Circuit Training at Home: A Simple 30-Minute Workout Routine

Circuit training at home is one of my favorite ways to combine cardio and strength training without needing much equipment or paying for a gym membership. I’ve been doing circuit training since I was young, and I quickly discovered how much I enjoy the variety and efficiency it brings to exercise. Today, my husband and I still like doing circuit workouts at home because they are simple, flexible, and easy to adapt to the equipment we already have.

When I was a young adult and living at my parents’ house for a while, I started doing circuit training. At that time, I really missed my “Pace” class that I used to take every week at the gym with my friend Jenni while we studied at Helsinki University. Even though that chapter of my life had ended, I couldn’t go on without the fun exercise I had gotten so used to.

I continued going to the gym, but I also wanted to do something more fun, so I gathered some equipment at home and asked my mom to join me. We put on music and used a timer to alert us whenever it was time to change stations. We didn’t have much equipment, but we had the basics: a jump rope, a weighted hula hoop, a thigh master, weights, an ab ball, and a rowing machine. We also did some other exercises on the mat. It was really fun, and I loved that my mom joined me every time she was available.

When I moved out, I continued going to the gym, but I missed doing circuit training with my mom. Deep inside, I was always hoping that maybe someday I could experience and share the same feeling with my own kids.

A couple of years ago, I got the urge to start doing circuit training again, and I asked my whole family to join me at least once. We all had fun, but my youngest was still too small for some of the equipment, and I couldn’t get the kids to join me regularly. Now my girls are teenagers, and they already have plenty of training through their extracurricular activities. They hardly have time to do this with me, but my supportive husband has continued, and he does it with me almost every Sunday morning. He enjoys it too because it’s a great cardio workout. More importantly, it’s something fun we can do together, and it keeps us connected.

Circuit training has become our regular home workout routine on Sundays, and I also do it a couple of times during the week by myself. However, on those weekdays I focus my circut training more on PT styled exercises.

🔁 What Is Circuit Training?

Circuit training is a full-body workout where you move through several exercise stations in a sequence with little rest between them. Each station focuses on a different movement or muscle group, creating a workout that combines both strength and cardio. You might be able to find circuit training group exercise classes at your gym, but doing it at home is convenient because you can easily adapt the exercises to the equipment you already have.

⏱ How to Circuit Train?

I usually do three rounds and have about 10–12 different stations. Each station lasts 35 seconds, and I have 15 seconds of rest before the next station. This way, the whole workout takes about 25 to 30 minutes. I use the Interval Timer – Tabata Timer app, which runs smoothly in the background while I play music and lets me create custom workout routines. I usually listen to trance or pop dance music because the strong beat keeps the energy up during the workout.

I enjoy this kind of exercise because of the constant change, and I can design it exactly how I want. Everything is adjustable: the time, the exercises, and the music.

I try to add cardio after every couple of strength exercises to keep my heart rate up. For example, on Sundays we do jumping jacks, use a jump rope, and ride a stationary bike. On other days, my cardio exercises might include burpees, zumba, or mountain climbers.

For arm exercises, we use bands and weights.

📋 This is the base of our Sunday workout routine:

• Jump rope

• External rotation with resistance bands

• Stationary bike

• Shoulders with resistance bands

• Monster walk with resistance band

• Slant board

• Hamstring curls with bands

• Jumping jacks

• Abs

• Superman

• Tricep dips

• Ab ball

For abs, we have an ab ball, ab roller, and a Pilates mini ball. I usually use the Pilates ball while my husband uses the ab roller.

For leg exercises, we use bands, a balance board, and a slant board.

My leg exercises can be lunges, lateral squats, sumo squats, balance board squats, thigh raises, curtsy lunges, deadlifts, and clams.

Many of these are PT exercises that my physiotherapists have taught me. You can find them here:

https://scandyandhandy.com/blog-en/fitness/my-pt-exercises

My husband has modified his workout slightly. He uses weights and does push-ups. He recently had an injury on his toe, so now he uses the stationary bike for every cardio station. As you can see, it doesn’t really matter if you do different exercises than your partner, as long as you both know how many stations there are and what the correct order is. The main thing is to exercise together.

Oh, and going back to my mom — she still does circuit training too, but now she does it at the gym with a coach and her sister.

“Your body is your temple. You do your body good, your body will do you good.”

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“Your body is your temple. You do your body good, your body will do you good.” 〰️