It’s never easy to find time to go to the gym. Even those who are active in going to the gym often get distracted because of their work that it becomes almost impossible to stay committed to their weekly workout. Actually, you don’t need to become a member of your local gym to stay slim. Infomercials that say that you can stay ripped with just 20-minute workouts may be exaggerating a bit, but doing 20 minutes worth of exercise daily can actually help to keep you in good shape without you having to look for ways to get to the gym during your work days.
- Increase the intensity of your workouts.
Increasing the intensity of your workouts can help you complete your fitness goal in a short time. Although most gym-goers don’t usually have the necessary equipment in their homes, circuit training that is of high intensity and incorporates exercise for body-weight can help increase the endurance of your muscles as well as develop their strength. You don’t even need to spend hours in the gym just to keep your athletic body. You only need a tenacious mind to be able to handle bouts of intense exercise circuit without stopping. Circuit training is actually an efficient strategy that boosts loss of fat while at the same time enhancing the development of your muscles throughout your body.
- Body weight exercise.
You should incorporate various strength-building exercises in your 20 minute workout so that each major group of muscles gets exercised. Pushups are usually the base of any circuit training at home. This example of body-weight exercise focuses on the muscles in the chest, arms, and shoulders while stabilizing the core muscles. Pull-ups are another example of this kind of exercise. This activity actually builds your upper body strength and it works the same muscle group as that of pushups while training the forearms and lats. If you don’t have any pull-up bar at home, you can always use the monkey bars in the park or do triceps dips or high knees. Lastly, do the plyometric jumps which include jumping vertically and planks to complete your at-home circuit training.
- Execute the “Circuit”
The term “circuit” refers to the group of exercises that is done with little rest in between. Your own customized circuit should have 6 to 8 exercises. You need to do 15 to 20 repetitions for each activity with 20 seconds pause in between. Just to give you an idea, a circuit that has high knees, plyometric jumps, planks, pushups, pull-ups, and triceps dips are performed in one sequence is a set. You need to do multiple sets to be able to complete a full circuit training.
- Completing Multiple Sets
Use a stopwatch or smartphone and time yourself for 30 seconds while you perform exercises like high knees. Rest briefly before dropping into a pushup position. Do 20 reps, rest, then jump for 30 seconds continuously. The second phase of this sequence is to do 15 to 20 pull-ups, a timed plank for about 30 seconds, then finish with 15 to 20 triceps dips. Each sequence should be done 3 to 4 times within a 20 minute period. You should rest for 2 minutes in between each sequence. Executing each sequence properly will help you stay in the best shape without having you feel guilty that you’re skipping gym time.
