Focus & Benefits: This routine gives you an intense workout with low impact exercises! One of the easiest ways to put forth a maximum effort and reach breathlessness during a HIIT workout is with high impact moves that include jumping and plyometrics; however, high impact is not the only way to drive up the heart rate. In this quick but efficient routine, we push the tempo, focus on full body movement patterns, and include a small degree of explosiveness to achieve the peaks and valleys heart rate response typical of HIIT workouts (“work hard, rest hard”). Remember, with HIIT (high intensity interval training), the goal is to work as hard as you possibly can according to your own perceived exertion during the work intervals so that your body (and mind) requires the short recovery periods that follow. This alternation between all-out efforts and rest trains the body to gradually accommodate higher energy demands (harder workouts) with improved oxygen and energy source utilization (efficient use of fuel).

Equipment: All you need for this routine is an optional mat for the plank/prone position exercises.

Tips & Helpful Information: If you’re a bit hesitant about going “all-out” from the start of the circuit, use the first round as practice to benchmark and differentiate your efforts. Bump up your efforts for each exercise during the second round knowing that you only complete this circuit twice.

Difficulty & Modifications Explained: This routine is rated as a level 3 because the exercises are easily modifiable to either increase or decrease the intensity of the workout. Modifications include slowing down the tempo, decreasing your range of motion, and/or omitting an element from any of the multicomponent exercises in the circuit.

Closing Notes: Add this workout to a lifting session or use it as a standalone on days when you don’t have much time or the mental stamina for a longer workout. Ultimately, you determine the intensity of the workout with your pacing and range of motion. For most of us, it takes practice pushing ourselves (safely) past the point of initial discomfort to achieve a true perceived maximum effort. Practice pushing just a smidge beyond that first moment of discomfort to slowly improve your ability to accommodate increasing amounts of intensity (and improve your performance and mental fortitude!).

Workout
Warm-Up: 30 sec per exercise, no rest between exercise (3:00)
-Arm Circles + Hip Openers
-Squat + Calf Raise
-Inchworm
-Full Plank
-Alt. Lateral Lunges + Crossbody Reaches
-Traveling Jack Taps (forward and back)

***30 sec off***

HIIT Circuit: 40 sec on / 20 sec off / 2 rounds (8:00)
-Blastoff Squat + Overhead Arm Swing (quick tempo; arms extend overhead in squat)
-Squatting Inchworm/Squat-to-Plank Walkout (forward and back)
-Full Plank: Alt. Shoulder Taps + Knee Pull-Ins (quick tempo)
-Alt. Lateral Lunge with Toe Reach + Knee Drive

Cool-Down: approx. 30 sec per stretch (approx. 3:00)
-Staggered Stance Quads/Hip Flexors + Crossbody Shoulder Stretch - R
-Hamstrings/Hip Hinge Stretch - R
-Staggered Stance Quads/Hip Flexors + Crossbody Shoulder Stretch - L
-Hamstrings/Hip Hinge Stretch – L  
-Chester Opener Stretch + Wrist Rotations
-Tree Hug/Rounded Spine Stretch