Cap off the set with 20 seconds of rest. Equipment: 1 kettlebell. How to do it: Stand tall, holding the kettlebell handle with both hands. Keeping arms long, squeeze shoulder blades together, widen your chest, and engage your abs.

Soften knees, shift weight into heels, and drop your bum down and back. Aim for chest height. Remember to keep squeezing your glutes and core!

When the kettlebell falls downward, follow its movement, bending at your hips as you engage your hamstrings. Let the kettlebell drop back down between your thighs. Complete 20 seconds of kettlebell swings followed by 60 seconds of rest. Pro tip: Form is everything. Check out our detailed guide to nailing the kettlebell swing.

Equipment: 2 dumbbells or kettlebells. How to do it: Stand tall, holding a dumbbell in each hand at shoulder height. Make sure your feet line up with your hips. Squat like you mean it while holding the weights in place. As you stand back up, lift the weights straight up into an overhead press.

Bring the weights back to your shoulders and repeat. Repeat the move for up to 60 seconds, followed by a second rest. Pro tip: Keep your movements as fluid as possible. How to do it: Stand with knees slightly bent, holding a dumbbell in each hand.

Hinge torso forward while keeping your back straight and flat. Pull the weights up while keeping elbows glued to your sides. At the top of the movement, pause for a moment and squeeze your shoulder blades together.

Bring the weights back down gradually — with control! Repeat the move for 20 seconds, then rest for 60 seconds. Using one hand at a time, drive back up into a high plank. Continue alternating arms. How to do it: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart and hands at chest level.

Sink into a squat, then jump powerfully up, aiming for the ceiling. As you land, drop fluidly back into a squat. Complete 30 seconds of relentless jump squatting followed by 30 seconds of rest.

You earned it! How to do it: Stand up with feet together and knees soft. Jump one foot forward and one foot back into a lunge.

Push up out of both feet and jump, switching the positions of your feet in midair. Continue switching feet with each rep. Lift right knee toward chest, then hop it down as you bring left knee toward chest.

March it out! Do as many high knees as you can in 30 seconds, followed by a few seconds of rest. How to do it: Start standing with feet shoulder-width apart. Take a breath before walking hands back to feet. Beginners should do the move for 20 seconds followed by 60 seconds of rest.

Intermediate peeps? Up it to 30 or 45 seconds before resting. How to do it: Start standing with feet a little wider than shoulder-width apart and arms at your sides. Hop to the right with your right foot and sweep left foot behind right leg.

Swing arms in front of right knee as you shift to the side in a skating motion. Immediately jump to the left with your left foot, letting right foot sweep behind left leg. Continue alternating sides. Variety is the spice of life — and your workouts.

HIIT routines can incorporate bodyweight movements, TRX training , running , and weights. Just remember to keep safety first. HIIT is meant to be a hella short cardio routine that brings you to complete, utter exhaustion.

Frequency: You can safely do HIIT 2—3 times per week. Variety: Of course, daily movement is the bomb for both physical and mental health. So try an easy walk, bike ride , or yoga flow on the days without a structured workout.

Intensity: You choose which HIIT ratios make sense for your current skill level. Ideal intervals are 20—60 seconds long never minutes long! Try this full-body HIIT circuit with 30 seconds per move, followed by 10 seconds of rest between moves. Aim to do 6 circuits. And remember, you can adjust the times as needed.

Mix up your moves often to ensure a total-body burn. As you improve, work to squeeze in even more reps per interval. Need some motivating jams to keep the energy high during your next HIIT workout? Check out this ideal track playlist which will keep you sweating….

Forget the HIIT lovers you see at the gym who are all kinds of fitspo. Interval training is super effective for fat burning and muscle building. Here are some apps that can help.

Here are the classic Tabata moves to get familiar with this style of HIIT exercise, plus variations and a creative workout to pull it all together. Stuck indoors? Us too.

HIIT stands for "High Intensity Interval Training" which makes one of the most popular phrases used to describe it, "HIIT training," totally redundant. You shouldn't necessarily think about HIIT as being any one style of exercise, like running or weight lifting. Instead, HIIT is more of a framework, through which trainers can build out different routines depending on the equipment on hand, the experience of the participants, and the amount of time and level of difficulty desired.

One consistent thread through any HIIT program, however, is that workouts are composed of short periods of intense work, then a subsequent period of rest or active recovery. To be most effective, "Intensity" is the most important part of the HIIT equation—participants should be working near or at peak effort during the intervals, then backing off during the breaks.

Since this high level of effort can pump up the heart rate, some trainees use HIIT protocols as the cardio component of their exercise routines instead of low intensity steady state training, LISS like long runs or cycling. What's Most Important for HIIT Workouts.

Again, HIIT stands for high-intensity interval training, which refers to the short bursts of intense exercise alternated with low-intensity recovery periods that make up the protocol.

HIIT is quick and anything but boring, as its exacting work-to-rest ratios make it arguably the most time-efficient way to exercise and burn calories.

You can use the HIIT protocol to build your entire workout, or apply it to just a few sets to create super-charged finishers. However you do it, what makes HIIT work is the intensity.

Work-to-rest ratio is frequently brought in when discussing HIIT, and there are several accepted ratios you should consider. The key to making HIIT work: The intensity. The protocol is designed to give you chances to go hard, so you need to take advantage of those chances.

Instead of 15 to second intervals executed at near percent intensity, intervals of one to three minutes at closer to 80 percent of maximum effort, followed by up to five minutes of lower intensity exercise, have also been shown effective for weight loss in sedentary populations.

In group fitness settings and among far too many trainers HIIT and "interval training" are often used interchangeably. Make no mistake: True HIIT requires you to be explosive and intense during your work period.

Basic interval training, however, minus the high-intensity aspect, is what you see most on the group fitness scene. Work periods here are typically larger than rest periods, without the consideration for the level of effort expended. The Primary Benefits of HIIT Workouts.

One review looked at 13 different studies on overweight and obese adults. It found that both HIIT and traditional moderate-intensity exercise can reduce weight and waist circumference.

Some researchers have found that HIIT increases metabolism for hours after exercise even more than jogging and weight training. This is known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption EPOC , informally called afterburn , a measurably increased rate of oxygen intake following strenuous activity.

HIIT is not just a tool to use to lean out. It can improve your overall health, too. A summary of 50 different studies found that HIIT reduces blood sugar levels. Further research shows it can reduce resting heart rate and blood pressure in overweight and obese individuals.

This intense workout template is popular enough that it's become shorthand for just about any type of boutique fitness class that features multiple exercises, different stations, and plenty of sweat. The term is bandied about so much that many people who have taken a HIIT class might not totally understand why they're pushing so hard through the stop and start nature of the protocol, either.

That doesn't stop HIIT from being a top choice for boutique gyms and fitness clubs—the workouts fit a ton of activity into a brief period, which is ideal for consumers looking for the most bang for their buck and trainers and gyms hoping to slot as many sessions into a schedule as possible.

That's fine for gyms with class slots to schedule, but if your whole fitness routine is only made up of HIIT workout sessions, you need to take a step back and reassess what you're doing.

Aiming to add muscle? HIIT can be a great tool to diversify your training, but you won't be able to make the most gains that way. And if you're taking on any more than two or three HIIT workouts a week, you're doing too much. You'll either push yourself into overtraining if you go as hard as you should be for every session, since you won't give yourself enough time to recover properly, or more likely you'll fail to reach the effort threshold the workouts are designed around.

Be smart about how and when you use HIIT. Some Ways to Do HIIT Workouts. Not necessarily. Here are some of the different types of equipment and training styles you can use as part of a HIIT protocol.

Now that you know everything to know about HIIT, here are some HIIT workouts that can keep you off the treadmill for the most part and on a far more fun path to major fat-burn.

Luckily, Ben Feiden, CFSC of Performance HQ has just the thing for you. All you need is you and a clock to get this full body burn in. Get ready to get your butt kicked by Jaimar Brown , C. Malik Fitness in this installment of our 5 Minutes of Hell series.

Grab one set of medium and one set of light dumbbells and cycle through the following five exercises for 45 seconds of work, and 15 seconds of rest for a quick and dirty full body workout. Ngo Okafor , the owner and founder of Iconoclast Fitness , and two-time Golden Gloves Championship winner goes through another installment of our 5 Minutes of Hell series designed to push you to your limits in a short amount of time.

Complete these eight exercises for 30 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest for a heart-racing HIIT workout. Erik Bartell, C. In only 5 short minutes, this workout will have you contemplating surrender.

Work through these 5 exercises for 45 seconds of work, and 15 seconds of rest. This dumbbell workout from All Out Studio 's High Power HIIT program by trainer Gerren Liles will help you to sculpt your chest, arms, and back while ramping up the pace.

You'll be toast after these 15 minutes. Close-Grip Chest Press - 30 seconds. Close-Grip Chest Press with Crunch - 45 seconds. Close-Grip Chest Press with Crunch and Leg Lowers - 75 seconds. Squat Hold - 45 seconds. Renegade Rows - 30 seconds. Weighted Walkout to Renegade Row - 45 seconds.

Weighted Walkout to Renegade Row to Knee Raise and Twist - 75 seconds. Dumbbell Over-the-Shoulder Chops - 30 seconds. Squat and Over-the-Shoulder Chops - 45 seconds. Squat Thrust and Over-the-Shoulder Chops - 75 seconds. Cooldown Stretch - 45 seconds. Nellie Barnett, CPT , packed everything you need in this quick minute workout you can do right from your living room.

Block A:.

BTW, this is the right way to do burpees. Lying on stomach, lift legs and arms off the floor, arms reaching straight in front. Squeeze back and glutes to keep legs up. Pull elbows down to waist, return to starting position, and repeat. In this part of the HIIT workout at home, step left leg out to side for a lateral lunge, keeping right leg straight.

Bring left leg up to a degree angle and hop on right leg. Repeat on each side. Lie on back with arms straight overhead. Crunch legs into your chest while lifting back off the floor.

Grab legs, balancing on your glutes. Return to starting position and repeat. Start in high plank position with shoulders over wrists. Quickly drive each knee into chest one at a time as if running. you might want to refresh your memory on how to do mountain climbers before kicking off this part of the HIIT workout at home.

Start in low plank position with feet hip-width apart. Hop feet out wider than hip-width, and then hop back to the starting position.

Keep abs tight and don't allow butt to pop up above the height of shoulders for an at-home HIIT workout routine that hurts so good. From standing position, drop hands to the floor and kick feet back to be in plank position. Hop feet back to center and return to standing.

Start in high plank position. Place right elbow under right shoulder, then left elbow under left shoulder, to be in low plank position. Make sure to keep shoulders stacked over wrists. Press back up to high plank position, starting with right arm. Repeat, rotating leading arms each time.

In this core-strengthening move of the HIIT workout at home, lie on back with hands behind head, holding head and shoulders up off the floor. Keeping legs long and straight, bring one leg into the air while the other hovers parallel to the ground.

Keep switching legs continuously. Standing with feet together, jump off the ground bringing arms and legs out so that body forms a star shape. Land with knees slightly bent, arms by knees. Want to do even more HIIT at home? Then check out this equipment-free, total-body HIIT workout routine as well as this no-jumping read: neighbor-friendly HIIT workout at home.

Use limited data to select advertising. Create profiles for personalised advertising. Use profiles to select personalised advertising. Create profiles to personalise content. Use profiles to select personalised content. Measure advertising performance. Circuit training involves exercise stations that target different muscle groups.

Participants rotate through each station, completing one exercise that lasts several minutes. HIIT can help to decrease body fat, increase strength and endurance, and improve health outcomes, but it is not necessarily better than other exercise formats. Its main appeal is that it can achieve similar fitness and health benefits in a shorter duration, and that it includes periods of rest.

People who are deconditioned, recovering from injury, elderly, have overweight, or have medical conditions should be followed and monitored closely by their physician and an exercise professional, because of the higher intensity achieved with HIIT. It has been observed that for deconditioned individuals, the intensity of HIIT is comparable to what they may encounter during activities of daily living.

The American College of Sports Medicine provides screening tools that can be used to identify risk factors using the HIIT format, to lower the risk of adverse events. Research has generally found HIIT to be a safe and enjoyable exercise for a range of ages and medical conditions.

HIIT is a well-researched exercise format, showing benefits for a range of medical conditions across a broad age range, from adolescents to older adults. It can help to improve their physical functioning, exercise tolerance, and quality of life. Although the higher intensities reached with HIIT formats may appear too difficult for people with chronic diseases, research has shown that the intermittent rest intervals and overall shorter duration of the exercise make HIIT a potentially feasible and safe option for even more serious conditions like lung disease, heart disease, and chronic kidney disease under close supervision.

HIIT has also been found to improve depression more than MICT in people with major depression or bipolar disorders, without reported adverse events. Most research on HIIT and chronic disease is available for cardiovascular disease CVD.

Studies show that HIIT can achieve greater reduction in CVD risk factors than MICT. Use of HIIT programs has shown improvements in cardiovascular health in patients who have had a heart attack, coronary artery bypass surgery, or congestive heart failure.

However, the HIIT sessions were almost 10 minutes shorter than the MICT sessions. A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials comparing the effect of HIIT versus MICT on blood lipids did not find a significant difference, as both formats improved lipid profiles.

One exception was HDL cholesterol, which appeared to improve more with HIIT than MICT. Regular physical exercise, particularly vigorous aerobic exercise, has been studied to control hypertension, or high blood pressure.

HIIT has been found as equally effective as MICT in improving aerobic endurance and reducing shortness of breath in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD. Both HIIT and MICT workouts produced functional improvements of less breathing difficulties during activities of daily living, greater functional capacity, less fatigue, and improved quality of life.

Research on HIIT with other lung conditions such as asthma, cystic fibrosis, and lung cancer is limited or nonexistent. Although available studies in these populations suggest a functional benefit, they did not include control groups and participants were not randomized.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Sports Medicine recommend minutes weekly of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise for modest weight loss, and even longer durations for additional weight loss. Therefore, shorter HIIT workouts have been considered a possible format to help individuals meet recommended fitness goals.

Research has found compliance rates to be as high and enjoyable with HIIT formats as with MICT. A meta-analysis of controlled trials following participants with overweight and obesity for an average of 10 weeks who exercised three times a week found that MICT and HIIT programs showed similar effectiveness in producing modest body composition improvements i.

The authors found that HIIT programs incorporating running were more likely to show fat mass losses than with cycling. Most also did not monitor changes in appetite or dietary habits, which could have affected the results. It has been shown that HIIT may regulate appetite better than MICT, but more studies are needed in this area.

HIIT should only be performed in people with diabetes who have well-controlled blood glucose levels, and should be avoided if one has diabetic retinopathy, which increases the risk of detachment of the retina.

In short to medium-term interventions up to 16 weeks , HIIT has been found more effective than MICT at reducing fasting blood glucose, hemoglobin A1c, fat mass, and insulin resistance in people with type 2 diabetes. Both the MICT and HIIT programs were found to be safe and scored high among participants for enjoyability.

HIIT is an effective exercise option to increase endurance and strength in those who have limited time to exercise. Because of the higher intensity format, it is advised to consult with a physician if you have any medical conditions before starting a HIIT program. All participants new to HIIT should choose a program that is facilitated by an exercise professional.

The contents of this website are for educational purposes and are not intended to offer personal medical advice. You should seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The Nutrition Source does not recommend or endorse any products. Skip to content The Nutrition Source.

The Nutrition Source Menu. Search for:. Home Nutrition News What Should I Eat? Safety People who are deconditioned, recovering from injury, elderly, have overweight, or have medical conditions should be followed and monitored closely by their physician and an exercise professional, because of the higher intensity achieved with HIIT.

Example of a beginner HIIT workout This workout can be performed at home using just an exercise mat and a timer or clock. A 5-minute warm-up of walking or marching in place should be performed before the workout, and a minute cool-down of slower movements allowing the heart rate to gradually decrease, along with stretches, should be included to end the workout.

Cardiovascular disease Most research on HIIT and chronic disease is available for cardiovascular disease CVD. Hypertension Regular physical exercise, particularly vigorous aerobic exercise, has been studied to control hypertension, or high blood pressure.

Pulmonary disease HIIT has been found as equally effective as MICT in improving aerobic endurance and reducing shortness of breath in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD.

Obesity The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Sports Medicine recommend minutes weekly of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise for modest weight loss, and even longer durations for additional weight loss. Type 2 diabetes HIIT should only be performed in people with diabetes who have well-controlled blood glucose levels, and should be avoided if one has diabetic retinopathy, which increases the risk of detachment of the retina.

References Thompson WR. Volume 25; Issue 1: Taylor JL, Holland DJ, Spathis JG, Beetham KS, Wisløff U, Keating SE, Coombes JS.