Welcome to your first workout challenge! Every weekend we’ll be providing a new workout, in a nice printable format, for you to try during the coming week. We’ll be featuring different styles of workouts, geared toward people of all fitness abilities. Some might be challenging for you, some might be a piece of cake. Make sure to check with a medical professional first if you have any concerns about your ability to begin a fitness program and feel free customize to your level of comfort.
First, we’d like to introduce you to our featured Fit Club Trainer, Jani!
Jani has over 20 years of experience working in the fitness industry. She has a BS in Health Promotion and is certified in many disciplines including personal training, group exercise, yoga, Pilates, TRX suspension training, Insanity®, Zumba®, and water fitness. She currently teaches a variety of group exercise classes for the Treasure Valley West YMCA in Boise, ID and also owns her own personal training business, Body Balance Training. As a busy mom of five kids she understands the challenge of finding a balance between family , church, work, maintaining a home, and taking care of ourselves. She believes that if we can make our own health and well-being a priority, we will be better equipped to handle the demands of a busy lifestyle and enjoy a better quality of life.
I have personally had my butt kicked by Jani before, this chick knows what she’s doing! We’re so happy to have her on the OBB Team, and you’ll be seeing more of her in the weeks to come. I will turn it over to her now to explain this workout she’s designed for you. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment on this post!
Hi everyone! I am so excited to be on the OBB Fit Club team! One of the best ways to stay motivated and on track with your exercise and eating is to have a strong support team and some accountability. This club gives us an opportunity for both as we all cheer each other on and report our progress. Lets do this!
The great thing about this weeks workout is that you can do it anywhere. It takes up minimal space, and there’s no equipment needed, so NO EXCUSES.
It is a total body HIIT workout. HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training. What I love about HIIT workouts is that you get the biggest bang for your time. Most of us don’t have the time to spend hours working out and these workouts are short and powerful. And best of all, because we alternate between high intensity and low intensity (or rest) you burn MAXIMUM CALORIES…way more than you would by just hopping on a treadmill or a bike for the same amount of time. The only equipment you’ll need is your body and a HIIT timer app. There are several options for timer apps for both iPhone and Android, and most are free.
Begin with a 5 minute warm-up of light jogging in place and a combo of body weight squats, lunges, and wall push-ups. Or if you have access to a treadmill or stationery bike you can do that for 5 minutes. Really, anything that gets your muscles warmed up and your joints ready to go!
There are 10 intervals so you’ll set the timer for 10 sets; 30 seconds work; 10 seconds rest. Aim to complete this workout 3-4 days during the week.
1. Squat Jacks– With feet hip width apart, squat down pushing booty to the back of the room. Touch your toes, and as you come up, lift arms out to your sides and over head into a jumping jack.
2. Mountain climbers– Plank position, keep your hips down, core tight, and quickly alternate knees toward chest.
3. Push-ups to alternating side plank– Push-up then rotate right arm and right hip to the ceiling, then repeat, push-up, rotate left arm and hip. (moderation: knees on the floor for the push-up.)
4. Jump lunges– Standing lunge position with both knees at 90*, jump switch. (moderation: You can take the jump out and just do alternating reverse lunges.)
5. Tricep dips– Hands and feet on the floor with fingers pointing toward heels. Bend elbows, lowering hips to the floor.
6. High knee run– Get those knees up!
7. Plank Shoulder taps– Plank position, alternating taps to opposite shoulder. (moderation: keep knees on the floor)
8. Single leg dead lift with hop, RIGHT LEG– Balance on the right leg, hinge from hips, left hand touches the floor, come up and hop. All 30 seconds on the same leg. (moderation: just reach half way down and leave out the hop)
9. Side to side shuffle- quick feet shuffle right, touch the floor, shuffle left touch the floor.
10. Single leg dead lift with hop, LEFT LEG– Same thing as #8, but balance on the left leg.
For those of you who are new to HIIT workouts or have not been working out on a regular basis, it can be pretty intense. Start slow and use the moderation. Just do one round and work your way up to 2 or 3. Take a 30 second to one minute break between each round…enough time to catch your breath, grab a drink of water and towel off your sweat! For those of you who are intermediate or advanced exercisers, go for 3 rounds and work as hard as you can in those 30 second intervals. You should be sweating up a storm in no time! Be sure to stretch afterward and in 30 minutes or less you are done!!!
On the printable sheet, you’ll find a mini workout card, like this:
You can punch a hole in the corner and start collecting them on a ring, or tape it to your fridge, or whatever. How many of you bought that laminator last month?? You know I laminated mine!
There’s also a half-sheet version with the exercise descriptions included for those of you who are less familiar with these moves and would like a little reminder. In the future, we might provide a quick video run-through for you, but for now, if you’re not sure what any of these mean, just do a quick google search and they should pop right up.
Yay! I’ve created a YouTube Exercise playlist with demonstrations of each of these exercises to get me started. I’m a visual person so that’s going to help me do the exercises correctly. Thank you!
Awesome!
So glad I YouTubed them otherwise I would’ve done them all wrong. I now feel like I’m going to die! 🙂 Here’s to being super shaky and sweaty, haha!
I’m excited to try the workout later, but was wondering how I enter HIIT into My Fitness Pal app. I have had this problem before, maybe I’m just missing it, but I’d love any advice. I know Sara mentioned she used the app in her past fitness post. Thank you!!
Do they have circuit training as an option? HIIT is a little different, but that might be the closest thing.
Did it! For sure at the beginner level. Only one set for me and then some yoga. Eventually I’ll get to the advandance, it just might take awhile. Thanks guys!
So I decided to try the workout this morning (monday am) and got through only 2 sets and got so nauseous!! I read that can be normal with HIIT workouts (or maybe I’m just so out of shape) but was not expecting that! Thanks for the power workout! Should I try another again later or wait until tomorrow?
Elina, you might need to take a little extra time warming up if you are getting nauseated and maybe go at a slower pace. Two rounds is still GREAT, especially with these intense workouts! I would stick with just 1 or 2 rounds and then work your way up to 3. You don’t want to start out with too much too fast. Did you do the workout 1st thing this morning before breakfast? Making sure you eat something at least 30 minutes prior to your workout might help with the nausea as well.
When I 1st started doing HIIT I also got really nauseous! What worked for me was to eat a small banana with some almond butter about 30-45 mins before
I have been pretty bored with my exercise routine lately and this is exactly what I needed! I did it this morning and after I did some push ups and pull ups. I loved it! Thank you so much for doing this!!!
This was crazy! I made it through almost 3 sets until my kids got in the way.. But I was tired! I too thought the KFC ad was a little comical…
Thanks so much for doing this! I’m so excited!
Do you have any suggestions for a warm up and cool down before and after the HIIT workout?
Alli, just warm up with 5 minutes of less intense activity…light jog in place, standing lunges, half squats, wall-push-ups, or even just going up and down your stairs (if you have them). You just need to make sure that your muscles are warm and joints ready to go. Afterward, just do a little walking until your heart rate comes down and then do some stretching.
Wow! Hiit is some tough business! Links to videos of each move would help us with not so perfect form. I’d also like to see modifications for us folks who just need some extra help for whatever reason. I just keep telling myself to keep going no matter what modification I need to make.
Jennifer, that is perfect! Take all the modifications you need, and in no time you will be pumping these out. We will definitely look into posting some pictures or videos for the future.
Thank you! I’ve been working out for a while now, but I’ve felt kind of stagnant. This is exactly what I need! And yes, I bought the laminator and totally plan on finally using it for this!
This is awesome! Thank you so, so much! I am so excited to be a part of this group. ♥
I just started doing Hiit works outputs about 6 weeks ago and live them. I am always looking for a different one to try. Thanks! I’m looking forward to seeing what else you post for being Lean in 2015!
Thanks for this! Question-I was doing workouts similar to this a few months ago and would get really dizzy every time. I thought it was dehydration but hydrating more didn’t seem to make much difference. I’ve been running pretty regularly for a few months and I never get dizzy when I run. I did this workout 2x today and I am super dizzy. Do you know what the cause of this could be? I like workouts like this because they give me variety and full body exercise but the dizziness isn’t worth it and it often lasts all day. Just wondering if you have any tips for me or if maybe this type of workout just isn’t for me. 🙁
Diane, you are not alone. I have had other clients and students who have had this problem as well. I, myself, have something called benign positional verigo. It comes very randomly, usually in the winter and is worse when I have a cold. However, mine only affects me when I’m lying on my back, or lie back too quickly. You might google benign positional vertigo and see if that sounds like what you are experiencing. This workout does go back and forth from standing to plank several times and the up and down might be what is causing your dizziness and also why you don’t get it when you are running. You might try doing all the standing exercises together and then take a break, and slowly come down to the ground for all the plank exercises together. See if that makes a difference. There are, however, several reasons that cause dizziness, and if it continues to be a problem I would see a doctor.
Thank you, I appreciate the response. I did it again this morning and did what you suggested. I also tried to focus my eyes on one object the whole time I was doing the exercises, especially the jumping ones. I also did 20 seconds between excercises and tried to take long deep breaths during the break. I thought maybe more oxygen might help too. Honestly, I felt a lot better this time! I was slightly dizzy but not bad at all and it didn’t last long. Thanks again for the tip and also the tip from Jessica to keep my head up. I’ll try that too.
You should also try to keep your head above your heart while you’re doing the up-to-down movements. Don’t look down while you’re doing squat jacks, etc.
Great addition to OBB! One that would really help me is pictures or video of the exercises in proper form.
Perfect timing! I wanted to exercise this morning and needed an at-home workout. I will be honest, I have not been a faithfully routine exerciser as of late (like the past few months). But I am totally on board and determined to change that! Looking forward to feeling better, taking better care of myself, and fitting better in my jeans. This workout was awesome. Thank you!
I”m excited to try this today! (The bottom half of the printable card was covered by a KFC ad. Hee.)
Oh my gosh, that is FUNNY! haha!
Thank you so much for providing this and thank you to Jani for taking the time to help out with Fit Club! I will be starting this early am. This is going to be great.
Thank you so much, this is a grat workout on the days I don’t make it to the gym (or out of the house in general.) I know there are so many variables, but about how many calories do you burn in a workout like this?
Suz, tough question to which there really is no straight answer, because there are so many variables involved, body weight, body composition, how hard you work out, and our sex, males burn more calories than females, go figure. But that being said, you can burn anywhere from 12 to 20 calories per minute.
i just so happened to see this in my news feed today! i attend a class that does HIIT 2x per week but have been wanting to add in at least one more day to my week. i’m going to try this! HIIT is hard but FAST and i love it! just hope i have the motivation to do it at home on my own instead of a in a group. thanks for this, so fab.
Thanks so much! I’m really looking forward to participating in the fit club!
Thanks for the great workout I can do at home. Great jump start.
I’ve heard HIIT routines should only be done about 3-4 times a week. What frequency would you recommend for this workout? Can you or should you do this everyday?
Looks good though. I’ll be doing this tomorrow.
Heather, that is right, up to 3-4x per wk for HIIT workouts. You can do other forms of exercise on the other days.
LOVE the printables! And the fact that I have an unopened laminator sitting in my closet 😉 This is awesome. Thanks!
Ha ha! I totally thought ‘my first project for the laminator!’ Having these weekly workouts is such a huge bonus-thank you!
Maybe it’s just me, but I’m not following some of these interval descriptions (like #1,7,8). A quick video would be really helpful.
There are you tube videos for almost every exercise under the sun if you’re unfamiliar-it’s a great resource!
Hi Haley, In the future we might try to provide a video run-through, but for now- if you’re unsure of any of the moves a quick google search (like Sara W. said) should pop them right up! If you’re still unclear on anything, please do ask and we’ll help you get it figured out!
Squat jacks: http://youtu.be/EOu1cTHB6J8
Alternating shoulder taps: http://youtu.be/a4l64WNMQR4
Single leg dead lifts with hop: http://youtu.be/QAu9qojoQxs (except in my description I have you reach for the floor with the opposite hand. Either way is fine)
So excited!!! I think I will be in pain tomorrow, but good pain. =)
Just printed the version with descriptions. I’ve never done most of these moves, so we’ll see how it goes. But I’m committed to doing it 3 times this week! Alarm set for 5am tomorrow.
Those 10 second rest intervals sure do go by fast. 🙂 3 rounds completed. Awesome. I have always been hesitant with these kind of workouts but I loved it! Thank you very much.
I’m all for HIIT! No time for much more and I won’t get bored. Excited for tomorrow!
Thank you for putting this together! Looks fun and challenging!!