After training some serious upper-body strength in your last workout, today is the day for a HIIT full-body burner! This workout uses high-intensity interval training (HIIT) to get your heart rate up, making for a fun cardio workout that’s way more engaging than a steady-state jog.
In HIIT-style workouts, you’ll be interspersing periods of superhard effort with lighter periods of recovery. This allows your heart rate to increase more than it would if you were doing traditional reps/sets with rest in between—and since your rest periods are going to be equal to or less than your work periods (depending on which option you choose), your heart rate will likely stay elevated throughout your routine. The result? A heart-pumping, sweat-inducing cardio workout.
In this HIIT full -body burner workout, you’ll be cycling through five cardio moves, some of which you may recognize from Week 1. The only difference? You’ll just be upping the intensity a bit now that you’re well into the challenge! These cardio exercises include the inchworm, lateral shuffle, high knees, skater, and up-down plank.
Along with boosting your cardio endurance, the inchworm and up-down plank will also help you build core strength and shoulder stability too. And the lateral shuffle and skater will have you working in the frontal plane of motion (since you’re moving your legs away from the midline of your body), which is an important way to train real-world, three-dimensional movement. And the high knees exercise can help you build lower-body power, especially in your quads and glutes.
Remember, form is more important than speed—yes, even in a cardio workout—so it’s important you get the moves down before you try to crank them out quicker. A few solid reps will help you reap better results than rushing through your time period with improper form.
If you’re new to exercise, or have preexisting injuries to your hips, knees, or ankles, it’s always a good idea to chat with your doctor to see if a HIIT-style cardio workout is right for you. And if you ever experience chest pain or difficulty breathing during HIIT-style circuits like this, stop exercising immediately and call your doctor. (There are a bunch of reasons why you could feel tightness in your chest, but it’s a good idea to be safe and check with your doctor.)
Get ready to crush this high-intensity cardio workout—and then look forward to your rest day tomorrow!
The workout below is for Day 9 of the SELF Spring Reset Challenge. Check out the full month of workouts right here. Or go to the workout calendar here. If you haven’t signed up to receive daily emails, do that here.
WORKOUT DIRECTIONS
Do each move for your selected period of time. At the end of all 5 moves, rest for 90 seconds. That’s 1 circuit. Do the entire circuit 3–5 times. After your last circuit, try the optional extra credit.
- Option 1: 30 seconds of work, 30 seconds of rest
- Option 2: 40 seconds of work, 20 seconds of rest
- Option 3: 50 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest
EXERCISES
- Inchworm
- Lateral Shuffle
- High Knees
- Skater
- Up-Down Plank
EXTRA CREDIT
Hold a forearm plank for 2 minutes. If you can’t hold it the entire time, try holding a forearm plank for 30-45 seconds, then gently lower your knees to the floor and rest for 15-30 seconds before picking up your knees to go again.
- Forearm Plank Hold x 2 minutes