Creating Your Own Circuit-Style Workout at Home

By: Logan-Ann Bruce, ACSM EP & CIFT

How many times have you found yourself saying, “I can’t find the motivation to workout at home” or “My workout is less effective if I am outside the gym.” Typically, barriers to exercising at home are more closely related to innovation rather than motivation. It can be challenging to keep a workout fresh, time sensitive and applicable using basic equipment at home. However, we often forget that bodyweight is all we need for strength training and endurance as long as appropriate intensities are utilized.

A popular form of exercise where body weight can easily be incorporated is circuit training! It’s time sensitive and a great way to utilize all major muscle groups, increase your heart rate and keep your home workout fresh. Below are some guidelines, recommendations and considerations for creating a circuit-style workout at home. I will also provide a sample circuit workout at the end.

Considerations before beginning

  • As with all exercise programs, medical clearance by your physician is recommended.
  • Pick an area in your home or outside where adequate space is available.
  • Remove any items off of the ground that could be tripping hazards.
  • Stay within the limits of your current physical ability.
  • Practice proper techniques and stay mindful of your form.
  • Stop exercising if you experience any lightheadedness, unusual pain or discomfort.
  • Avoid the Valsalva maneuver.

Exercise selection

  1. Incorporate all major muscle groups. This will affect your resistance and intensity throughout the workout.
  2. Create balance. For example, alternate between lower body, upper body and core exercises.
  3. Modify and adapt the exercise to fit YOU and your abilities (e.g. sit to stand versus a squat).
  4. Create safety in your workout (e.g. holding on to stable furniture or a countertop for balance).
  5. Use what you already have at home (e.g. stairs, walls, countertops, chairs).
  6. Create easy transitions to minimize breaks.

Number of exercises and length of time

  1. The goal is to pick a number between 9-12 exercises. For better conditioned individuals, choose a number closer to 12. For less conditioned, start with nine or it may be less than nine, and work your way up to more exercises.
  2. Pick an amount of time that allows you to accomplish about 15 repetitions of an exercise (e.g. 30, 45 or 60 seconds).
  3. Choose an amount of rest time between exercises (e.g. 15, 30 or 45 seconds). Again, personalize it to fit you. For better conditioned individuals, try 15-30 seconds of rest or less. For less conditioned, start with 45 seconds if needed.
  4. Total time should be personalized to fit you and your current physical conditioning! Better conditioned individuals can repeat their circuit multiple times for a longer workout. Less conditioned individuals may need to repeat their circuit once to start. Keep in mind the American College of Sports Medicine’s guidelines of 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week – that’s a goal of 30 minutes, 5 days per week. You can always break that 30 minutes in to three 10-minute sessions.

Sample circuit

The following workout is nine-station circuit. Plenty of variations can be added to tailor this example to your individual needs. All exercises are done with body weight only and can be completed in most homes or outside. For this example, I performed each exercise for 30 seconds with 15 seconds of rest in between exercises for a total circuit time of about seven minutes. This circuit can be repeated two to three times.

Marching in place
Wall push ups
ab-crunch
Abdominal crunch
squat-to-toe-raise
Squat to toe raise
tricep-chair-dips
Tricep dips
mountain-climbers
Mountain climbers
hip-abduction
Hip abduction
t-rotation
T rotation
glute-bridge
Glute bridge

Share This Post:

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
RehaBlog

More Posts

Rediscovering Identity: Navigating Life After Limb Loss

The full or partial loss of a limb is a challenging, life-altering event. Those who experience it often endure changes in many aspects of their life from their work to their relationships to their perception of themselves. There is a grieving process due to the loss of the limb, and the apparent loss of the life that they had once lived. These factors can leave individuals with limb loss struggling with their personal identity or how they see themselves and the qualities specific to them. Self-esteem and self-confidence may decline and be replaced by feelings of inadequacy.

5 Exercises to Strengthen Your Core

The core and its importance in exercise is far more complex than most people know. In its entirety, the core can be thought of as a box that includes the abdominals in the front, the spinal and gluteal muscles in the back, the diaphragm as the roof, and the pelvic floor and hip muscles as the bottom. When all these muscle groups are equally strong and working together, safe and stable exercise is possible. However, if any of these core muscle groups are weak, it can lead to strain and overuse injuries. Thus, it is important to have a varied core exercise program to maintain a healthy and balanced core.

Why Do My Therapists Collect Outcome Measures?

If you have received physical rehabilitation services at some point, your therapist likely said to you, “Today, we are going to collect some outcome measures to see where we are starting.” Hopefully, you also heard, “Today, we are going to repeat those outcome measures to see how well you are doing.” Those two statements alone should provide some insight as to why outcome measures are being performed. Outcome measurement can give therapists an idea of where a patient is starting at the beginning of their therapy journey prior to any appointments, treatments, or intervention. Outcome measures also provide a way to see progress during the plan of care and the success of those appointments, treatments, or interventions.

Occupational Therapy for Concussions

A concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury that can have far reaching effects on daily life by impacting vision, balance, memory, attention, problem solving, emotions, and sleep. Occupational therapists specialize in rehabilitation and adapting activities of daily life. Occupational therapy is highly individualized and centers on the specific roles, impairments, and demands of each person. Based on the specific needs of the individual, occupational therapy is often used to address the following after a concussion:

Start your Journey

Learn more about Sheltering Arms Institute

Contact a specialist at Sheltering Arms Institute to learn more about how you can gain more freedom in your everyday life.