30 Minute Full-Body Interval Workout Circuit
If you are looking to shed pounds, your best bet is to combine cardio and strength training. Cardio increases your heart rate and burns stored calories, while strength training builds muscle. As muscle tissue takes more energy to maintain than fat, it stands to reason that the more muscle you have, the more resting calories you will burn on a daily basis, simply because your body requires more energy to carry out its basic functions when your muscle-to-fat ratio is greater.
By using just the BowFlex Max Trainer® and an ordinary chair, you can accomplish a full-body cardio and strength-training workout in 30 minutes at home using the workout plan below.
Cardio Intervals
Start this workout by getting your heart pumping and blood flowing by doing cardio based intervals on the Max Trainer.
Step 1: Cardio Workout on the BowFlex Max Trainer (14 minutes):
An interval training workout on the Max Trainer will adjust your workouts through periods of intense cardio followed by periods of more moderate activity. By engaging in high intensity interval training (HIIT), you can increase your maximum aerobic capacity (your body's ability to use oxygen for energy). The better your body can utilize the oxygen, the stronger and faster you can become. Since this level of intensity is not sustainable, it is best to follow intervals of exercise with periods of rest or more moderate activity, to give your body a break. Following these principles is exactly what the Max Trainer was built to do.
Strength Intervals
Now that you've done the cardio portion of this full body workout, step away from your Max Trainer and find some open floor space to begin the strength part. By applying the same type of interval training principle and selecting exercises that use gravity for resistance, you can build muscle.
Step 2: Full-Body Interval Weight Training (16 minutes):
Interval training is accomplished here simply by frequently switching exercises to target a different muscle group at a time, allowing each group time to rest before continuing again. Perform each exercise as many times as you can in the time noted, using proper form for each rep.
- Bicycle crunches - 30 seconds (How to do a bicycle crunch)
- Push-ups - 30 seconds (How to do push-ups)
- Plank - 60 seconds (How to do a perfect plank)
- Squats - 30 seconds (How to do squats)
- Chair triceps dips - 30 seconds
- Cross crunches - 30 seconds (How to do cross crunches)
- Burpees - 60 seconds (How to do the perfect burpee)
- Wall sit - 30 seconds
- Side plank (right side) - 30 Seconds (How to do a side plank)
- Side plank (left side) - 30 Seconds
- Decline push-ups w/chair - 30 seconds
- Lunges - 30 seconds (How to do lunges)
- Double crunches - 30 seconds (How to do a double crunch)
- Arm circles - 30 seconds
You're half way through the strength portion of the workout. Repeat these exercises one more time, and you're done!
And there you have it – a 30 minute interval workout that has cardio and strength exercises in it and that targets your entire body! Don't have a Max? Shop and compare Max Trainer models now.
For your next BowFlex workout, try a targeted ab workout:
