This 30-minute HIIT workout will boost your full-body strength and fitness
Interval training isn’t new to runners. The concept is simple: instead of exercising at one pace for an extended time, you alternate between short, high-intensity bursts and longer recovery periods. While steady-state cardio trains your muscles to be more efficient – an important adaptation for distance runners – occasionally working at the high-intensity level can lead to you burning more calories for hours after the session has ended. Exactly how many more is difficult to calculate because every person’s body is different, but it can be as high as 30 per cent more than steady-state workouts, according to the American College of Sports Medicine. And high-intensity interval training (HIIT) that incorporates strength moves helps build total-body fitness in a way that interval running does not.
Do the following routine once a week on non-running days to reap huge benefits in just 30 minutes – without even leaving home.
Time it
3 minutes: Dynamic warm-up
1 minute: Rest
6 minutes: Exercises 1 to 3. Perform each for 1 minute and do 2 sets.
1 minute: Rest
9 minutes: Exercises 4 to 6. Perform each for 1 minute and do 3 sets.
1 minute: Rest
9 minutes: Exercises 7 to 9. Perform each for 1 minute and do 3 sets.
Dynamic warm-up
Do each exercise for 30 seconds.
Jumping jack
Jump up just enough to spread your feet wide, then jump back. Bounce on the balls of your feet.
Pogo jump
Using your arms to help propel you, jump up and down, allowing your feet to move only inches off the floor.
Gate swing
With your toes pointing out and your back straight, push your hips back and squat. Press on your inner thighs to open your knees. Return to standing and repeat.
Hip swing
Brace your core and glutes as you swing your right leg forward and backward as far as you comfortably can. After 15 seconds, switch sides.
Lunge and reach back
Step your left leg back into a lunge. Reach your arms up and back, then lower. Press through your right foot to stand. Switch sides.
Inchworms
Bend to touch the floor. With your legs straight, walk your hands forward without letting your hips sag. Take tiny steps to walk your feet to your hands. Repeat.
THE WORKOUT
1/ Three-point balance touch
Do a quarter squat on your left leg. Then reach your right foot as far forward as you can, tap the floor and return to the starting position. Do the same reaching to the right and to the rear. Alternate legs.
2/ Single-leg press-up
Take a press-up position. While performing the press-up, lift your right leg eight to 10 inches off the floor. Return to the starting position and descend again, this time raising your left leg. Repeat.
3/ Reverse lunge with toe touch
Step your right leg back and lower until your knee nears the floor. Push through your left foot to stand, swing your right leg up and reach for your toes with your left hand. Alternate sides.
4/ Burpee with press-up
Squat deeply and place your hands on the floor. Hop back into a press-up position and do one press-up. Hop back to a squat and jump up, throwing your hands above your head. Land and repeat.
5/ Dumbbell row
Holding two dumbbells at arms’ length, bend at your hips and knees and lower your torso forward, keeping a straight back. Pull the dumbbells up to the sides of your chest, pause and slowly lower. Repeat.
6/ The runner
Lie on your back, elbows at your sides and arms bent. Lift your shoulders and upper back off the floor as you bring your right knee toward your chest and drive your left arm forward, then lower. Alternate sides.
7/ Dumbbell swing
Hold one end of a dumbbell in both hands. Bend your knees and push the weight back between your legs, then explode forward with your hips to propel the weight up. Swing back down and repeat.
8/ Compass lunge
Lunge forward (or ‘north’) with your right leg. Push through your front foot to stand and repeat to hit other points – northeast, east, southeast and south. Then, switch legs to continue the circular motion.
9/ Single-leg, single-arm plank
From the plank position, raise your left leg and extend your right arm out in front of you. Hold for five seconds. Then lower your arm and leg and raise your right leg and left arm for five seconds. Alternate.
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