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Focusing on a HIIT workout with exercises regularly can help accelerate weight loss while boosting strength gain. It's important to maintain a cardio routine in your workout programme, even if you don’t want to do cardio everyday.
Before understanding what a HIIT workout with exercises looks like, let’s understand what's a HIIT workout.
What is HIIT?
HIIT stands for High-intensity interval training. In this workout programme, you push yourself with 90-100% efficiency for a particular period of time, e.g. 30 seconds, followed by the same exercise with 20% intensity for another 30 seconds.
This was an example of the most basic type of HIIT workout. Over time, other ways of performing HIITs have entered the fitness industry.
One of them is a HIIT workout with exercises. In this workout, you perform a set of exercises consecutively followed by a brief period of rest. The exercises focus on your lower body, upper body or entire body. However, it should preferably be a giant set that focuses on intensity over volume.
What Does a HIIT Workout With Exercises Look Like?
Ideally, you should focus on a series of exercises that raise your heart rate. It can be resistance exercises or bodyweight movements. However, the end goal is to raise your heart rate.
Here’s an example of a 15-minute HIIT workout with exercises:
The first five minutes can focus on bodyweight movements.
- Bodyweight squats - 15 seconds
- Bodyweight push ups - 15 seconds
- Jumping jacks - 15 seconds
- Rest - 15 seconds
Repeat the above for five rounds.
The next five minutes can focus on advanced variations with some resistance movements.
- Dumbbell squats - 20 seconds
- Close-grip push ups - 10 seconds
- High knees - 15 seconds.
- Rest - 15 seconds.
Repeat for five rounds.
The final five minutes can be cardio movements coupled with some core exercises.
- Burpees - 15 seconds
- Crunches - 15 seconds
- Bicycle crunches - 15 seconds
- Rest - 15 seconds.
Repeat for five rounds.
You can now modify the exercises and time span as per your fitness level. You can exercise for 30 seconds instead of 15, if your fitness permits.
The primary goal is to raise your heart rate for a span of time and then allow it to come down (not to its resting state) and raise it again.
Benefits of HIIT Workout With Exercises
One of the primary reasons why fitness coaches and enthusiasts suggest HIIT instead of prolonged low-intensity cardio is because of its benefits like:
1) Burns more calories in a shorter time period
2) Good for maintaining cardiovascular health
3) Helps improve strength.
4) Metabolism remains raised hours after you’ve done a HIIT workout.
Bottom Line
Whether your goal is to add muscle mass or lose weight, working in a HIIT routine can always be beneficial.
Interestingly, you can do such routines on cardio machines as well, such as treadmills, ellipticals or even ergometers (rowing machines). However, it’s advisable that you warm up and cool down before and after a HIIT workout with exercises.
