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Try circuit training to get or keep you fit when you’re short of workout time.

Circuit training consists of going quickly from one exercise to another for an extended period of time, say 20 minutes. It is promoted as giving both strength and aerobic training in the same workout. It does that, but you compromise both. The strength aspect is not as effective as a dedicated strength workout, and the aerobic benefits are less than with strict aerobic training. Nevertheless, circuit training does have its place. For one thing, if your schedule is so tight you will not have the time to do both aerobic and strength workouts, you can at least get some of the benefits of each. Or, you can use it as a change of pace, or because it is fun. It will also keep you in shape if you’re spending most of your exercise time on a seasonal sport. There are ways to make circuit training more effective. If you want to do circuits, home training is ideal. At the gym, you may find someone sitting on the machine you need to use next, which breaks your rhythm and disrupts your circuit. At home, you just sail through.

For circuit training, use a weight that is about 60% of 1RM (the weight you can lift only once) for a given exercise. Do exercise 1 for about 45 seconds, take about 15 seconds to set up for exercise 2, then continue. Although the weight is light, you still need to take 3-5 seconds per repetition, so that you will do about 10-15 reps before moving on. Rotate body parts so you won’t overwork a particular muscle. A typical circuit would be: bench press (for chest), row or pulldown (back), squat (legs), military press (shoulders), biceps curl, triceps kickback, calf raises, ab crunches. Rest a minute and do another circuit. With a 3-minute warm-up (jog in place, climb stairs, jump rope) and a couple minutes stretching at the end, you have a good over-all workout in 25 minutes.

If you want to emphasize the cardio aspect, you can do super circuits, which involves doing cardio intervals in between exercises. Expand the period between exercises to 30 seconds, or even 60, and use that time to do cardio exercise. A stationary bike is the best to use for this, because it doesn’t usually require a lot of programming of the equipment. You could use a treadmill, if you keep it running, and if you are sure you can get on and off safely. Or, of course, you can run in place, go up and down an interior staircase, jump rope (a good cardio exercise), or even bounce on a rebounder.

Want more lower body or just heavier weight workouts? Do something like this: squats, bench press, bentover row, lunges, incline press, pull-ups, for one minute each, for your circuit.

If you have more time, you can do a third set. Two circuit workouts a week is good, but three would be better. Don’t do these two days in a row.