Circuit training is an effective way to burn more calories in less time. The advantage of such training is that such an exercise program does not require special equipment - it can be performed both in the gym and at home.
Join the training with us. You will need a maximum of an hour to properly work out your muscles.
Ekaterina Usmanova
Russian champion in fitness bikini
After this workout, your muscles should not hurt, as it is intense and aimed at burning extra calories.
During training, it is necessary to alternate the muscles of the back and legs in order not to get too tired. The goal of the exercise is to waste all glycogen so that the body begins to “burn” fats.
Workout to strengthen your back and abs from Angelina Strechina
Requirements for fat burning training for women, rules
Exercising at home has a number of advantages:
- Work directly with your body without additional dynamic resistance devices and exercise machines.
- There are no time limits.
- There is no need to waste time on the road to the place of classes and back.
- There is no need for expensive sportswear
- Lack of outside attention distracting from classes.
Fat-burning workouts at home should be based on the principle of understanding that local fat deposits cannot be eliminated and they will only go away if the fat layers are comprehensively reduced.
The main principles should always be put at the forefront:
- using the maximum number of muscles in training;
- medium and high intensity training;
- uniform distribution of loads between muscle groups;
- alternating exercises in daily training.
When starting the training process, it is strictly not recommended to switch to low-calorie diets. Not only will this not help burn fat, but it may also make the situation worse.
As a result of the body’s protective reaction to a decrease in frequency, caloric intake and increased physical activity, “reserves” will accumulate in the form of fatty layers in the most undesirable places: the lower abdomen, on the outer surfaces of the thighs and on the sides.
This process will be accompanied by increased intoxication due to increased processing of the entire insufficient amount of food. For this reason, the diet must match the level of physical activity. Without going into details of the calculations, you should calculate nutrition options with a daily calorie content of 1100 to 1800 Kcal, depending on the level of physical activity.
The next point that needs to be taken into account at the initial stage is the normalization of intestinal activity. This is an element of first necessity, since utilized excess fat reserves must be promptly removed from the body. The most unpleasant and embarrassing factor for many girls and women is the factor of personal hygiene.
Thanks to large-scale advertising, it has become commonplace for several decades to use a lot of detergents, gels, shampoos and creams every day. As a result, the body is forced to work in a mode of combating the destruction of the natural environment on its surface.
Therefore, during the period of fat burning exercises, you should stop using daily detergents and take a shower without them. Use soap solutions only once a week in the shower.
For most women, one of the main problems is changing their daily routine. The fact is that you need to change the rise time: it should be done no later than 5.30, and the end time should be no later than 22.00. This requirement is due to natural biological rhythms.
Morning physical exercises for 40 minutes are mandatory. If there is an opportunity for jogging, the charging time increases by 15 - 30 minutes.
Most women can do their main training only in the evening. There is nothing scary about this. In this case, the optimal time is from 17.00 to 19.00. 2 hours before the start of the workout, finish eating. Exercise sets should be selected based on physical readiness. The average number of exercises should not exceed 10-15 per repetition.
Dosing loads when performing exercises should be done independently according to the principle of maintaining an average pace and average intensity. Peak loads should be short-term, and the main loads should be medium loads. In this mode, the body itself selects energy sources for movements. This will mainly be adipose tissue.
Chest exercises
It is believed that the chest muscle corset is the worst to train at home.
, and it can only be toned with the help of
a fitness trainer
and exercise equipment.
But at home, it
is quite possible to achieve impressive results if you perform just a few
exercises
- simple, but no less
effective
.
Exercise 1
Stand straight, stretch your arms forward and bend your elbows, palms facing each other. Join your palms as if in prayer. Rhythmically push your palms towards each other, overcoming resistance. When performing the exercise
you will feel the muscles in your chest and armpits tighten.
Alternate fast and slow thrusts with your palms, the total duration of the workout
is 3-4 minutes.
Exercise 2
Swing your arms. Stand so that your raised hand does not touch anything. Lower your left hand along the body, and with your right make circular movements with full amplitude - from the shoulder. Make 10-15 swings in the direction “away from you” and 10-15 swings “towards you”, then return to the starting position and change your hand.
Warm up before class
Every workout always begins with a warm-up. Traditionally, preference is given to running in combination with stretching exercises. However, in modern urban conditions, places for running are often quite difficult to find. In this case, the optimal solution would be to use a complex of morning physical exercises, carried out intensively and at a high pace, for a full warm-up.
Before performing fat-burning workouts, it is important to warm up.
This is the most effective way not only to warm up and stretch the muscles, but also to prepare all body systems for long-term subsequent stress.
A set of exercises for burning fat with your own weight
Most complexes are based on cardio training.
With their help, we achieve:
- strengthening and dilation of blood vessels;
- increased volume of the heart and lungs;
- stabilization of blood pressure;
- normalization and stabilization of weight;
- increasing endurance;
- improvement of body structure;
- reduction of skin unevenness;
- reduction of cellulite phenomena;
- increasing immunity;
- increasing stress resistance.
You can replace running with regular walking, but, again, in urban conditions it is quite difficult to solve the problem of pace and dosage. Therefore, without forgetting the benefits of long daily walks (5–6 km per day), they should be considered additional exercises.
Jumping rope
Fat burning workouts at home can be done using a regular jump rope. With the beginning of the use of all kinds of simulators, this simple device faded into the background. Preserved in the training process in boxing. In fact, jumping rope is an excellent cardio exercise.
The basics of the technique are simple and known to many since childhood:
- the body is in an upright position, you should not look at your feet;
- arms parallel to the hips, only the hands are involved in the movement of the rope;
- jumps are performed on the forefoot, without the participation of the arch and heels.
When performing at home, you should not use shoes. It is better to place a hard mat under your feet to provide passive foot massage when jumping. You should start with 10 jumps, adding 10 in each approach. Bring the number of jumps to 100 in a set. After this, perform 100 jumps daily in three approaches for a week.
Then add 10 jumps for each approach every day. For a full half-hour cardio workout, you need to perform 1000 or more jumps a day. When you reach the maximum possible number, alternate jumping on two legs with jumping on one leg, as well as stepping.
"Bicycle" with twisting
Don't get upset and quit doing the exercise if it doesn't work out right away. Even attempts to do it correctly already bring a lot of energy consumption and, accordingly, have a positive effect on solving the problem of fat burning.
Exercise technique:
- Lie on your back, place your hands on the back of your head, legs extended.
- Raise the leg and body bent at the knee while simultaneously moving the elbow of the opposite arm until it touches the knee.
- Repeat on the other side.
- The number of exercises is the same as in the previous paragraph.
Air twist
At home, this easy exercise with little energy expenditure should be included in fat-burning workouts as a fasting exercise, to alternate with more complex and difficult ones. Redistributes the load between individual muscle groups.
The essence of the exercise:
- Performed standing, arms bent at the elbows.
- Jump while twisting your body at the waist.
- When landing, the feet are fixed with a rotation in the direction of twisting.
- The crunches involve the lower waist, pelvis and hips. The shoulder girdle is not involved.
Per approach - 15 - 10 jumps. The number of approaches is arbitrary.
Burpee
In its classical form, this exercise was developed for aerobic training. The energy consumption potential was greatly underestimated. A set of heterogeneous elements with short-term peak loads did not allow creating a stable load on the muscle mass.
After technical refinement, the exercise began to combine elements of statics and dynamics:
- from a squat position resting on your palms or the tips of all five fingers, jump to transfer your body to a straight “plank” position
- perform a push-up, while moving your shoulders and chest down, raise one leg as high as possible and to the side, accompanying the movement of the leg with your gaze;
- return to the “plank” position;
- repeat the movements, lifting the second leg;
- jump back into a squat;
- jump out while simultaneously swinging your arms forward and up, and when landing, spread your legs shoulder-width apart.
Perform 3 sets of 15–10 exercises.
Vertical hip raises
With the correct formulation of technical techniques of execution, it allows you to achieve successful results in:
- activation of processes of destruction of fatty formations;
- redistribution of subcutaneous fat tissue;
- improving the tone of the abdominal, back and thigh muscles;
- formation of the correct contours of the hips and buttocks and waist.
Execution order:
- Lying on your back, extend your arms along your body.
- Raise your straight legs to the “corner” position.
- Raise your pelvis with a deflection, supporting it with your arms bent at the elbows.
- Fix in the stand position on your shoulder blades.
- Lower your pelvis and bend so that your straight legs are parallel to your chest.
- Return to starting position.
Repeat as many times as possible. Alternate approaches with jumping rope or “air twist”.
Side plank
A very popular exercise. But not everyone can immediately hold the body on one hand.
The reception should not be facilitated by resting on the forearm:
- Does not allow mastering spatial balancing and body orientation.
- The handstand technique is not mastered.
- The effectiveness of the reception decreases.
In this regard, it is better to add a fitball as additional support.
Technical part:
- Place a fitball under your arm.
- Lean on your straight arm.
- Straight crossed legs rest on the floor, body straight.
- Use your free hand to push the ball out and try to stay in this position.
- Repeat everything on the second hand.
- Ideally, the body is held in the “plank” position for 10 seconds. and more.
Second round of exercises
These exercises differ from the previous ones in higher intensity:
- Let's start by running in place, raising your knees so that your thigh becomes parallel to the floor, and you must keep your back straight.
- Famous burpees. Get into a plank position, pull your knees toward your chest, jump straight up, then jump back to the starting position.
- Stay in plank position and begin jumping, spreading your legs out to the sides and back. The body and back should be extended in a straight line.
- Jump squats involve jumping up from a squat and then returning to the starting position.
- And the last exercise of the circuit is speed skating. Starting position – a shallow squat on one leg, the other laid back. Your task is to jump to the side and thereby transfer the weight to the other leg, while simultaneously touching the floor with your hand.
Such exercises will not take much time and will be an excellent workout for maintaining your body in normal condition.
Exercises with fitball
Invented in the middle of the last century as a means of exercise therapy, the fitball has become one of the most popular exercise equipment among women today. Through trial and error, it was found that with its help you can perform all the same exercises as on the floor. In some cases (for example, as with the side plank), it simplifies the exercise. But there are also those (sit-ups) when execution becomes more complicated.
The reason is the lack of necessary balancing and solid support. At the same time, it has extremely low effectiveness as a training tool for burning fat. Exercises with a fitball burn 40-50 kcal per hour, which is a tiny part of the required load. It is effective to use a fitball as an unloading tool and for developing coordination and balance.
Therefore, we can recommend the following simple exercises on a fitball at the initial stage of training:
- twisting;
- sit-up;
- oblique twists;
- horizontal scissors;
- vertical scissors;
- leg lift;
- side plank.
Effective interval training
Fat burning workouts at home can be done using interval training. They became fashionable due to the lack of time for full sports training. The essence of IT is a high tempo of execution of elements and their intensity, with sequential alternation with elements performed at a slow or medium pace.
Plank
This is an average statics exercise. The muscles of the arms are mostly loaded, because with minimal skills in mastering the muscles of the back and abdomen, it is not difficult to keep the body in a straight position.
In this regard, the exercise needs to be significantly supplemented:
- Lie on your stomach, place your hands on your palms in front of your chest and do push-ups.
- Fix your body and legs in a straight position for as long as possible.
- Starting with the next approach, perform push-ups from the plank position while simultaneously swinging your legs up.
- Each push-up involves changing legs.
- Do not bend your legs when performing, the toes should be pulled back.
- 10-15 repetitions per set.
Jumping from a sitting position
Thanks to the non-standard starting position of the body, the element of jumping ability and coordination in the lower body is worked out. For fat burning, it has dubious benefits due to the pulsed peak load on short areas of muscle.
Essentially, the exercise is a workout of the gastrocnemius, soleus and tibialis anterior muscles. The thigh muscles work in extension and are practically not used. The gluteus maximus and gluteus medius muscles work partially at the top of the compression jump.
Due to this situation, it is recommended to perform the exercise in a more complicated version:
- Jump up from a deep squat position.
- The arms, bent at the elbows, swing forward and to the sides, helping to jump.
- Land in a half-squat and jump onto an obstacle (bench, stool or sofa).
- Return to I.P.
- Repeat 15 - 30 times.
Lunch side with touch
A classic lunch described in many sources:
- From the stance, take one leg to the side, resting on your toes, while bending the other slightly.
- The body is tilted forward, the pelvis is laid back.
- With the hand of the same name as the supporting leg, touch the floor.
- By simulating a small jump (or by switching your legs), change your supporting leg and touch the floor with your other hand.
Perform for 15 seconds. at the highest tempo.
Reverse plank
From a sitting position on the floor, legs extended, fingers of the supporting hands parallel to the hips, raise the body into a linear plank position. Hold the pose for 15 seconds.
Exercises for buttocks and thighs
These are exercises that you can do at home
to make the line of the buttocks and outer
thighs
.
Exercise 1
Lunges. Stand straight, feet together, back straight. Bring one leg forward, taking a wide step, bend it at the knee and at this moment squat down. The second leg should rest on the knee, and the groin should “sag.” Jerk back to the starting position and repeat the next lunge with the other leg. Do 10-20 repetitions with each leg.
Exercise 2
Side squats. Get on your knees
, make sure your back remains straight. Stretch your straightened arms forward so that they are parallel to the floor. Sit to the left on your hip, extending your arms to the right. Using your arms as a counterweight, return to the starting position. Repeat the same movement, but in the other direction. Do 10-15 repetitions in each direction.
Strength fat-burning workouts for women at home
Fat-burning workouts at home are carried out in a complex: both gymnastics and strength training. At first glance, their difference is quite insignificant. But in action they differ significantly. The gymnastic part trains muscles for elasticity, mobility and endurance. Power - for strength and increasing volume. Therefore, their optimal combination is required.
Classic sit-up (lifting the body from a lying position)
This exercise is a prominent representative of the power group.
In the classic version it looks like this:
- From a position on your back with your legs bent at right angles, raise your body to a vertical position.
- Hold for 1 – 3 seconds.
- Get down on the floor.
- Do it whenever possible.
The disadvantage is the overload of the gluteus medius, external and internal oblique muscles. This is due to the lack of fixation of the lower extremities. It is much more effective to lift and lower the body (abs swing) while sitting on a bench with your feet fixed.
To fix the house, you can use a regular heating radiator. In this case, a significantly larger array of muscles is involved.
Transferring body weight from one leg to another
To perform the exercise you need:
- In a deep squat position, extend one leg to the side.
- Hands on the belt. The body is vertical.
- Smoothly, without bending or lifting the pelvis, transfer the weight from the supporting leg to the other.
- Repeat at least 10 times.
Push-ups with leg raises
Exercise technique:
- From the rack, lower yourself into a squat, then jump into a plank position and do a push-up.
- From the second push-up, lift one leg with abduction up and to the side.
- Change legs with each push-up.
- Increase to 10 push-ups per set.
Reverse push-ups
Exercise technique:
- While sitting on a bench, rest your hands on it (palms parallel to your thighs).
- Move your pelvis off the bench and lower it as close to the floor as possible.
- Do push-ups.
- Determine the number of movements based on your condition.
Deep lunges with twists
Exercise technique:
- Jump into a full-foot lunge with one leg forward.
- The second leg is at the back, on the toe.
- Hands are on the belt.
- Make 4 downward movements, as if entering a squat position.
- Turn in the opposite direction without changing the position of your legs and move the lunge to the other leg.
- Repeat the down-up movements.
- Perform 10-15 times in each direction.
Hand exercises
Training
Just a few
exercises
for the arms can strengthen
the muscles
, make them more prominent and, as a result, help the arms
lose weight
.
Exercise 1
Stand straight, back straight. Stretch your arms in front of you, parallel to the floor and bend your elbows. Palms facing up. Bring your elbows in and out with force, as if you are overcoming resistance.
Exercise 2
Training
with
push-ups
allows you to comprehensively influence the entire shoulder girdle, abs and muscles of the back of the thigh. Take a lying position, focusing on your palms and toes. Bending your elbows, try to bring your chest and head as close to the floor as possible. Straightening your arms, return to the starting position. Make sure that your entire body remains level - on the same axis. If this exercise is too difficult, you can start with the palms and knees position.
Dumbbell workout
In most cases, working with weights is not recommended for girls due to overload of individual muscle groups. Exercises with dumbbells and kettlebells work mainly on the upper body.
Training using dynamic resistance sources places unnatural stress on the muscles. However, if you have weak hands, in some cases you can use dumbbells weighing no more than 1 - 1.5 kg.
The main exercises for this are:
- Extension to the sides with straight arms extended forward.
- Raising your arms along your body with dumbbells up through your sides.
- Abdominal pumping with dumbbells on the chest.
- Lunges forward with dumbbells in lowered hands.
- Plie squats with one dumbbell in your hands.
When performing training with dumbbells, you should remember that in addition to strength and slightly pumped muscles, such exercises, especially the last two listed, can create unnecessary problems for the female body. Therefore, weight-bearing exercises can mainly be recommended for women after their childbearing years.
Fat burning circuit training: exercise program
Remember that a workout can be effective even if it contains 5-10 exercises: do not overload the body. Give preference to exercises that involve several muscle groups at once. Of course, you need to start training under the guidance of an experienced instructor, who will explain in what sequence to perform the elements of the program, how to use exercise equipment, and even how to properly warm up and cool down.
A basic approximate program for circular fat burning training for girls:
- Warm-up (interval running: 5-6 minutes with a gradual increase in pace; jumping rope: 200-300 times).
- Forward lunges with dumbbells (15–20 repetitions). Make sure that the thigh of the “dropping” leg is parallel to the floor.
- Leg extension in the simulator (15 repetitions). Don't forget to tense your thigh muscles.
- Twisting to the right and left knee (15 times in each direction). Fix your body at the top point of the twist for 2 counts.
- Seated lat pulldown (close grip, 20 reps). When performing the exercise, make sure your back is straight.
- Push-ups on a bench (15–20 repetitions) or pull-ups (10–15 repetitions).
- Plank (40–90 seconds). Do not try to stand in the plank for a long time at once - it is better to start with 30-40 seconds, but at the same time carefully monitor the correct body position.
- Deadlift (10–15 reps). Do not allow your lower back to arch during the exercise.
- Cool down (interval running at a slower pace, shuttle running, several stretching exercises).
These are just a few exercise options, they can be diversified with others: squats with a barbell on the shoulders, swings, the “bicycle” exercise, overhead pull-downs, horizontal pull-downs, etc.
Trainers advise starting with 3-4 approaches and then increasing their number to 6-7. Do not forget that there should be no breaks between approaches in one circle (ideally), and the intervals between “rounds” should be no more than five minutes.
The advantages of circuit training are not only that they effectively burn fat, but also that they are effective for:
- increasing physical strength;
- acceleration of metabolism;
- maintaining muscle volume and working them out;
- strengthening the cardiovascular system.
Weekly training plan for girls without physical training
To achieve the goal, the workouts should be intense, but the loads should be alternated so as not to overload individual muscle groups.
For beginners, it is reasonable to conduct classes according to the following scheme:
| Day of the week | Exercises |
| Monday | Jump rope 100 to 1000 times |
| Tuesday | Complex on fitball |
| Wednesday | Power complex |
| Thursday | Gymnastics |
| Friday | Jumping rope |
| Saturday | Gymnastics part |
| Sunday | Relaxation and water treatments |
Women's Strength Training Program
Classes in the gym are based on a circuit and split training plan. Circuit training works all the muscle groups of the body, while split means that on any given day you will train separate muscle groups (for example, only the arms and back, and the legs on another day).
Strength split training for women
Training day No. 1. Legs and buttocks:
- Squats with weights – 3 sets of 20 times;
- Lunges with dumbbells – 4 sets of 15 reps;
- Romanian or deadlift with a barbell – 3 sets of 20 reps;
- Leg extensions in the simulator – 3 sets of 15 times;
- Abduction (swing) of the leg back with weights – 3 sets of 20 times;
- Leg abduction in the simulator - 4 sets of 25 times.
Training Day #2: Chest, Triceps, Shoulders and Abs:
- Raising arms with dumbbells on a horizontal bench – 4 x 15;
- Incline bench press (30 degrees) – 3 x 15;
- Dumbbell press – 4 x 15;
- Broaching in the crossover for deltas – 3 x 15;
- Reverse push-ups – 3 x max;
- Ab crunches – 5 x 25.
Training day No. 3. Back and biceps:
- Pull-ups in the “Gravitron” simulator (if it is not there, then on the crossbar) – 4 x 15;
- Pulldown of a vertical block to the chest – 4 x 20;
- Front thrust – 4 x 15;
- Dumbbell row at the hip – 4 x 15;
- Dumbbell curls for biceps with supination – 4 x 15;
- Crossover biceps curl – 3 x 20.
These are variants of training programs for women aimed at developing muscle mass and acquiring relief. You can choose the weights yourself, but so that you are able to perform the exercise in the number of repetitions indicated. The number of repetitions in women's programs varies from 15 to 20. This is necessary so that you do not have time to rest, and the muscles get tired faster and waste energy.
Circuit training program
This type of training is more suitable for beginners. It allows you to work out all the muscles in one go.
Circuit training
- Warm up on the treadmill – 10 minutes;
- Squats – 3 x 20;
- Back lunges – 3 x 20;
- Pull-down of the upper block behind the head – 4 x 15;
- Bent over arm abduction (delts) – 3 x 20;
- Dumbbell biceps curl “Hammer” – 4 x 15;
- Abduction of the arm from behind the head – 4 x 15;
- Leg raises on parallel bars – 4 x 20.
- Cardio exercise – 30 minutes.
Thus, by repeating this program for weeks 2-3, you will accustom your muscles to the load.
Weekly lesson plan for advanced
For advanced athletes, the composition of the complexes remains the same, but their implementation is more intense and intense:
| Days | Complexes |
| First | Skipping from 1500 to 1000 jumps + fitball complex |
| Second | Gymnastics + cardio workout |
| Third | Strength exercises |
| Fourth | Jumping rope + gymnastics |
| Fifth | Rope training + strength techniques |
| Sixth | Gymnastic exercise group |
| Seventh | Bath, sauna, hammam, hydromassage |
Training with fat-burning exercises can be organized and carried out at home in a realistic and effective way. To achieve the desired result, you must be patient and persistent.
Article design: Oleg Lozinsky
