Can you lose weight doing the Planet Fitness 30-minute circuit?

What is the Planet Fitness 30 minute circuit? The Planet Fitness circuit is an exercise program that involves both strength and cardiovascular training. The circuit consists of 10 strength machines and 10 cardio step stations. You exercise along with the green and red light traffic light that is situated above in the sectioned off circuit area. 

You can start anywhere on the circuit where you wish. For example, if you start on the strength equipment, you begin exercising when the traffic light turns green for about a minute and you stop when the light turns red. The rest or transition time is 30 seconds. Red means it is time to transition the cardio step station. When the light turns green again, then you step up and down on the step platform for one minute and so forth and so on. In 30 minutes, you would have a completed full-body workout.

According to the Planet Fitness guidelines, you are only supposed to do 12 repetitions on the strength equipment. Doing this will leave you enough time to wipe the equipment down before the minute is up. If you want to do more reps, it would be best to bring your own wipes so you don't have to run and get the spray bottle.

I wrote a post about variations you can do with the Planet Fitness circuit in case your body hits a weight loss or strength plateau. Check out my variations post here: Planet Fitness Circuit Variations

What machines are in the 30-minute circuit at Planet Fitness? The strength machines in the circuit have both lower body, upper body, and one abdominal machine. They have a chest press, back row, lat pulldown, shoulder press, biceps curl, tricep press, leg extension, leg curl, leg press, and abdominal crunch machine. 

How many calories can you burn doing the 30-minute Planet Fitness circuit? You can burn from 200 calories up to 700 calories per 30-minute session depending upon your weight and your speed on the stepping stations. A 120-pound person will burn fewer calories than a 190-pound person. Also, if your stepping speed on the step station is 70 steps for the minute, a person stepping 100 steps is going to burn more calories. The best way to track your caloric burn would be with a fitness tracker and even then it is an estimate.

Can you lose weight doing the planet fitness 30-minute circuit? Yes, you can lose weight from doing the circuit if you do the program at least three days a week. To accelerate your weight loss, it would be better to do the circuit three days a week and add a cardio workout two times a week. 

The pros and cons of doing the Planet Fitness 30-minute workout? The pros; it is simple to do and you can be in and out of the club in 45 minutes or less. Cons and this is my biggest gripe; people will wander over to the circuit and not follow the program and sit on a piece of equipment for a while. Sometimes you have to ask them if you can jump in for one minute to perform your reps. 

Are you a member of Planet Fitness? Have you ever done the 30-minute circuit?


  1. I have started doing the 30 minute circuit at planet fitness.

  2. I recently started PF and I like it so far. I have already exp the random person that comes in too.


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