When we are young we race around and play games like Tag, Red Rover, and Hide and Go Seek. At some point we give up all of our fun physical activity in exchange for less entertaining, more monotonous or sometimes purely painful workouts.

One of our goals with Fitness Blender is to make working out fun again. You don’t need to spend hours on the treadmill to look and feel fit, and you don’t have to hate every minute of your workout. I can’t promise you that this workout wont hurt, but it will keep you on your toes and guessing.

We have taken the concept of a children’s game; Red Light Green Light, and made it into a randomized interval HIIT workout.

For those of you who don’t know how Red Light Green Light works, here’s a rundown; a group of kids chooses one person to be the “Stoplight”. This person stands across a field or sport court with their back to the group. When the “Stoplight” says “Green Light”, everyone is free to race towards the “Stoplight” – but at any point that person can yell out “Red Light”, at which point everyone is to stop moving immediately and the “Stoplight” will turn around to see if they can catch anyone who is still moving (if you’re caught, you’re out). The goal is to get as close to the “Stoplight” as possible without being caught moving.

Basically, kids are utilizing interval training without even realizing it! Accidental genius!

We’ve applied the same concept to a bodyweight cardio routine; at random intervals, you will be asked to start and stop your activity. The result is a high intensity interval routine that blasts calories and gives your metabolism a good boost.

Something interesting about this style of routine that many people may find very challenging is that you are not going to know how long your active (or rest) intervals are going to last. Mentally, this can feel brutal. We know this, and truthfully, we did it this way on purpose.

A lot of times when you see exactly how much time is left, you may pace yourself in order to make it to the end of the interval. You will have a timer that indicates how far along you are in each 2 minute segment of an exercise, but be prepared to have your mind give out before your body does during those longer periods of activity where your brain and muscles start to wail, “are we done yet?!”.

With that said, always remember that it is always okay to stop and take a break when you need to. It is important to push yourself but it’s also important to take the time to learn what your own limitations are. You can lengthen the amount of rest you take, or hit the pause button in order to catch your breath – there is no shame in listening to your body.


Red Light Green Light HIIT Cardio Workout

Jumping Jacks

High Knees

Flutterkick Squats

Lateral Hop Jumps

Squats + Kicks

Mountain Climbers

Lateral Jumps + Knees

Lateral Burpees


How many calories does this HIIT workout burn?
We estimate that this routine burns 11-14 calories per minute, or 209-266 total. Not bad for under 20 minutes, and that doesn’t even take into account the afterburn effect that you are going to create while your body tries to renormalize itself – all the while burning calories at an elevated rate.

We know it’s not as much fun and a bit more painful than the games that we played as kids, but what did you think of the structure of this Red Light Green Light Workout? Want to see more like it? Sign in and speak up below.