will experience less fatigue. Because you continue to change exercises, circuit training gives each muscle group time to recover before you use them again. Over time you can increase the number of repetitions, which will increase your endurance.

CARDIOVASCULAR FITNESS
Due to the larger volume of muscles working at one time, there is a higher demand on the cardiovascular system, which strengthens the heart and the lungs.

LESS EXPENSIVE
You don't have to drive to an expensive gym to get the benefits of circuit training, however, if you already have a membership try this routine. Warm-up on the treadmill-5 minutes, leg press machine-15 reps, lat pull down-15 reps, jogging on treadmill-5 minutes, squats with dumbbells-15 reps, military press-15 reps, bicep curls-15 reps, abdominal crunches-30 reps, cycling on stationary bike-5 minutes. You can also do a circuit at home with no equipment at all. Warm-up marching-5 minutes, jumping jacks-2minutes, squat thrusts-2 minute, jogging-5 minutes, abdominal crunches-2 minutes, squats-1 minute, jogging-3 minutes, lunges-1minute.

SAVE TIME
Not only will circuit training help you slash time with a more intense workout than weight lifting, but you can save travel time by doing your training at home.

TONE MUSCLES
The anaerobic system is used each time the exercise or intensity changes and the body must adapt. You will feel a burn as the lactic acid builds up in the muscles. As your body adapts, its ability to handle elevated levels of lactic acid will expand allowing you to sustain higher intensities for a longer period of time.

Learn more about this author, Kathy Stemke.
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