For October’s workout of the month I would like to reintroduce body weight (BW) workouts. Body weight workouts are some of the most effective, time efficient, yet underrated workouts out there….until recently!

Using your own body weight as resistance in your conditioning program is highly effective. When you perform multi jointed, whole body movements, such as a squat, you increase the caloric expenditure of the activity and rev up your fat burning engine!

The other great benefit of BW exercise is that it can be done anywhere, anytime. Are you a busy Mom or Dad? Have a demanding full time job? Just don’t have hours to spend at the gym each day? Join the club.

BW routines can be done at home with absolutely no equipment. They can be performed in the morning before the rest of the family wakes up, after the kids go to bed, or any other small amount of time you can squeeze them in. There are virtually no excuses for not being able to fit activity in your life when you can do body weight workouts at home, anytime.

Do BW exercises in a circuit style fashion and you get a tremendous cardio workout, strength routine and fat loss workout all in one.

Give this routine a shot:

Warm up and stretch 5-10 minutes

Perform the following exercises with no rest in between each one:

Jumping jacks — 30 sec Prisoner squats — 12 Push ups or kneeling push ups — 8 Mountain climbers — 8 each side High knees running in place — 30 sec Reverse lunges — 8 each leg Close grip pushups — 8 Plank — 30 sec Squat thrusts — 10

Rest 1-2 minutes and repeat 1-2 x.

Try working up to performing this circuit for 20 minutes. Once you can achieve that time, try increasing the number of times you go through the circuit in 20 minutes.