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Are you bored with your current workout? Do you want to start exercising and do not know where to begin? Circuit training may be the exercise regime for you.

Developed at the University of Leeds, in England, circuit training consists of a series of circuits, or stations, situated around a gym or workout facility. Each station is visited in a certain order.

Stations are flexible and can consist of resistance equipment like free weights, exercise machines, and floor exercises. After completing one station, you move on to the next and continue until you have completed the circuit.

A traditional circuit has six to twelve stations. These stations are comprised of exercise machines, hydraulic equipment, hand held weights, elastic resistance, and calisthenics. The person completing the circuit will spend 15 seconds to 3 minutes at each station.

Between each station, an aerobic activity is to be completed. This aerobic activity will aid in improving cardiovascular health and muscle endurance.

Circuit training has many advantages. It can be easily structured and does not require a great deal of experience. Circuit training is usually completed in small groups giving you the benefit of others’ encouragement and knowledge. This type of training is also adjustable and can be easily customized to your specific needs.

A basic 6 station circuit might look like this:

-Squats-30 seconds
-Jump rope-30 seconds to 1 minute
-Medicine Ball pass-30 seconds
-Jog/walk-5 minutes
-Stationary bike-5 minutes
-Lunges-30 seconds

You can see from this schedule how aerobic exercise is worked into the training schedule. It is very easy to plan circuits that give your whole body an optimum workout.

As with all forms of exercise you will want to warm up and cool down before and after circuit training. This will help prevent injury and can easily be accomplished with light calisthenics, walking, and stretching.

You may decide to schedule your circuit training in cycles. For example, you could complete an easy week followed by a medium week, a hard week, and end the month with a recovery and testing week.

It is important to test your workout in order to see how many reps you are doing per station and how many you are completing in 60 seconds. This will give you an idea of how well circuit training is working for you. Based on the results of your testing you can develop more varied circuits to suit your needs.

Circuit training will build your endurance and give you a total body workout by exercising different muscle groups. Circuit training is a great way to burn calories and lose weight. Best of all, this type of training is not time consuming and can be completed in as little as under 30 minutes.

As you can see, circuit training includes infinite variety. You are only limited by your imagination.

Many gyms offer scheduled circuit training classes and some even offer themed circuit training such as boxing. Circuit training will definitely add spice to your workout.

Resources: Richard Black helps people learn about shoulder workout exercises at his website on workout exercises.