Introduction

This isn't the first time you've heard of HIIT training, but if it is, it's called High-Intensity Interval Training and we'll define that below, but it is exactly what it says it is, workouts with high intensity. Training can be tough and mundane, plus many people don't have weights to use all the time. That is where HIIT training comes into play. You can get creative and enjoy working out by learning different HIIT exercises combining new movements and activities. I'd appreciate it if you could read on and learn a few of the HIIT exercises I love to incorporate into my training.

Do you want to burn fat?

Listen, there are several reasons people don't burn fat. You can read all the blogs you want, think you're becoming a master at exercising, eat healthier, workout more, receive zero results, and wonder what the problem is, which could be many things. It could be you have a methylation issue and aren't processing your food's nutrients correctly. It also could be that whatever workouts you read about give you the basics and you're not doing enough. Whatever the problem is, HIIT workouts will break through the problem for you. I truly believe, if all else is failing, turn to HIIT exercises to burn fat.

The reason why you turn to HIIT to burn fat is because by the nature of how fast you move and get your heart rate, your metabolism is completely activated. Everyone has different metabolisms and burning fat could take different efforts for some people. What HIIT training does is, force you and your body to move in fast extreme motions pushing your muscles to flex and release blood and energy at intense rates. Your metabolism skyrockets when you move super fast for short interval sessions. This is exactly what those fat cells need to shake them out of their lazy state and give them the ability to push out.

Let's learn a few of these exercises and why I love to incorporate them in my training.

High-Intensity Interval Training

High-intensity interval training is based on intense intervals and fast movements for around 2-minute sprints. There are many different HIIT exercises and combinations of exercises you can learn and learn to create your variations. Some individuals like different workouts for reasons such as recognizable movements, or because they're not able to make certain movements. After learning to get in a groove of the workout, it feels like you're fast and confident, you know several, you can create a session with a combination of 3 different exercises. For example, let's say, we want to have a full body work in one session workout.

Below are12 HIIT exercises for maximum burn fat:

1. Battle Ropes
2. Push-up Clap
3. Tricep-dip Burpees
4. Weighted Jumping Jack Jogger
5. Single-leg Lunge Jumps or Bicycle Lunges
6. Weighted Vest Sumo Squats
7. Calf Raises into Leaping Jump
8. Double Squat Leaping Jumps
9. Kettlebell Swing
10. The Inchworm
11. Stationary Bike Sprints
12. High-knee into Mountain Climbers  

Upper Body HIIT Workouts

There are plenty of ways to train the upper body, however, make sure to train all the primary 

Battle Ropes

Battle ropes are an amazing workout. They are cheap and can be put in your garage. There really aren't many movements with Battle ropes. They are straightforward. The main thing to consider when doing these is the right distance with just enough slack that the rope will do the worm swirl as you shake the rope. So, the idea is to set a timer for 30-second rounds, with 2 15-second pauses which will be 2 minutes. 

Here is a solid video that will show you how it's done. YouTube Battle Rope Beginner Tutorial

Pushup Claps 

Pushup claps are exactly what you'd think, you do a pushup hard enough to pop your hands off the ground and do a clap before your next pushup. This isn't easy at first for many people. That is the point. It's explosive and it takes a little getting used to.  A good trick to get started is to pushup and pop both hands off the ground without clapping and keep your hands in pushup position and back into a pushup. This will get you and your body into an explosive motion and used to pop off the ground. Then start incorporating the clap. 

Here is a good YouTube video to show you great pushup clap form. YouTube Pushup Clap Example

Tricep-dip Burpees 

Both tricep dips and burpees are great strength training exercises. Burpees by themselves are a phenomenal full-body workout. You can incorporate burpees with pushup claps and super jumps as well, but changing it up and adding tricep dips is a unique addition to your routine. When you put tricep dips and burpees together it gets intense quickly. Make sure to work through this movement from the dip to the burpee slowly at first. then speed it up until it's fluid. Again, the idea is to do as many reps as you can in 2-minutes. I wasn't able to find a video incorporating tricep-dip Burpees. 

This is a great video example for the Burpee: YouTube Burpee Example  

Here is a good video for bodyweight tricep-dips: YouTube Tricep-dip Example

When I do these, the tricep-dip is the last part of the sequence where after I squat, plank, and pop jump, I come back down into a tricep-dip for 2 reps.  

Weighted Jumping Jack Joggers 

Weighted jumping jack joggers are simple in practice, but when you get going you sweat as if you're in 110-degree weather. you need a weighted vest, at least 20 pounds. You need to slightly lift your knees more than you usually would if you actually, went for a jog. You do not need to do high knees, however, that is an even better cardio exercise than jogging in place. By doing this, you fully stretch and burn your leg muscles which will drive your cardio through the roof. I'll do 5 Jumping Jacks and then 10 seconds of jogging in place. Keep switching this back and forth for 2 minutes and you have a session. 

Here is a quick video that shows your Jumping Jacks into Jogger: YouTube Jumping Jack Jogger Example

Renegade Rows 

Renegade Rows require dumbbells, but you can be creative and find other heavy items to lift, such as putting all your tools in a bucket and rowing that. Renegade rows are typically done in plank pushup position, however, this isn't necessary if you don't have dumbbells, you can bend your back and keep it straight and still do the rows. Doing these properly will give you more advantages to HIIt exercises when you go to incorporate combinations making it a little easier to transition to another movement, but don't let that stop you, make sure to find a way to do these rows, they are a fantastic workout. 

Here is a video example of renegade rows: 

Lower Body HIIT Workouts 

Lower-body HIIT exercises are fun to me and ignite your cardio far more than upper-body workouts do. There are an array of ways to do lower bodyweight exercises and incorporate them into HIIT sessions as well. For many people training lower body is a task and partially intimidates people.  That is why HIIT is great as well because I feel you can get as much in a 20-minute HIIT workout as you can in an hour of typical set sessions and workouts. I also love these lower bodyweight HIIT workouts because of the way they make my joints and ligaments feel after I get done. Overall, it stimulates many muscle groups at quick speeds at the same time as making your cardio feel like you've run 5 miles

Jumping Lunge or Bicycle Lunge

Jumping lunges and bicycle lunges are phenomenal glute workouts that strengthen your core and boost your hormone production like no other bodyweight exercise other than body squats. At first, lunge jumps and bicycle lunges are awkward to perform, your hips and knees are using more stabilizer muscles than you typically use even when doing any other squat movement. This movement activates your hip flexors and pushes blood to the knees which helps the knee joints repair tissue and build muscle while also keeping tension on the glutes and abs which helps your core and helps your body walk more upright and square.

For jumping lunges, you set up in lunge position, then squat down and as you're pushing up you pop up off the ground just enough that both feet are off the ground, and keeping your lunge position, you land and move right back into the lunge and dip a little. When I do this I push myself to the max for 50 seconds, pause and stretch, and then another 50-second sprint. When you set a timer on your phone or a stopwatch you don't need to think about time, you hyper-focus on breathing and form. I move faster and slower depending on how my body is feeling. The point is to maintain some consistency in your motion and breathing.

For me, bicycle lunges are harder, they take more stamina out of me, so I do shorter sprints such as 30 seconds with 10-second pauses. These intervals still work as bicycle lungers require more energy to perform and although you want to move quickly, with bicycle lunges you want to focus even more on form, the jump to the squat stretch down slow enough to feel the stretch well.

I couldn't find one basic straightforward lunge jumps video example out there. Below is a solid video of the bicycle lunges and you could think of the single-leg lunge jumps as the same lunge jump just without exchanging the legs. All the videos out there now are teaching lunge into a high knee, which is great, but not always needed, and also not a lunge jump.

Here is a good video example of bicycle lounges: Bicycle Lunge example

Weighted Vest Sumo Squats 

Sumo squats are great for explosive exercises, and give you space to incorporate other workouts like Frogger jump and others. The most natural way to squat is in the sumo frog position. Some people naturally are wider than others though it's still a sumo frog stance. Try just squatting as if you're wrapping your arms around your knees while in a squat position, make sure you're just wide enough where you're not falling over, this way you're squatting in the most natural position. Now spread your knees out stretching the inner thigh, and both hamstrings and quads. You will see this becomes sumo squat form. Most people should even barbell squat in this position, it is the correct form though most people have straighter legs for barbell squats thinking that is the proper form. Explore how your body feels in slightly different positions. 

Sumo squats are not used enough and give your leg muscles more hypertrophy than straight-leg deadlifts, RDLs, or straight-leg squats. Your glutes stretch and you have more flexibility to widen your legs or shorten them inward more to hit different parts of your hamstring or quads. You must learn to enjoy sumo squats and put them in your routine. 

Here is a video example of sumo squats: Sumo Squats video example

Calf Raises into Leaping Jumps (a.k.a. pogo bop)

We can't forget about our calf muscles. They need to be taken care of as well. Calf muscles maintain our ankle joints and overall standing posture. Therefore, calf raises are the perfect choice to hit that muscle group while incorporating something else like a squat or a leaping jump. It also breaks up the mundane act of only lifting our feet 20 times and brings more cardio into the exercise which brings this workout into the HIIT category.

When I perform this workout, I try to do 10 calf raises into 5 leaping jumps. Sometimes I switch off and do 5 calf raises into 2 leaping jumps which simulates more cardio. You can try variations that work best for you, but this combination hits the lower body up to the hip flexors.

Here is an example of the Calf Raises into Jumps: Calf Raises and Pogo Bop Video example

Double Squat Leaping Jump 

The double squat leaping jump uses a lot of core muscles, hips, quads, and calves to perform this correctly. It is best done with a bench to jump on and off. This exercise is meant to be smooth and not too fast as you burn out quickly. In the first squat, you want to be a little slower and try to get the full stretch of the glutes while the second squat moves smoothly through the motion while exploding into the leaping jump. If you have a bench, jump on the bench and then jump off. Make sure to focus and have balance as you can easily slip off or roll your ankle. Remember because this workout uses a lot of core and lower body muscles make sure to properly square up after each rep or round as this will help your joints to move with agility and speed without getting hurt. 

Here is an example of a squat jump.: Squat jump example

All Around Cardio 

HIIT workouts are cardio-intense, so, if you want full-body extreme cardio HIIT exercises, these are what you should work in your routine. Some weeks I'll slam through these at the end of each workout each day and some weeks I'll do a full session of HIIT on a lighter lifting day. Keep in mind, that it is all up to your goals, how your body and joints feel, and the time you have to put into training. HIIT workouts are also great because you can double up on a lifting day if you work out early enough and by the end of the day you can go through a HIIT routine before you hit the sauna or simmer down to cook dinner and still get that cardio in. 

Kettlebell Swing 

The kettlebell swing has become a staple for functional fitness, HIIT, and muscle building. The reason is that when you perform a kettlebell swing, you're performing full-body movements from deltoid raises, to sumo squats, calf raises, abs, forearms, grip, and lats. This exercise drives cardio crazy. When I use kettlebells for a swing HIIT workout, I use a lighter bell around 40lbs, and start a timer for 40 seconds, break for 20 seconds, and start the timer for 40 seconds again. This is also usually the last workout I do as I can manage a full session, however, I'm typically so beat that I am done after this.

Here is an example of the kettlebell swing: Kettlebell Swing Example Youtube

 

The Inchworm

The inchworm is in a stationary position and is similar to a bear crawls without crawling around. You keep your feet shoulder-width apart, squat down place your hands on the ground, and inch your way outward until you're almost in plank position, and inch back and to an upright position again. You perform the inchworm at faster speeds than most exercises as it gets easier when you get the movement down.  

Here is an example of the inchworm: Inchworm Exercise YouTube example

Stationary Sprints or Stationary Bike Sprints 

Stationary sprints are one of the most cardio-intensive exercises known to HIIT. They can be boring, and that is why you perform them in HIIT format. Going outside and running, jogging, or sprinting, can be hard on the joints and our minds. When you sprint in place, focus on breathing, and move fast in short sprints, you get an intense workout that is easier on the joints and much easier on your spirits. It takes away the boring feeling and allows you to get results quickly at home. If you have a stationary bike, you can find more example workouts on YouTube. Use the bike, however, in my opinion, it's an easier workout than standing sprints and you should consider longer intervals. 

Here is a great example of stationary sprints: Stationary Sprint YouTube example

Here is an example of the stationary bike sprint HIIT workout: Stationary Bike YouTube Example

High-knee into Mountain Climbers 

High knees and mountain climbers are both fantastic cardio training. Each can be done alone, however, I enjoy blending them into one as you get a bit of an upper body burn in the shoulders during the mountain climbers. 

High knees are difficult and you want to do them fluidly, but at first, move slowly and get the motion down. you want to leap up with one knee at a time and drive upwards. The faster you can go while getting your knees as high as you can, the more it will stimulate your glutes and upper lats while igniting your cardio just as you asked. 

Mountain climbers are also difficult, not only because they burn you out, but because it's a tricky motion. Please take your time first and learn this one. Watch more videos than the one I'll share below. Once you can drive your knees towards your shoulders enough you can start moving quicker at the same time, and then you can work this into your routine. 

Here is a video example of high knees: High Knees video example

Here is a good video example of mountain climbers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmwgirgXLYM

Conclusion: 12 HIIT workouts that burn fat

HIIT breaks through the cardiovascular system in ways that many other exercises and types of workouts can't do. It is worth investing time into understanding how the intervals in HIIT exercising work as you can learn to create your workouts and start at different intervals while building up to something longer.  For the majority of people looking to burn fat, get into exercising, and don't have time, HIIT is for you.