HIIT Workout is all the rage from everyone at the local gyms to the professional athletes.
The beauty of these workouts is that they can be done anywhere and everywhere, with little to no gym equipment. HIIT stands for high-intensity interval training, it is a training technique in which you give all-out, one hundred percent effort through quick, intense bursts of exercise, followed by short, sometimes active, recovery periods.
These exercises increase your metabolism meaning you burn more calories, lose more fat, and improve your cardiovascular fitness level in a short period of time. HIIT trains and conditions both your anaerobic and aerobic energy systems ensuring an all over body workout both cardiovascular and muscular. To get the benefits HIIT, you need to push yourself past the upper end of your aerobic zone and allow your body to replenish your anaerobic energy system during the recovery intervals. That means you work really really hard (harder than you want), but it is for short burst of time. You get a few minutes to recover, letting your heart rate drop a bit, and then you repeat. Remember your intervals involve maximum effort, not simply a higher heart rate.
Before starting any HIIT program, you should be able to exercise for at least 20-30 minutes at 70-85% of your estimated maximum heart rate, without exhausting yourself or having problems. Because HIIT is physically demanding, it’s important to gradually build up your training program so that you don’t overdo it. I offer a few variations of certain exercise based on where you are on your fitness level. If you are new to this, and you need more than 2 minutes of rest in between sets, by all means, take more, but don’t wait too long (no more than 4 minutes) because the working sets will be harder on you the lower you let your heart rate drop.
Save the graphic to your phone to pull up for a reference later.
Please let me know what you think of the workout, I would love to hear from you.
HIIT Workout Week 1
- 50 jump rope or jumping jacks
- 10 Push ups
- 10 plank punches
- 10 knee to elbow (each side)
- 50 jump rope or jumping jacks
- 10 squat jumps (with big arm swings)
- 10 lunge jumps
- 10 burpees
- 50 jump rope or jumping jacks
- 10 side planks with rotation
- 10 sitting twists
- 10 flutter kicks
- 2-minute rest
- Beginner: Repeat set three times
- Advanced: Repeat set five times.
Don’t miss these awesome HIIT workouts:
HIIT IT WORKOUT WEEK 2 {video}
HIIT IT WORKOUT WEEK 3 {video}
HIIT IT WORKOUT WEEK 4 {video}
5 Resistance Band Exercises for Your Lower Body
5 Resistance Band Exercises
HIIT Workout Bicep, Tricep and Shoulder
Mushroom Snow Pea Stir Fry
HIIT is a great way to mix up training for a race!
I am new to HIIT and I think this is totally something I would love to do regularly. I tend to get bored too easily with regular exercise routines. Do you have anything past Week 1? I would love to continue and progress.
Hi Kati, I plan on releasing a new workout each week going forward.
I do have two HIIT treadmill workouts on the blog.
http://ahealthylifeforme.com/52-weeks-of-health-and-fitness-tips-9/
http://ahealthylifeforme.com/52-tips-for-health-and-fitness-success-11/
Thanks for your interest. xx Amy
How Many times a week should you do these exercises? Once? Three times? Everyday?
Jacqueline,
It depends on your workout schedule and your fitness level. I do HIIT four times a week, mixing it in with my strength training. If you are just getting back into working out, try it one day a week and see how you feel. You should be a bit sore the day or two after, that means you are doing it right. If you feel like you have the energy shoot for several days a week. But be ready to be addicted, you have a great sense of accomplish once you are finished. xx Amy
Thank you Amy. I am getting back into working out and have been looking for non-gym workouts to help whoop me back into shape. Thank you for providing this information! 🙂
-Jacqueline
Do you happen to know how many calories each workout burns? I have this app that counts my calories through the day including what I burn during exercise,. The only downfall is that it goes by minutes so it would be hard to determine week 1-4 of H.I.I.T. without doing each exercise individually.
Kate,
Calories burn really depends on the person, such as weight, age, fitness level, etc. However in the full twenty minutes of these routines, a person could burn between 9-13 calories a minutes. During the actual HIIT part of the workout, a person likely burns more along the lines of 12-16 calories a minute.
Aside from the calories burned while you are actually working out, it’s important to remember one of the biggest benefits of a high intensity interval workout like this one; long after you are finished working out, your caloric burn remains higher as your metabolism tries to restore your body to its normal physical and chemical resting state after the “disturbance” that you cause in your system’s preferred balance.
Hope that helps, Amy
How often a week should I do this???
Hi Michelle, You can do this once and I have posted three other HIIT workouts that focus on different parts of the body. You can do each one a week for four workouts, or however many you feel comfortable with. Thanks for stopping over.
Hi Amy,
Thank you for the great workout! I am new to HIIT, how many times a week do you perform the HIIT workout?
Thanks,
Jessica
Hi Jessica, I perform a HIIT style workout 4-5 times a week. I have four total HIIT workouts here on my blog, plus two treadmill workouts. You can mix then how every you like, alternating between workouts. Enjoy! Amy
I did this workout today for the first time and loved it! Thanks 🙂
That is awesome Kelly. You might like the other 3 HIIT workouts, alternating them throughout the week. Thanks so much for letting me know you loved it! xo
Today was day 1 of my HIIT workout routine, and it kicked my butt!!! I’ve been working out hard and regularly for almost 3 months now and thought I was in better shape, so glad I found your website! I did the 4th set out of spite so I didn’t have to tell myself I’m a beginner. Thanks for all the advice and workouts. Do you have any tredmil workouts where you just do speed intervals instead of stopping it and doing lunges and such?
Hi Alicia,
I am so thrilled you liked the workout. It is an awesome way to kick butt and get in shape, and you feel so proud of yourself when you finish! I am working on interval training workouts, that will come out in a few weeks. Keep your eye out for them 🙂 Keep working hard!
Amy
Ha! I love the dogs. Thank you for the video, I am a runner but want to add in some Hiit, didnt know what most of these were until now.
Thanks Nichoe, those doggies are so rotten, but I love them. I use to run like a crazy girl, but since doing HIIT my cardio base has gotten so much more efficent. Enjoy!
Hey! I ran across your website from a pin I found on Pinterest. I have been working out on my elliptical and eating a very healthy diet for 3 weeks now but haven’t lost a single pound. I thought I may need to add more exercise to my routine. Someone was telling me about HIIT and started looking around. Would it be best to do the elliptical and HIIT on the same day or should I split them up? Any advice or tips you may have would be great. Just ready to start seeing a change!
Thanks!
Christina
Hi Christina,
Sorry to hear that you are struggling. I don’t know your fitness level, but I would suggest doing the HIIT seperate from your elliptical days. If you are not too sore or exhausted double up your workouts. You might also consider investing in a heart rate monitor to ensure that you are getting your heart rate in that aerobic zone to burn fat. Hope this helps, Amy
Hey!! I’m very new to HIIT. I’ve been in great shape after my second baby, but my third is 7months and I’m just getting back into things. I’ve only done this work out for two days, 3 sets, and my wrists are killing me! I’m not overweight (5’9 155lbs), so I’m wondering if this is normal with all the plank formations in there? Also, I know the “knee to elbow” says both sides, but what about the plank punches, lunge jumps, sitting twists and flutter kicks? I’ve been doing 10each side anyways, but wanted to make sure. Thanks!!
Sorry to hear about your wrists Amanda. I would definitely take a break from the workout, you should not have sore wrists, but with that being said, I have very little flexibility with my wrists and have to do exercises to loosen them up. Here is a link to stretching to help with wrist mobility and pain http://breakingmuscle.com/yoga/3-stretches-to-help-achy-wrists-and-prevent-carpal-tunnel. I would not recommend you doing this at all if your wrist is sore, and once the pain goes away, try it just once a week, mixing it in with other HIIT workouts. Yes you should do punches, jumps, twist and kicks 10 each side. Hope you are feeling better soon.
Is it ok to work out one part of your body for a week? I was thinking of doing week one monday, week two tuesday, …etc. for a switch up during the week.
Candice,
Yes, I would alternate and do the different workouts in a row. You do not want to do the same workout days in a row, it could lead to an injury.
I am curious, if I follow your week one, where can I fit in my weigh training? Or should one not weight train while doing HIIT? Also, can you do both in the same day? HIIT and weight training??
Thank you
Zuleyka,
It depends on your fitness level and your what you are doing as your weight training. I do HIIT workouts with my weight training, because I enjoy getting it done all together, but you can definitely alternate and do weight one day, HIIT the next.