Circuit Training Ideas

I started thinking the other day, and I came up with some circuit training ideas. I have been stuck in an exercise rut for a while now, so I finally decided to do something about it. I remember in college, I used to love to do (I really liked punishment at the time) the circuit training that my soccer coach made us do in the off season. Thirty seconds of intense exercise, then switch to a new exercise and do another 30 seconds. You get a great full body workout, and it does not take nearly as long as traditional working out. And, since time is an issue now that we have two boys, I decided to revisit circuit training.

Right now, I do not have much more than 15 minutes at a time to workout, so I decided on 2 circuits of 11 stations. I plan on mixing up the stations pretty regularly once I get back into circuit shape, but here is my starter workout.

Stations:

1- standard push ups
2- standard pull ups (palms away from me)
3- body weight squats
4- wide push ups
5- chin ups (palms toward me)
6- walking lunges
7- mountain climbers see video for explanation
8- sideways pull ups (palms facing each other with hands on the perpendicular bars of my pull up bar)
9- chair dips
10- side lunges
11- scissors see video for demo

Now I do all exercises at maximum intensity for 30 seconds and take 10 seconds in between exercises.  I go through the whole routine twice, which is exactly 15 minutes.  If you want circuits to work, one thing to keep in mind is that you cannot stop to rest.  If you take more than 10 seconds between exercises, you start to lose the effectiveness of circuit training.

I hope you enjoyed my circuit training ideas.