If you’ve read anything about fitness lately, you will probably have come across the acronym HIIT. It stands for High-Intensity Interval Training and is basically a form of training that encompasses short bursts of intense exercise with even shorter rest periods. The idea behind HIIT is that short, flat-out periods of exercise will very quickly improve your athletic performance, pump up your metabolism and therefore burn fat faster than slower-paced forms of exercise. Think of how a marathon runner looks as opposed to a sprinter – sprinters are all sculpted muscle, marathon runners are lean. I like seeing defined muscles, and I also like exercising for shorter periods of time rather than hours upon hours, so I am a BIG fan of HIIT.
I definitely prefer the sprinters body. Looks a lot healthier too!
I’ve been doing HIIT workouts that others have posted online, but I decided to create my own using the exercises I like the most. Well, considering this workout contains burpees, I should probably retract that statement as I categorically hate burpees. But they crank your heart rate up and get the job done, so I included them 🙂 Here it is, complete with links to videos to show you how to do the moves.
Lisa’s HIIT Workout #1
Warm up for 10 minutes – on the treadmill, cross-trainer, bike or a jog around the local park. Whatever floats your boat.
Then 4 rounds of:
5 x burpees
10 x walking lunges
10 x push ups (on your knees if you have to)
20 x squats (go deep)
20 x jumping jacks
10 x mountain climbers
1 x 30 second plank
Then STRETCH.
Rest for 1 minute between each round, and go all out to complete the round in the quickest time possible while still keeping good form.
Well there you go, my first attempt at creating my own HIIT routine. And I’ve personally done it myself and can tell you it works – my inability to sit down without pain the next day will attest to that!
Let me know what you think 🙂
Stay Fit & Well,
Lisa x
Food / Fitness / Wellbeing 