Lately I've been throwing in mini-full-body circuits at the end of some of my clients' workouts; they're a great way to squeeze in a final coup de grace in five minutes.  They're also a great option if you're short on time, or if you want to do a cardio workout but would sooner eat broken glass than get on the treadmill again. 

(Here's a great option, demonstrated by 'Underground' Strength Coach Zach Even-Esh).

There are lots of ways to build these little circuits but I go by a few simple guidelines:

1)  Choose 4-6 exercises that you can perform in a circuit.  The less equipment the better.  Put everything all together so you're not running across the gym to get from one station to the next.

2)  Choose 1-2 upper-body moves and/or core moves, 1-2 lower-body moves, and one "finisher" move that creates a high metabolic demand (examples of each are below).

3)  Arrange the exercise stations so that you are alternating upper body/core with lower body/finisher movements.

4)  Perform 20 or 30 seconds of each movement in sequence, going as hard and fast as you can for the entire time.  Rest 10-15 seconds and proceed to the next station. 

5)  Depending on your fitness level, go for anywhere from 4-8 minutes at this pace.  Then take a break.  If you've done it right, this should be about all you can do, but if you're feeling saucy, you can try going through the sequence, or creating a different sequence, up to five times total.  Once you've grooved the movements properly, there should be no sense that you are pacing yourself--it should be all-out the whole time.     

GOOD CIRCUIT EXERCISE OPTIONS:

Upper Body:  Pushups, Reverse Pushups (aka inverted pushups), Alternate Curl and Press, Explosive Pushups/Pushups with feet or hands elevated, Horizontal Ladder (monkey bars; you can also go hand-over-hand from one end to the other on a chinup bar), Med-Ball throwdowns, Med-Ball wall throws, Med-ball overhead passes against a wall

Core:  Bus Drivers, Plank variations (alternate leg lifts, side plank, side plank with upper-body twist), Farmer's Walk variations (one-arm overhead, two arm overhead with barbell or dumbbell), leg-lift holds, lying ball-pass

Lower Body:  Lunge variations (walking, static, dynamic, warrior-style (back leg straight), Bulgarian, overhead), body-weight squat variations (partials, overhead, heels elevated, jumping, isometric holds), plyometric jumps (side to side, up onto platforms of various heights, two leg, one leg). 

Finishers:  Jump rope variations (working up to double unders), sprawls, squat thrust, shuttle run between cones, bear crawl, crab walk.

If you're doing single-limb movements, you have a number of options:  either alternate sides each rep, do one side for one round and one side for the next round, or do one side for half a round and the other side for the second half. 

So one possible sequence might be:  warrior lunge R, warrior lunge L, reverse pushup, body-weight squat, pushup, shuttle run. 

Although I said you should be all-out the whole time, the above sequence will definitely slow you down once you've gone through it a time or two.  The goal is to be pushing at your top effort level throughout, whatever that might be.

Keep a bucket handy.  Have fun. 

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Here's an article I wrote for Experience Life magazine, which is the best fitness publication you're not reading.  The article's on core training, and though I wrote it some months ago, I still agree with myself.