By Danyele Wilson

One word that may not immediately come to mind when you hear the phrase High Intensity Interval Training is “easy,” but there are in fact several basic, fundamental movements that can help take your workout routine to the next level when performed in a not-so-easy HIIT format.

High Intensity Interval Training is not about overly-complicated movements or fancy gym equipment; it’s effectiveness hinges solely on your level of energy exertion relative to your level of fitness. That means, from the elite athlete, to someone just beginning their fitness journey, High Intensity Interval Training can easily be for you.

The idea is simple; alternate periods of short, intense activity with periods of active recovery or complete rest to burn more calories in less time. HIIT is extremely efficient, keeps you burning calories for hours, helps boost both your endurance and VO2 Max, and can be done absolutely anywhere. The benefits are proven and should not be ignored. If you aren’t already on the HIIT train, consider this your final boarding call, athletes.

How to do this total body HIIT workout:

This total body workout is designed to maximize your caloric burn with simple movements that will spike your heart rate quickly and challenge your endurance.

Complete as many reps as possible in 45 seconds and then rest for 15 seconds before moving on to the next exercise. After completing all 5 movements in the circuit, rest for 2 minutes and repeat the circuit 3-5 times.

Start in an athletic stance with feet shoulder-width apart and a soft bend in the knees. Shift your weight onto one leg with your chest leaning slightly forward. Pick the opposite foot off the ground and take a lateral leap onto that foot. Ensure your back leg swings behind the standing leg, without letting the back foot touch the floor. Stay on the balls of your feet and swing your arms to help propel each lateral leap.

Start standing with feet shoulder-width apart, weight in the heels, and arms at your sides. Lower your body through a squat position, placing your hands on the floor directly in front of your feet. Shift your weight onto your hands and jump your feet back into a plank position, keeping your core engaged as you bend the arms to lower down into a push-up. When the push-up is complete, jump your feet to the outside of the hands, reach your arms over head and explosively jump up into the air.

Progression: Take the explosive jump to a tuck jump, bringing the knees up to the chest mid-air.

Start in a high plank position with your shoulders stacked directly over the hands. Keep your core engaged and maintain the neck and body in a straight line. Quickly drive your right knee up to your chest and extend the leg back to its starting position while driving the left knee up to the chest in one smooth motion. Continue to alternate driving the knees to the chest and push your pace.

Start by standing in an athletic stance, feet shoulder-width apart, and a soft bend in the knees. Keep your weight in the balls of the feet. Come to a half squat position and begin to chop the feet up and down, quickly running in place. Feet should never come more than a few centimeters off the floor. Keep your hips low and push your pace.

Start in a high plank push-up position with your hands on the floor, placed slightly wider than shoulder width-apart. Keeping your body in a straight line with the core engaged, begin to lower your body towards the ground. In one explosive movement, push the ground away as quickly as possible and extend the arms, bringing your hands up off the floor.

Modification: Take the starting push-up position from your knees or take your hands up to a box to start.

Coaching point: As with any workout, you’re only going to get out what you put in, and only you can control the intensity of this HIIT workout. The movements are simple so you can focus on pushing the pace of each exercise to get the most out of each interval. Remember, nothing worth having comes easy, so embrace the challenge, dig deep and grind it out. You got this.