Time is our most valuable commodity. Wake up, make breakfast, get the kids ready, drop them off at school, head into the office, pick them up, go to one of the many extracurricular activities, rinse and repeat. Any wrinkle in our routine and the first thing to go is our workout. Today we’ll talk about High-Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT, and how you can use it in your next workout to get the best bang for your buck in 30 minutes or less.

The American College of Sports Medicine has listed high-intensity interval training as a top training modality. HIIT solves the desire to get the greatest results in as little time as possible. Make no mistake, this type of training is not easy-HIIT only works if you push yourself out of your comfort zone. Let’s do this!

There are endless possibilities when it comes to scheduling a workout in your busy life. The best workout plan is one that you’ll actually do. Get active on most days of the week (most meaning four or more days), and you’ll be on your way to the body of your dreams! Consistency is the magic pill that we are all searching for. Use this schedule as an easy template to plan your workouts.

HIIT 4-DAY SCHEDULE:

Monday: Tabata

Tuesday: Active Recovery/Rest

Wednesday: One-to-One

Thursday: Active Recovery/Rest

Friday: Short Sprint

Saturday: Active Recovery/Rest

Sunday: Tempo Run

HIIT WORKOUT STYLES:

Effective high-intensity interval training requires that you give all-out, 100% effort through quick, intense bursts of exercise, followed by short (sometimes active) recovery periods. This type of training gets and keeps your heart rate up and burns more fat in less time.

Tabata: 20 seconds of work/10 seconds of rest x8 sets (4 minutes)

It’s only 4 minutes of work but make no mistake-it’s brutal! This will improve your conditioning and burn an elevated amount of calories.

One-to-One: Equal work-to-rest ratio (Example-:30s of work/:30s of rest for 10 minutes)

This style of HIIT can be easily adapted depending on your fitness. Increase the work or decrease the rest and you’ll be burning calories in no time!

Short Sprint: 8 seconds of work/12 seconds of rest x60 sets (20 minutes)

This is a little less demanding but no less effective for conditioning and fat loss.

Tempo Run: 50-meter sprint/walk back to start (max sets)

One of the most effective ways to improve your conditioning. You should be running 80% of the time, getting your rest on the walk back.

EXERCISES:

Most compound movements are derived from and can be broken down into these major movements:

PUSH (Vertical/Horizontal): Push-ups (Modified or Incline, Close/Normal/Wide, Hand Release Push-ups, Plyo Push-ups), Press (Overhead, Alternating, Push Press)

PULL (Vertical/Horizontal): Pull-ups, Renegade Row, TRX Row

SQUAT: Squat (Jump Squat, Jump Squat w/Tuck), Goblet Squat, Lunges, Lateral Lunge, Split Jump, Thrusters

HINGE: Deadlifts (Barbell, Dumbbell, Sumo, etc.)

CORE/ROTATION/CARRY: Planks (Front/Side), Plank up-downs, Plank Jacks, Mountain Climbers, Russian Twists, Supermans, Farmer’s Carry

CARDIO: Jumping Jacks, Jump Rope, Burpees, Ball Slams, Sprints

This is by no means an exhaustive list of exercises. Keep in mind that everything has a progression or regression to make things harder or easier!

SAMPLE WORKOUTS:

8-MINUTE DOUBLE TABATA (20 seconds work/10 seconds rest x16):

1. Mountain climbers
2. Pushups
3. Plank up-downs
4. Squat Jumps

TORCH IT!

400m Sprint

10-1 inverted (10 reps, then 9 reps, then 8 reps… down to 1 of each)

Thrusters/Squat Press

Pullups

400m Sprint

10-1 INVERTED JUMP AROUND

10 Squat jumps-1 jump lunge

9 squat jumps-2 jump lunges

8 squat jumps-3 jump lunges

7 squat jumps-4 jump lunges

6 squat jumps-5 jump lunges

5 squat jumps-6 jump lunges

4 squat jumps-7 jump lunges

3 squat jumps-8 jump lunges

2 squat jumps-9 jump lunges

1 squat jump-10 jump lunges

ONE-TO-ONE (30 seconds work/30 seconds rest x4 rounds):

Renegade Row w/pushup

Goblet Squats

Russian Twists

Thrusters/Squat Press

Ball Slams

Side Plank

20-MINUTE QUICKIE (As many rounds as possible in 20 min):

10 Push-ups

10 Sit-ups

10 Squats

28-MINUTES (30 seconds work/30 seconds rest x4 rounds):

Squat Jumps

Burpees

Split Jumps

Pushups

Air Squat-Air Squat hold (Rest=squat hold)

SPRINTERVALS

Run each distance as hard as possible:

100m sprint

200m sprint

400m sprint

800m sprint

400m sprint

200m sprint

100m sprint

Equal rest-to-work ratio (if it takes you 3 minutes to run 400m, rest 3 minutes before continuing)

30-20-10-20-30

Step-ups

KB Swings

Making time to work out is simple, but it’s definitely not easy, especially when life gets busy. Motivation comes and goes, so we want to build our routine off of discipline and habits. Set yourself up for success by setting out your gym clothes the night before and scheduling in your workout like an appointment. Kick off your healthy journey by building these sustainable habits with 30 minutes a day of HIIT exercise.

Kevin is a former collegiate baseball player turned Personal Trainer and Fitness Consultant to a global corporate wellness company. He is passionate about fitness and the importance of a holistic relationship with health/wellness. He loves anything outdoors, a good cup of coffee, and chasing his hyperactive 3-year-old (all of which oddly correlate with each other). To learn more, reach out to him at [email protected]