WORKOUT

Focus & Ben­e­fits: This work­out will chal­lenge your heart rate while min­i­miz­ing the impact on your joints. With no jump­ing, hop­ping, or leap­ing required of any of the exer­cis­es, this body­weight-only rou­tine is a great option for train­ing days dur­ing which you want to keep the inten­si­ty high and main­tain progress but need a break from the high­er phys­i­cal demands of a joint-jar­ring, rig­or­ous train­ing sched­ule. Alter­nat­ing among var­i­ous degrees of train­ing inten­si­ties helps stave off injuries and bore­dom by intro­duc­ing the brain and body to minor devi­a­tions in train­ing stim­uli. These vari­a­tions in train­ing inten­si­ties are inte­gral to long-last­ing phys­i­cal and men­tal progress.

Equip­ment: The only equip­ment you need for this work­out is an option­al mat for the glutes finisher.

Tips & Help­ful Infor­ma­tion: To bump up the inten­si­ty, main­tain a quick tem­po for each exer­cise and move through your fullest ranges of motion. Note that the warm-up (and cool-down) are short and more prepara­to­ry move­ment might be need­ed before jump­ing into the first cir­cuit. How­ev­er, cir­cuit #1 was designed as a nat­ur­al exten­sion to and pro­gres­sion of the warm-up.

Dif­fi­cul­ty & Mod­i­fi­ca­tions Explained: This work­out is rat­ed as a lev­el 3 because the exer­cis­es are eas­i­ly mod­i­fi­able to either decrease or increase over­all inten­si­ty to suit per­son­al train­ing goals and needs. Decreas­ing range of motion and tem­po as well as com­plet­ing plank-for­ward exer­cis­es on an inclined sta­ble base are all options for decreas­ing the work­out inten­si­ty. If you’re look­ing to bump up the inten­si­ty, feel free to add hops/​jumps to exer­cis­es for which this addi­tion is an appro­pri­ate pro­gres­sion for you.

Clos­ing Notes: At under 30 min­utes, this is a rel­a­tive­ly short work­out! Remem­ber that HIIT stands for ​“high inten­si­ty inter­val train­ing” and your goal dur­ing each work­ing inter­val is to chal­lenge your­self to a lev­el of (safe) dis­com­fort not often felt dur­ing endurance-based rou­tines. And with no jump­ing involved, this rou­tine is a great oppor­tu­ni­ty for you to exper­i­ment with the men­tal and phys­i­cal demands of high­er heart rate training!

Have fun!

Work­out
Warm-Up: 30 sec per exer­cise, no rest between exer­cis­es (3:00)
‑Hip Open­ers + 2 Lunge Tap-Backs (alter­nat­ing)
‑March­ing Jump Rope
‑Horse Stance: Alter­nat­ing Crosses/​Torso Rotations
−1÷2 Inch­worm Toe Taps
‑Wide/​Sumo Stance: Floor-to-Ceil­ing Squats
‑Seal Jump­ing Jack Taps

***30 sec off***

Cir­cuit #1: 30 sec on / 10 sec off / 2 rounds – 20 sec off between rounds (~7:00)
‑Track Starter Lunge + Knee Dri­ve (back leg) – R
‑Track Starter Lunge + Knee Dri­ve (back leg) – L
‑Body­weight Squats
‑Squat-to-Plank Step Back + 8 Jabs
‑1 Push-Up + 6 Knee Pull-Ins

***Water Break***

Cir­cuit #2: 30 sec on / 10 sec off / 2 rounds – 20 sec off between rounds (~7:00)
‑Wood­chop Blastoff Squat/​Lunge Piv­ot – R
‑Wood­chop Blastoff Squat/​Lunge Piv­ot – L
‑Piv­ot­ing Jump­ing Jack Taps
‑Inch­worm + 6 Shoul­der Taps
‑Ankle Taps

***30 sec­onds off***

Glutes-Focused Fin­ish­er: 30 sec on / 5 sec off / 2 rounds
‑March­ing Glute Bridge Knee Hugs
‑SL Glute Bridge + (oppo­site leg) Leg Lifts/​Lowers – R
‑SL Glute Bridge + (oppo­site leg) Leg Lifts/​Lowers – L

Cool-Down: approx. 30 sec per stretch (approx. 3:00)
‑Lying Spinal Twist – R
‑Lying Spinal Twist – L
‑Half Pigeon Stretch – R
‑Half Pigeon Stretch – L
‑Cat/​Cow Stretch
‑Chest Open­er (hands behind body on floor)