We're back with another round of Fitness Blender's signature challenge; Can you HIIT Like a Girl?

A lot of people tend to default to the treadmill or elliptical for their cardio and in reality, those sessions are significantly less effective than HIIT workouts. Not only is high intensity interval training an incredibly efficient way of burning calories, it can also build fast twitch muscles (responsible for short, powerful bursts of exertion) in a way similar to strength training - unlike prolonged steady state cardio that can actually lead to the breakdown of muscles. HIIT also offers the benefits of being one of the fastest ways to increase your cardiovascular thresholds and it provides a metabolic boost hours after your routine is done.

If all of that isn't reason enough for you to ditch the steady state sessions on bulky pieces of overpriced, overrated gym equipment for exercises like you see in our bodyweight workout videos, stop and think about the functional differences of the movements that you do on a machine from the gym versus the things that you can do with your own body. Consider the movements that you do on an elliptical or treadmill...the same exact repetitive motion (a step, cycle, pedal, or rotation etc), over and over again, for thousands of repetitions. Think about how easy it is to "cheat" or barely work on those machines. Then think about the wide variances of motions you see in just this one example of our HIIT workout videos, all of the different movement patterns, muscles used, balance required. Do you know how hard it is to cheat while doing a burpee or jump squat? It's nearly impossible! These are movements that require the full recruitment of multiple muscle groups, coordination, and consciousness. We can say confidently and proudly that Fitness Blender workout videos are far more effective than any time spent on a piece of gym equipment, and all you need is your bodyweight.

Both warm up and a cool down stretch are included in this routine, giving you a brutal and effective total body workout in under 30 minutes.

Workout Structure
Quick Warm Up
HIIT Workout: 20 On, 10 Off X 4
9 Exercises, 20 seconds rest between exercise intervals
Quick Cool Down and Stretch

Exercises in this routine:
Burpees
Crisscross Thigh Slap Jumps
High Knees
Split Jump Burpees
3 Mountain Climbers + 1 Squat Jump
Rocket Squats
High Plank Jacks
3 Runners + Jump Switch
Lateral Hop Center Jumps

How often can I do this routine?
You shouldn't do high intensity interval training any more than 3-4 times a week, maximum. Because of the intensity of this kind of training, your body needs time to heal itself in between routines.

This routine is too hard/too easy.
If you think this is too easy, you need to pick up the pace. You're in charge of the intensity and effort that you put into this workout. These are hard exercises and if you think it's easy, you need to move faster than we are, or you need to check your form! If this routine feels too hard, search for one of our easier, lower impact workouts until you feel stronger.

Did you finish it? Can you HIIT like a girl?