Aerobic and resistance workouts strengthen your muscles and cardiovascular system. You may be so busy that it's hard for you to fit in regular workouts, especially if you work and take care of your home and family. Check out circuit training -- it works every area of your body and gives you a good aerobic workout. A circuit training workout does not take very much time, either.
Circuit Training
Women's circuit training is a group exercise that combines endurance and strength exercises, placed one right after the other. Circuit training contains exercise stations that each focus on one area of the body. These stations are placed around the gym, interspersed with aerobic workout stations. Strength stations include resistance training, weight training, sit ups, push ups, squat thrusts, burpees and star jacks. The entire circuit should contain between eight and 10 exercise stations where women are able to work on each exercise and have time for a short -- 30 to 60 second -- rest interval in between each station, states the Target Woman website.
Circuit Training Process
You begin your circuit training with exercises the trainer has chosen. She looks for exercises that work each area of the body, from your shoulders down to your legs. If you are new to circuit training, your trainer will instruct you and demonstrate how to do the exercises, then observing as you follow along. As soon as she is sure you know how to do the exercise correctly, she works with other women.
When you first start circuit training workouts, start with six to eight exercises and complete these in a 30-minute period twice a week, advises the Target Woman website. As your body gets familiar to the exercises, increase the length and frequency of your workouts.
Benefit of Circuit Training
Your body benefits from circuit training when you complete the strength, resistance and weight training exercises in the circuit. Each workout station may include weight machines, free weights, resistance bands or calisthenic workouts.
You gain more benefit from a circuit workout when you include short aerobic workouts. Circuit training should have aerobics stations in between each strength station, which allows you to improve your cardiovascular endurance, according to Healthy Times Online.
Performance Targets
Your circuit training workout should allow you to reach a healthy maximum heart rate and oxygen consumption. The American College of Sports Medicine suggests that you should reach between 55 to 90 percent of your maximum heart rate. Check your body's response to your circuit workout by taking your pulse for 10 seconds. If the circuit training gym has them available, you can also check your heart rate with a monitor you wear during each workout, according to Healthy Times Online.
Exercise Pattern
When you first begin circuit training, choose the best sequence of exercises based on your body's needs. For the upper body, these can include press ups, bench dips, pull ups, bench lifts, inclined press ups and medicine ball chest passes. Exercises for your lower body may include compass jumps, shuttle runs, step ups, hopping shuttles, bench squats, astride jumps and squat jumps. Exercises for your core and trunk area can include back extension chest raises, lower abdominal sit ups and stomach crunches. Your entire body can benefit from a workout on burpees, squat thrusts, skipping and treadmill work, according to the Total Woman website.
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