I always go by the maxim, “When in doubt, do a HIIT session”. There’s absolutely nothing like a short, sharp bout of high intensity training to get your heart pumping. I do a HIIT cardio session once a week, and just to keep things interesting I pick and choose workouts from the many available on YouTube, all of them from excellent trainers.
The two I’ve selected here are excellent short and intense HIITs. They’re both follow-along workouts, but you need not try to rush through them to keep up. However, try to follow the time given for each of the moves, and remember to drink lots of water!
Also Read: Two great full-body HIIT workouts
Calorie burn with Joanna Soh
It’s impossible to not feel inspired to workout after watching Joanna Soh’s videos. A qualified trainer and nutritionist, her workouts mostly revolve around challenges. While online fitness challenges have developed a bit of a bad rep due to the many such fads from last year, Soh’s challenges are actually smart and useful.
Also Read: Why it's important to warm up before your workout
Take this one, a 30-day challenge with the aim of burning 10,000 calories. Soh breaks it down to goal of burning about 340 calories every day for a month. To meet this daily goal, Soh’s HIIT session is divided into three circuits, focussing on your lower body, upper body and core. If you exercise fairly regularly, the bodyweight moves that Soh shows aren’t particularly difficult. However, the challenge is to keep up and finish a set every day. Each of the exercises are to be performed for 45 seconds, with a 15 second break between them.
Since I have my weekly split of workouts that focus on specific areas of the body, I often do Soh’s HIIT workouts on my cardio days. So you could do the same. However you use her workout, you’re certainly going to come out of it with your stamina increased.
Also Read: Three great fitness podcasts for you
20 minute HIIT with Anna
Here’s another excellent full-body HIIT workout for your cardio days. Germany-based fitness trainer Anna’s 20-minute HIIT session is again just a bodyweight workout that will result in a short, sweet but intense bout of cardio.
Each of the 20 moves is to be performed for 40 seconds, with a 20-second break between them. It’s a follow-along workout, so you can check and make sure that your form is absolutely correct for them. As Anna says, many of the moves require plenty of jumping, but then she shows you some variations which do not require you to jump around too much.
Also Read: Do these stretches for better flexibility and mobility
