Last updated on April 16th, 2021 at 10:56 am
Work all your main muscle groups with this circuit style weekly workout plan. The workout is only 20 minutes long, so doing it 3 times a week will only take an hour out of your schedule.
How to do the workout
The 5 exercises are below. Do each exercise for one minute and then start again, doing 3 sets of all the exercises in total. You should also do a warm up before you start, using the exercises here. You can read more about why warm up is important here.
See the end of the post to get a printable chart of the exercises.
Before you do the workout, please read these exercise safety guidelines.
Exercise instructions
#1 lunge with arm raise
- Stand with your feet about hip distance apart.
- Leg action: Take one leg out behind you and touch your toes to the floor. Now bend at both knees, so that you lower your body towards the floor.
- Arm action: at the same time, raise your arms in front of your body up to shoulder height.
- Return to the starting position and repeat on your other leg.
#2 arm circles
- Stand with your feet about hip distance apart and take your arms up to shoulder height. Keep your shoulders relaxed – don’t shrug.
- Keeping your arms straight, circle them for 30 seconds clockwise and then reverse the direction.
#3 squat with butterfly arms
- Stand tall with your shoulders back and down.
- Get your arms into the starting position: upper arms parallel with the floor, elbows bent at 90 and arms held in front of your body, as shown in the diagram.
- Squat to the side. At the same time, open your arms out, keeping your upper arms parallel with the floor.
- Come back to the starting position.
- Repeat, this time squatting to the other side.
#4 Knee lift & arm raise
- Raise your arms overhead.
- Lower your arms as you lift one knee.
- Raise your arms as you lower the knee.
- Lower your arms as you lift the other knee.
#5 wall sit
Important: as the muscles are held in a static contraction for the wall sit, it can cause a rise in blood pressure. This means that anyone with high blood pressure should not do this exercise.
- Stand with your back to the wall, about 18-24 inches away from it, legs hip distance apart.
- Using your hands to help support you, bend your knees as you lean your back against the wall.
- When your back is fully in contact with the wall, start to slide down, until your thighs are parallel with the floor.
- Check that your knees are lined up above your ankles – adjust your foot position if not.
The weekly workout plan
For this circuit, you should do each exercise for 1 minute, then move onto the next exercise. After you’ve done all 5, start again. Do 3 full circuits per workout and do 3 workouts per week. You can get a printable workout chart using the form below.
Get a printable copy of this chart
Sign up for My Fitness Planner updates and get a free printable download of this workout e-mailed to you:
After you sign up, you’ll get 2 e-mails:
The first will ask you for a one-click confirmation of your subscription
Once you’ve confirmed, you’ll get a second e-mail with a link to your download
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