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Home Circuit Workout for All Moms

By Cindy Posey | January 6, 2008

It’s challenging to get out of the house sometimes, especially when it’s cold and the kids are cranky. Don’t let the winter blues stop you from a great workout in the comfort of your own home. Circuit training is widely becoming recognized for it’s ability to provide a powerful workout in a limited amount of time.

What is Circuit training?

Circuit training “is a continuous workout that consists of several different exercises performed successively with as little transition time as necessary between stations” (Westcott 173). Circuit training is a full body workout. Multiple types of workouts are created for different goals.

My focus for moms was to develop a balanced workout that included cardiovascular and strength components of fitness for home with little or no equipment. Each exercise was picked to focus on opposing muscle groups. The cardiovascular component is going to be your choice! If you are nervous about incorporating strength training into your routines, then this is a great workout to experience the benefits of weight training without starting a full blown program.

What are the benefits?

• Easy to fit into your schedule
• Easy to adjust to your level of fitness
• Complete inside the comfort of home or back yard
• Involve your Little Ones
• Complete with or without equipment
• Incorporates multiple components of fitness into one workout
• Easy to change up and add variety to prevent boredom

Workout Overview:

1. 5 minute warm-up
2. 20 to 30 minute routine
3. 5 minute cool-down

Equipment Options:

1. Your body weight
2. Chair, bench or couch(cushions will make the couch more challenging and work your balance)
3. Mat, carpet, or comfortable area
4. Dumbbells or similarly weighted household items (anything that you can hold in your hands) (opt)
5. Resistance Bands (opt)
6. Step Ladder, stairs (opt)
7. Ankle weights (opt)

Decisions You Get to Make:

1. Cardiovascular Exercises are your choice. Feel free to incorporate one or more options into your workout. Examples include walking (in place or on the go), Running (in place, on the go, high knee or Butt kick), Jump roping, Side Stepping, Jumping Jacks, stepping or stair climbing.
2. Duration: The routine is broken down into 20 exercises (10 strength/10 aerobic). One cycle completed at 30 seconds an exercise equals 10 minutes. I recommend performing each exercise for 30 seconds. If you’re limited on time, then break the routine down into cycles or focus on arm exercises or leg exercises separately.
3. Intensity: Add speed during your cardiovascular exercises or more weight to your strength exercises. Maintain proper form for all exercises. Speed will not enhance your routine (it is more likely to do damage) if you disregard proper technique.
4. Frequency: One to three times a week with a day of rest between these workouts to give your muscles time to recuperate.
5. Level of Fitness: For beginners, start out using your body weight and walking. As you become more active, you will need to add resistance and intensity to your routine.
6. Check your heart rate at the end of each cycle and adjust your intensity to get into your target heart rate zone.
7. Focus your mind on the muscles as you perform the movements.

The Routine:

Warm up by walking or with a side-to-side stepping routine and add a few stretches for your large muscle groups. During this time, your increased heart rate alerts the cardiovascular system to reallocate the flow of your oxygenated blood throughout your system.

Push Ups

• Lay on your stomach with your palms near your shoulders
• Keep your neck, back and hips in line as you lift up
• Extend your arms without locking your elbows
• Return to starting position without actually touching the floor
• Push up and repeat
• Hint 1: Place your knees on the ground and perform the pushup above as you develop your ability to do full pushups.
• Hint 2: Place a shoe between your shoulders and touch as you come down to keep your pushup form (We had to do this in the Navy).
• Hint 3: Exhale as you lift, inhale as you go down.

Cardiovascular Exercise (Seems simple enough)

Couch Tricep Dips

• Sit on the edge of your couch, chair or bench
• Place your arms beside your body and grip the edge
• Shift your body weight forward and remove your bottom from the couch
• Dip your body until your forearms are parallel with the floor
• Extend your arms to return to starting position. Remember to not lock those elbows!
• Continue to dip until it’s time to move to your next exercise
• Hint#1: You may keep your knees bent and closer to the couch or extend your legs forward for a tougher exercise.
• Hint #2: Exhale as you push up, Inhale as you dip

Cardiovascular Exercise (Can you feel your heart rate yet?)

Crunches

• Lay on the floor with the small of your back comfortably rested
• Place your arms behind your head and keep neck relaxed
• Lift your shoulders off the ground with your chin lifted toward the sky while you compress your abdominals
• Keep the small of your back down on the floor.
• Return to starting position
• Hint #1: Don’t use your arms because this will add stress to your neck and spine
• Hint #2: By keeping your chin off your chest, you will not stress the neck and spine
• Hint #3: Exhale as you lift, Inhale as you return to starting position

Cardiovascular Exercise (Starting to break a sweat aren’t you)

Lying Back Extensions

• Lay on your stomach with your hands under your chin
• Lift your chest off the floor and hold for two seconds
• Return to starting position
• Keep your legs and hips on the ground
• Hint: Exhale as you lift, Inhale as you return to the starting position

Cardiovascular Exercise (No need to huff and puff, keep moving…)

Squats

• Stand with your feet slightly more than shoulder width apart and facing forward
• Sit back into your heels until your thighs are parallel with the floor
• Keep your knees in line with your toes, do not extend beyond your toes
• Return to standing position
• Hint #1: Create an imaginary wall preventing your head and knees from going forward of the toes
• Hint #2: Increase difficulty with dumbbells or extra weights

Cardiovascular Exercise (You’re doing great!)

Chair leg Extensions

• Sit comfortably into a chair.
• Support smaller back with small towel or pillow with the back of the chair.
• Grasp the rear legs or seat for support
• Lift thighs slightly, just to give room for leg to extend forward
• Lift your lower legs and extend (straighten your legs), do not lock the knees
• Return to starting position
• Hint #1: Add weight for more difficulty
• Hint #2: Exhale as you extend, Inhale as you return to starting position
• Hint #3: Support toddler on your legs for more work!!!

Cardiovascular Exercise (Slow down if you need too, but keep working)

Lying Floor Leg Curl

• Lie down on your stomach and turn your head to one side on your hands
• Keep your thighs parallel to the floor
• Lift your lower legs toward your butt
• Flex your ankles (Foot is parallel to ceiling)
• Return to floor
• Hint #1: Add ankle weights for resistance or have someone (little one hold your feet while you try to come up)
• Hint #2: Exhale as bring your legs up, Inhale on the return

Cardiovascular Exercise (Over half way done with the first cycle)

Standing Chest Wrap

• Place your forearms parallel to the floor and hands up and out to your side
• Bring your arms forward until your lower arms touch in front of you with your fists facing your nose
• Return to starting position
• Hint#1: Exhale as your arms come forward, Inhale as return to your side
• Hint #2: Add weight for more difficulty

Cardiovascular Exercise (You can do it!)

Standing Pull Down

• Lift your arms above your head, straight with relaxed elbow
• Pull your arms down bringing your fists down to your chest and elbows tucked into your side
• Return to starting position
• Hint #1: Elbows should not extend past your back
• Hint #2: Exhale as you pull down, Inhale as return to starting position
• Hint #3: Add weight for more difficulty

Cardiovascular Exercise (The sweats flowing now, baby.)

Reverse Lunges

• Stand with legs together
• Move your left leg back as you sit into the right heel.
• Use your left leg for balance and continue down until thigh is parallel to the floor.
• Return to starting position
• Repeat with right leg stepping back
• Hint #1: Keep forward knee from going over your toes
• Hint #2: Keep your back knee from banging into the floor.
• Hint #3: Add weight for more difficulty

Cardiovascular Exercise (Last one, make it really count, bump up the intensity just a tad!)

Now is a good time to check your heart rate.

Are you ready to go again?

If not, that’s okay, you deserve a pat on the back.

Way to Go Workout Mom

Cool Down to help your body transition from Workout Mom mode to relaxed, proud mom! Stretch out your muscles, grab a tall glass of water and continue your day with a big smile. What a great job!

Here’s a one page printout of the Home Circuit Workout. Tailor the routine to your preferences and you can start moving in any part of the house, yard or playground.

Westcott, Wayne. Building Strength and Stamina. 2nd Ed. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2003.

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