My SIL and I had to change our normally scheduled long run to yesterday afternoon (glad that’s over!) which means today is my cross-training day. Circuit training is almost always my top choice for these non-running days.

I am a huge proponent of circuit training. The combination of muscle building and cardio allows a person with a busy schedule to fit in all the right moves to maximize calorie burn. This 20 minute workout from Fitness Magazine requires only a set of dumbbells. The designer of this workout, Michele Olsen, PhD from Auburn University says this:

“Not only will you burn close to double the calories — 171 versus 96 — in less time,” says Olson, “but you’ll also firm everything from shoulders to calves, so you can check off your sculpting session, too.”

This workout also has video clips to show you a complete set of each move so you can be sure you are completing each exercise correctly.

You know you can find 20 minutes either today or tomorrow to give this a try. It’s a great way to get started on a workout program, or a 20 minute fix for blasting away these 150 calorie Halloween candy treats (and then you find that you ask yourself, “Are these treats really worth an intense 20 minute workout?”):

• 3 York Peppermint Patties- 150 calories, 3 grams fat

• 6 Dum-Dum Pops- 150 calories, 0 grams fat

• 3 treat size boxes of Nerds- 150 calories, 0 grams of fat

• 6 rolls of Smarties- 150 calories, 0 grams of fat

• 6, 3 Musketeers- 146 calories, 4 grams of fat

• 2 fun size packs of milk chocolate M&M’s- 147 calories, 7 grams of fat

• 3 mini Twix- 150 calories, 8 grams of fat

• 7 Hershey Kisses- 156 calories, 9 grams of fat

• 5 snack size Twizzlers strawberry twists- 150 calories, 1 gram of fat

From Shape Magazine, October issue