Total Body Toning Circuit With Kathy Smith

This video is part of the 30-Day Couch-to-Fit Challenge designed to help you improve strength, cardio, balance and flexibility. Start the challenge here: aarp.org/CouchToFit

This 10-minute total body circuit with fitness expert Kathy Smith combines strength training and cardio in the comfort of your own home.

Key takeaways

• Jump-start your routine with Kathy Smith’’s 10-minute total body toning circuit at home.
• Personalize workouts using light hand weights or household items, with expert form tips from Kathy.
• Boost energy, strength and heart health by consistently following Kathy Smith’s balanced, effective circuit.

Summary

A 10-minute total body toning circuit can jump-start your fitness routine by blending strength training and cardio for a complete workout at home. Fitness expert Kathy Smith guides you through accessible moves using light hand weights — or even everyday household items like soup cans — so everyone can personalize the workout to their fitness level. This total body workout circuit combines deep breathing, dynamic cardio, and targeted strength exercises for both upper and lower body, helping burn calories, build muscle and boost energy in a short amount of time.

Consistency with total body toning routines like this one not only improves strength and mobility but also supports healthy weight management and heart health. Kathy Smith’s expert tips on form and modifications ensure each movement is safe and effective, making it easy for anyone to fit more exercise into their day. No matter your starting point, this circuit offers a fast, balanced approach to feeling stronger and more energized.

The key takeaways and summary were created with the assistance of generative AI. An AARP editor reviewed and refined the content for accuracy and clarity.

Full Transcript:

[00:00:00] ♪ music playing ♪ [AARP'’S GET MOVING! WHEREVER YOU GO] [10-MINUTE TOTAL BODY TONING CIRCUIT WITH FITNESS EXPERT KATHY SMITH]

[00:00:06] >>Kathy Smith: Hi, I’m Kathy Smith. And this is total-body circuit. So it’s a combination of strength training and cardio.

[00:00:11] Strength training for the upper and lower body, and cardio to really burn lots of calories. You’re going to need some weights.

[00:00:18] I’m using 5 pounds today. So 3s, 5s, whatever is comfortable for your fitness level.

[00:00:23] By the way, if you don’t have weights, don’t worry about it, because you can get some soup cans or an extra set of beans you have around the house right now to

[00:00:32] use for your weights. Also, make sure you have some space, and make sure that you personalize the workout.

[00:00:39] If you want to stop it, if you want to pause it, if you want to rewind it, this is your workout today. So make sure you do what’s right for your body.

[00:00:46] If you’re ready, we’re going to get started with some deep breathing. I always warm up with a few breaths.

[00:00:52] So inhale up. And exhale out.

[00:00:58] Now each time I inhale, I let my diaphragm go. I fill up my lungs. And then I exhale.

[00:01:05] And I’m trying to breathe in and out through my nose. 4 counts to get it up and inhale. And 4 counts to let it go.

[00:01:13] Just give me 2 more like that.

[00:01:19] And give me the last one. This one, really lift up and think, lifting tall, reaching those arms to the ceiling.

[00:01:26] And then letting it all go. And now let’s start with the first cardio. We’re going to walk it out.

[00:01:32] Just start marching in place. Each of these segments are going to be about a minute. We’re going to alternate back and forth, like I said.

[00:01:40] You’re just going to get your legs moving here, alternating with your arms. And the more energy you’ve got,

[00:01:45] if it’s morning time, and you’re starting a little slow, that’s fine. But I want you to think about that posture.

[00:01:51] Lift tall. Lift up the ribcage. And now just going to do the same left, right, but we’re going to do a little foot pattern.

[00:01:58] It looks like this. It’s right and back. And right and back. We’re just pumping like this.

[00:02:05] Keep it going. Give me 4 more on this side. 3 more.

[00:02:12] 2 more. Come back to center. OK, let’s hold it.

[00:02:17] And now let’s switch sides. It’s the left. Pull it back, just warming up that body.

[00:02:23] Get that breath going. Deep breaths. Make the movement a little bigger. Sink down a little further.

[00:02:29] OK, let’s start to give me just 2 more here. Time for our first strength training move.

[00:02:35] Pick up your weights. What I want to do is a 1-arm row with a tricep kickback.

[00:02:40] So support yourself on a chair. Back is long. Drop the arm from the shoulder. And now pull it up and down.

[00:02:47] We’re just going to do 4 like this. And then, we’re going to put a combination together. You’re pulling the arm up, extending back,

[00:02:56] making sure the elbow is high. Then dropping it down. Up, extend back, and down.

[00:03:01] Now notice a couple things here. I’m bending through my hips, not through my waist.

[00:03:08] I have a nice, neutral spine. I’m not rounding. I’m pulling up. I’m extending back and dropping down.

[00:03:16] Up, back and down. A couple form, technique, little tips here.

[00:03:23] I don’t have — this shoulder is not up here. I have it pulled back and down, which means I have a long neck.

[00:03:33] I’m keeping my neck in line with the rest of my spine. Give me 2 more like that. Last one.

[00:03:39] OK, let’s get back to the cardio. Here we go. Now we’re going to go to heel digs. Heel digs are just like this.

[00:03:45] Now we’re starting to get into this a little bit. So depending on your energy level, you can keep it here.

[00:03:50] If you’ve got a lot of energy, you can hop it. Hop it. Hop it.

[00:03:56] Hop it.. Otherwise, keep the heel digs right here. Give me 4 more like that. 3 more.

[00:04:02] We’re going to take it into a hamstring curl. Looks like this. Kick, hamstring curls. And what this means is I’m just kicking that heel behind me.

[00:04:09] If you want to add some arm, you can just bring it up and down. And 4, 3.

[00:04:15] Let’s put those together. Give me those heel digs. And push it. We just got 8 of these. How about 4 more?

[00:04:21] Right here. Pull and push. 3, 2, and 1. Now give me the heel dig back and forth.

[00:04:29] Uh-huh. Energy picking up. Starting to feel that blood flowing.

[00:04:34] Almost done with this minute of cardio. We’re going to go right to strength training on the other

[00:04:40] side, picking up your weights. I’m going to go over here. And now I’m going to take it over to my chair.

[00:04:49] Just to make sure I’m facing you, I’m going to come to this side. You can use, obviously, the same chair. Remember, we did 4 here.

[00:04:56] And what was the whole point here? It was to make sure that we’re keeping the elbow high as we

[00:05:02] extend back and lower down. This is back, tricep, down. Back, tricep, down.

[00:05:11] Back, extend and down. Back, extend it a little higher and down.

[00:05:17] You should be feeling it right through your rhomboids and your back. And then the tricep, which is the back of your arm,

00:05:24] as you lower down. You want to hold it for an extra second at the top, you get that isometric contraction.

[00:05:30] And you can really feel those muscles working. OK, we just have 3 more right here.

[00:05:35] 2 more. Just 1 more. Let’s come back for that cardio.

[00:05:42] OK, here we go. We’re going to go into knee lifts. What I want you to do, make sure your weights are out of the way.

[00:05:47] Pick up those knees. This is something that you should do depending on your

[00:05:54] fitness level. You can keep it low, like this. Or you can bring it high.

[00:05:59] And then, let’s add some arms. Opposite arm, opposite leg, pulling it down. Get those knees up there.

[00:06:07] Come across the body. Start to twist it. Side to side.

[00:06:13] Now, give me 2 on 1 side. Hold for 2. Other side, hold for 2.

[00:06:19] And 2s again. And 2s again. Give me 4 more like this.

[00:06:25] 3 more. Just 2 more. We’re going to go back to singles.

[00:06:31] Here we go. It’s 8, 7, 6. Big arms. Lift tall. 3, 2, 1.

[00:06:38] Just bring it center now. Bring it center. We’re going to finish off our cardio with 8 right here,

[00:06:45] 8 forward. Pull, using the abdominals. Each time you exhale, pull those abdominals in.

[00:06:51] Give me 3, 2 and 1. OK, pick up your weights.

[00:06:56] I have to go to both sides. I’m breathing. I bet you are, too. Woo! I love this workout. It goes so quickly and you work everything.

[00:07:03] Bicep curls. Weights are by your side. Now I lift and I lower.

[00:07:10] Lift and lower. Let me give you a couple of tips here. Notice my elbows not floating forward or floating back.

[00:07:18] It’s right by my side. And I control movement up and down. We’re now working the front of the arm.

[00:07:25] And just give me 4 more like that. Control both ways.

[00:07:31] We’re going to get a little pattern going here. Now this time, I want you to bring it halfway up and just pulse.

[00:07:36] 1, 2, 3, and 4. Take it up, down. Up and down.

[00:07:43] Again, pulse, 2, 3 and 4. Take it up, down.

[00:07:48] Contract that muscle. 2 more sets. 1, 2, 3, 4.

[00:07:53] Take it up, down, up. Last set. 1, 2, 3, 4.

[00:08:01] Take it up, down. OK, ready to finish off with 4 singles. All the way up and down. Make it count now.

[00:08:07] This is it. Last 2. Put those weights down, and let’s go to the cardio.

[00:08:13] Cardio now is going to be a tap side to side. I love this one. It makes me feel like I’m speed skating a little bit.

[00:08:21] Side to side. And what you can do is just get those arms swinging, whatever feels comfortable. There’s no right arm here.

[00:08:28] It’s just like, oh, I feel good. You’re in your living room. Do whatever arm you want. And now, if you want, take one of those legs behind as you step

[00:08:36] back. This is a little more advanced. You can stick to where you were, or one leg goes behind.

[00:08:42] Side to side. And OK, want me to give you the really next advanced one that

[00:08:49] you can work up to? Give it a little hop. Give it a little hop. That’ll get that heart rate up there.

[00:08:56] Remember it’s your workout. Go at your pace. If you want to be right here, that’s fine.

[00:09:02] No arms? That’s fine, too. But let’s push it. We’re going for the last 5 seconds here.

[00:09:08] 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1.

[00:09:15] OK, now it’s time to go into a squat with an overhead press.

[00:09:22] Try this with or without the weights. If you have any shoulder issues, don’t worry about the weights.

[00:09:27] It’s a compound movement. We’re going to drop it down. I’m going to do a minisquat to begin with. Weight comes up and overhead.

[00:09:34] Now notice the overhead. I’m making sure that it’s in front, not behind me.

[00:09:39] And as I come over it — now as I said, you can do this with no weights. Or if that shoulder doesn’t feel right, you can press it forward.

[00:09:47] Or you can just eliminate any of that upper body, and just keep it here.

[00:09:53] Now, I want you to sink a little further back into that squat. Notice when I sink back, my shoulders are going slightly

[00:09:59] forward. And let’s put this together. Overhead.

[00:10:05] I love this move because it is functional. It’s one of the things that we have to practice, sitting in chairs, sitting in cars.

[00:10:12] And at the same time, it’s compound. It’s upper and lower.

[00:10:18] The squat, that burns lots of calories. You get more for every minute you work out,

[00:10:24] every second you work out. Just 2 more. You can do it. Last one.

[00:10:30] Press it over. OK, I think, if I’m timing right, this is our last cardio.

[00:10:36] OK, what I want you to do is simple, out, out. Just press it out.

[00:10:43] Press it out. OK, let’s change the arms.

[00:10:49] And arm. And arm. And arm.

[00:10:55] Now walk it 1, 2, 3, tap. 1, 2, 3 and tap. 2, 3 and tap.

[00:11:02] And tap. Go low. Press it down.

[00:11:07] Take this into a crossover, kind of like a grapevine. It’s 1, 2, 3, push.

[00:11:14] 1, 2, push. 1, 2, 3, punch it.

[00:11:20] Just give me 2 more like this. Last one. Come back to center.

[00:11:25] And just side to side. Side to side. OK, you ready for the last toning exercise?

[00:11:32] What I want you to do is go into a plié. Plié is wider, not that turned out.

[00:11:37] Knees are over the toes. And it’s down and up. What I love about this, we’re finishing off with some lower

[00:11:44] body, inner thigh, outer thigh, glute. Just down and up. Now, give me 4 more like this,

[00:11:53] making sure the knees are going over the toes. Making sure you’re dropping down to a level that’s comfortable

[00:11:59] for you. But you want to be right here. And by the way, you can be holding on to a chair or a

[00:12:05] counter or anything for stability. Let’s take it down and out, and just pulse it.

[00:12:11] 1, 2, 3, 4. Come on up. Take it down, and pulse.

[00:12:17] 2, 3, 4. Come on up. If you need the chair for stability,

[00:12:22] you should just have it by you during this workout, because you can pull it in at any time.

[00:12:29] OK, we just have 2 more like this. 2, 3, a little lower. 1, 2, knees are back, squeezing up, 4.

[00:12:38] Let’s finish it off with 1 and 2 and 3.

[00:12:43] Woo, we did it! Yee-haw! OK, good job. That was about a 10-minute workout.

[00:12:50] I think I might have gone over just a couple seconds. But that, once again, total body.

[00:12:56] What a great way to get exercise into your day and fit something in that works everything in your body.

[00:13:03] Hope you have a great day. And I can’t wait to see you next time. [AARP REAL POSSIBILITES]