If the mention of a 15-minute workout doesn't make your heart race and glutes cramp up, you haven't been doing them correctly. Sure, you could take a stroll around the block for 15 minutes and barely recognize it as exercise. You can also do a highly intense routine of moves that challenges your whole body. The point of high intensity interval training (commonly called HIIT workouts) is to create a cardio and muscular effect by using your whole body and pushing yourself to the brink during each interval without much rest. These workouts are excellent for busy individuals, those who simply hate exercise or those looking to tack on a little extra to their endurance training.
Make this workout work for your needs by adjusting times, sets and using equipment you have at home (a jug of water can be a great weight!) or resources outside (staircase or hill in your yard). Since HIIT can be tough on the body, ease into this to avoid injury, simply do only one set for the first week and add additional sets from there. You could also add longer rest periods while you learn the routine and develop good form. Adding weights, bosu balls or bands will ramp up the difficulty.
Each set is five minutes, consisting of 40 seconds of movement with 20 seconds of rest. Do one set three times or all three sets once for a total of 15 minutes.
Set 1 - Legs
- Jumping split lunge
- Stair climb (high knees if you don’t have stairs nearby)
- Jump rope
- Flutter kick squat
- Wall sit
Set 2 - Core
- Russian twist
- Reverse crunch
- Mountain climbers
- Superman plank
- Burpees
Set 3 - Arms
- Push-ups
- Tricep dips using a chair
- Overhead press
- Hammer curls
- Punches
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