WORKOUT

Focus & Ben­e­fits: In this under 30-minute total body HIIT rou­tine (high inten­si­ty inter­val train­ing) you’ll learn how to effi­cient­ly (and safe­ly) move your weights through space and time all the while tack­ling dynam­ic, quick-paced move­ment pat­terns. The com­bi­na­tion of added resis­tance and a fast cadence in this work­out will help chal­lenge your heart rate with­out requir­ing over­ly com­plex for­mat­ting or exer­cis­es. Fun fact: There are no plank-for­ward exer­cis­es in this workout!

Equip­ment: You’ll need your mod­er­ate­ly heavy and light weight options rel­a­tive to what you can safe­ly lift/​control for pace-direct­ed, mul­ti­com­po­nent move­ment pat­terns. Err on the side of cau­tion and start with weights lighter than you think you would use for each exer­cise. Bring along a mat or oth­er com­fort­able sur­face as well for the core fin­ish­er at the end of the workout.

Tips & Help­ful Infor­ma­tion: The addi­tion of weights to any exer­cis­es involv­ing hop­ping or more explo­sive move­ment pat­terns is option­al (i.e., the first exer­cise in each HIIT cir­cuit). If mov­ing quick­ly with weights is uncom­fort­able or pro­hib­i­tive for you in any way, omit the weights and com­plete these exer­cis­es body­weight-only. If you choose to use weights for these dynam­ic moves, make sure to mas­ter the move­ment pat­tern before increas­ing your weights.

Dif­fi­cul­ty & Mod­i­fi­ca­tions Explained: This rou­tine is rat­ed as a lev­el 4 due to the addi­tion of weights through­out the HIIT cir­cuits as well as the core fin­ish­er. As men­tioned above, omit­ting the weights alto­geth­er and/​or opt­ing for lighter weight loads will increase the acces­si­bil­i­ty of this workout.

Clos­ing Notes: Remem­ber that you ulti­mate­ly deter­mine the dif­fi­cul­ty lev­el of this work­out with your pac­ing and weight selec­tions. For this rou­tine to feel like a true HIIT work­out (max­i­mum effort, near your breath­less thresh­old), you’ll have to step out­side of your com­fort zone, rev­el in the dis­com­fort, and poten­tial­ly move with a quick­ness that is cur­rent­ly unfa­mil­iar to your body. In oth­er words, get com­fort­able with the discomfort!

Work­out
Warm-Up: 30 sec per exer­cise, no rest between exer­cis­es (4:00)
‑Hip Open­ers + Squat
‑Zom­bie March + Reverse Lunge – R
‑Zom­bie March + Reverse Lunge – L
‑Lat­er­al Sin­gle-Leg Hops (mid-tem­po)
‑Floor-to-Ceil­ing Blastoff Squat
‑Foot­ball Runs
‑Jump Rope
‑Jump­ing Jacks

***30 sec off***

My Weights (not a rec­om­men­da­tion, just a reference):
‑Medium/​Moderately Heavy: 20 lbs. (9.1 kg) / 25 lbs. (11.3 kg)
‑Light: 15 lbs. (6.8 kg)

HIIT Cir­cuit #1: 30 sec on / 15 sec off / 2 rounds (~4:15)
‑Frog­ger Hop (forward/​back) + Weight Pick-Up/Put-Down
‑Push Presses
-(Body­weight) High Knees

***Water Break #1***

HIIT Cir­cuit #2: 30 sec on / 15 sec off / 2 rounds (~4:15)
‑Weight­ed Paus­ing Switch Jumps (1 weight – gob­let hold)
‑Rec­i­p­ro­cal Rows
-(Body­weight) Lat­er­al Squat Jumps

***30 sec off***

HIIT Cir­cuit #3: 30 sec on / 15 sec off / 2 rounds (~4:15)
‑Nar­row Squat-to-Overhead
‑Sta­tion­ary Lat­er­al Lunge + Low Row (1 weight – row in lunge, weight handoff)
-(Body­weight) Skaters

***Water Break #2***

Core Fin­ish­er: 30 sec on / 15 sec off / 2 rounds (~4:15)
-(from table­top) Weight­ed Iso Crunch (weight above chest) + Alt. Leg Extensions
-(from mod­i­fied boat) Weight­ed Jackknifes
‑3-Sec Iso Super­hu­man Lifts

Cool-Down: approx. 30 sec per stretch (approx. 4:00)
‑Sphinx Pose Stretch
‑Child’s Pose Stretch
‑Lizard Pose/Quads-Hip Flex­ors Stretch – R
‑Kneel­ing Hamstrings/​Hinge Stretch – R
‑Lizard Pose/Quads-Hip Flex­ors Stretch – L
‑Kneel­ing Hamstrings/​Hinge Stretch – L
‑Chest Open­er Stretch (hands behind body)
‑Slow Arm Circles