Body Weight Cardio Circuit

Posted by Lynk on July 24, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Ok, so this is a body weight cardio circuit that is pretty liking to leave you gasping for air if you do it right and will take you anywhere from 15-30 minutes depending on your level. The goal is to go through the circuit of exercises below 5x. Start at 20% of your max speed for the first round and each round after that you increase your speed by 20% (round 2 = 40%, round 3 = 60%, and so on).

High Knees – 10x – Hike your knees up through your core by pulling up and in through your abs.
Butt Kickers – 10x – Pull through you hamstrings and try to keep your knees under you as opposed to bringing the knee forward to bent it.
Jumping Jacks – 10x – I think this one is self explanatory, but just for an added workload try keeping your core tight as if you are ripping your arms away from your body and trying to stop it with your abs.
Lunges – 5x each side – We all know what these are and if not click here.
Squat Thrust – 10x – Keep your core tight when you kick your legs back to avoid low back injury.
Star Jumps – 10x – Squat down to the floor with knees and feet together and your arms crossed in front, then explode up into a jump with your arms up and out and your legs apart like a star. You can modify this to just come up onto your toes instead of jumping, but still bursting up in an explosive fashion. Be sure to keep your core tight as if you are ripping your arms and legs away from your abs.
Karaoke Step (cross over step) – 5 steps to each side – I learned it as grape vine step, but neither really makes sense to me.
Side Gallop with Arm Swipe – 5 steps to each side – The arm swipe is done by keeping your arms parallel with the ground out in front and then squeezing your shoulders together and moving your arms out to the side as you perform the side gallop.
Mountain Climbers – 10x – Keep your core tight and draw your legs up through your abs. Try to avoid as much vertical movement as possible and focus on pulling the legs straight forward under you.
Burpees – 10x - One of the best body weight exercises on the planet! Check out this video for 300 burpees. Notice the guy on the left and how his hips drop down when he lands in the push up position. Avoid this through keeping the core tight as you kick the legs back. The missing part in this video that really kills is the vertical jump when you come into standing after the push up. If you have the space you can also perform a horizontal jump like this!