If times are tough, or if you just don't like going to big, expensive commercial gyms where stinky bodybuilders hog the equipment and girls "dressed-to-impressed" intimidate you in the exercise area, then you're going to love the alternative fat burning workouts that you can do at home - without any equipment at all! I still remember the day Carla showed up for her first workout with me in my home studio.
She was a cardio queen but her fat loss program was stuck in neutral.
"I run four days per week," she said, "but cardio isn't working anymore.
I'll never be able to lose the fat on my thighs.
" She Was Skeptical About Bodyweight Workouts - As she wandered around my home talking about how cardio just wasn't working anymore, she was also surprised by the lack of equipment in my workout area.
"How am I going to burn fat if you don't have any machines?", she asked.
Little did she know I was about to introduce her to the fun and effective bodyweight circuit workouts that she could do anytime, anywhere, while losing fat and sculpting her body without paying an outrageous amount of money for equipment that usually takes up entire rooms.
Carla would meet me three times per week after dropping off her kids at school and she would do a 30-minute fat burning workout with bodyweight exercises.
Each weight loss workout session would start with a circuit of bodyweight exercises, including an easy lower body exercise like bodyweight squats or lying hip extensions, kneeling pushups, stability ball leg curls, and side planks.
Sculpt Your Body With Bodyweight Exercises - This simple little circuit of four bodyweight exercises prepared her for the full bodyweight circuit workout to come.
After the warm-up, we did two advanced bodyweight exercises to build strength.
Like most women, Carla struggled with full pushups, but within just two weeks she was able to do two reps with perfect form.
Over time we added over a dozen pushup variations to her bodyweight strength program, such as close grip pushups, decline pushups, and Stability Ball pushups, allowing her to sculpt her arms and get rid of the body fat that often hangs underneath the triceps.
After the bodyweight strength exercises, it was time to move to the bodyweight circuits.
The best way to burn fat is to use interval training, but without cardio machines and because of the cold Canadian winters, we were stuck inside and needed to find a replacement.
But thanks to my years of training large groups of female athletes all at one time in big gymnasiums without any equipment, I had developed a secret system of bodyweight exercises that puts "turbulence" on the muscles and helps them sculpt your body better than ever before - even compared to long, slow boring cardio workouts.
Sample Bodyweight Circuit Workouts - Bodyweight circuits can be used in your weight loss program if you don't have access to any machines, bikes, or a place to exercise outside.
For bodyweight circuits, you'll pick three easy lower body exercises and three easy upper body exercises, and alternate between lower and upper body movements(2).
For Carla's workouts, we also made them more difficult as she increased her fitness by adding one easy total body "dynamic" exercise at the start of the circuit and a harder power move to the end of the circuit.
Her bodyweight circuit workout looked like this.
Total Body Exercise - Jumping Jacks (20 repetitions) Prisoner Squat (10 repetitions) Close-grip Pushups (3-5 repetitions) Split Squats (10 repetitions per side) Mountain Climbers (8 repetitions per side) Reverse Lunge (8 repetitions per side) Elevated Pushups (3 repetitions per side) Running in Place (20 seconds) Go through the circuit using as little rest as possible between exercises, and then rest one minute at the end of the circuit.
Repeat the weight loss program circuit up to 2 more times if you are advanced.
Diet + Bodyweight Exercises = Flat Tummy and Slimmer Thighs.
Of course, Carla and I also had to have a quick talk about nutrition.
She needed to toss the junk food out that she was eating each night.
We even implemented a rule that there was no eating after 8pm.
There's nothing magical about when you eat, but just imposing that limitation mentally helped her avoid the evils of night eating.
Plus, Carla focused on adding one serving of fruit and one serving of raw, fibrous vegetables to her daily diet for four weeks.
This helped her fill up and have more mental energy all day long, while also reducing her daily calorie intake.
Combined with the bodyweight circuit workouts, these small, but powerful changes helped her lose almost two pounds per week for four weeks straight.
No equipment? No problem! If you have no money, no equipment, or no desire to go to a gym, it doesn't matter! With proper nutrition and bodyweight circuit workouts, you can burn fat in the comfort of your own home without having to fight through busy gyms, line up for machines, or be intimidated by cardio bunnies who try to turn the gym into a nightclub.
Simple bodyweight circuit workouts are short, fast, and effective.
You'll sculpt your arms, firm your tummy, and slim your thighs in just three short workouts per week.
She was a cardio queen but her fat loss program was stuck in neutral.
"I run four days per week," she said, "but cardio isn't working anymore.
I'll never be able to lose the fat on my thighs.
" She Was Skeptical About Bodyweight Workouts - As she wandered around my home talking about how cardio just wasn't working anymore, she was also surprised by the lack of equipment in my workout area.
"How am I going to burn fat if you don't have any machines?", she asked.
Little did she know I was about to introduce her to the fun and effective bodyweight circuit workouts that she could do anytime, anywhere, while losing fat and sculpting her body without paying an outrageous amount of money for equipment that usually takes up entire rooms.
Carla would meet me three times per week after dropping off her kids at school and she would do a 30-minute fat burning workout with bodyweight exercises.
Each weight loss workout session would start with a circuit of bodyweight exercises, including an easy lower body exercise like bodyweight squats or lying hip extensions, kneeling pushups, stability ball leg curls, and side planks.
Sculpt Your Body With Bodyweight Exercises - This simple little circuit of four bodyweight exercises prepared her for the full bodyweight circuit workout to come.
After the warm-up, we did two advanced bodyweight exercises to build strength.
Like most women, Carla struggled with full pushups, but within just two weeks she was able to do two reps with perfect form.
Over time we added over a dozen pushup variations to her bodyweight strength program, such as close grip pushups, decline pushups, and Stability Ball pushups, allowing her to sculpt her arms and get rid of the body fat that often hangs underneath the triceps.
After the bodyweight strength exercises, it was time to move to the bodyweight circuits.
The best way to burn fat is to use interval training, but without cardio machines and because of the cold Canadian winters, we were stuck inside and needed to find a replacement.
But thanks to my years of training large groups of female athletes all at one time in big gymnasiums without any equipment, I had developed a secret system of bodyweight exercises that puts "turbulence" on the muscles and helps them sculpt your body better than ever before - even compared to long, slow boring cardio workouts.
Sample Bodyweight Circuit Workouts - Bodyweight circuits can be used in your weight loss program if you don't have access to any machines, bikes, or a place to exercise outside.
For bodyweight circuits, you'll pick three easy lower body exercises and three easy upper body exercises, and alternate between lower and upper body movements(2).
For Carla's workouts, we also made them more difficult as she increased her fitness by adding one easy total body "dynamic" exercise at the start of the circuit and a harder power move to the end of the circuit.
Her bodyweight circuit workout looked like this.
Total Body Exercise - Jumping Jacks (20 repetitions) Prisoner Squat (10 repetitions) Close-grip Pushups (3-5 repetitions) Split Squats (10 repetitions per side) Mountain Climbers (8 repetitions per side) Reverse Lunge (8 repetitions per side) Elevated Pushups (3 repetitions per side) Running in Place (20 seconds) Go through the circuit using as little rest as possible between exercises, and then rest one minute at the end of the circuit.
Repeat the weight loss program circuit up to 2 more times if you are advanced.
Diet + Bodyweight Exercises = Flat Tummy and Slimmer Thighs.
Of course, Carla and I also had to have a quick talk about nutrition.
She needed to toss the junk food out that she was eating each night.
We even implemented a rule that there was no eating after 8pm.
There's nothing magical about when you eat, but just imposing that limitation mentally helped her avoid the evils of night eating.
Plus, Carla focused on adding one serving of fruit and one serving of raw, fibrous vegetables to her daily diet for four weeks.
This helped her fill up and have more mental energy all day long, while also reducing her daily calorie intake.
Combined with the bodyweight circuit workouts, these small, but powerful changes helped her lose almost two pounds per week for four weeks straight.
No equipment? No problem! If you have no money, no equipment, or no desire to go to a gym, it doesn't matter! With proper nutrition and bodyweight circuit workouts, you can burn fat in the comfort of your own home without having to fight through busy gyms, line up for machines, or be intimidated by cardio bunnies who try to turn the gym into a nightclub.
Simple bodyweight circuit workouts are short, fast, and effective.
You'll sculpt your arms, firm your tummy, and slim your thighs in just three short workouts per week.