HIIT Workout for Beginners

Workout Video: HIIT Workout for Beginners | A 4 Step Workout Routine

by DualFIT expert trainer Steve Pfiester

Training Style: HIIT, High Intensity Interval Training.

Tools: Dumbbells or Barbell, Mat and box, bench or chair.

Training Tips: This workout can be modified to match your physical ability. For instance, you can increase rest time and/or decrease work time to make it easier, or you can decrease rest time and increase work time to make it more challenging. So, although this was designed for beginners, it can be modified for anyone.

Complete the following exercises, doing 20 Seconds of Intense Exercise followed by 10 seconds rest.

HIIT Workout Exercise #1

• 20 Thrusters
• 10 Rest
• 20 Plank
• 10 Rest

Complete 4 Times

HIIT Workout Exercise #2

• 20 Bent Row
• 10 Rest
• 20 Up, Up, Down, Down Plank
• 10 Rest

Complete 4 Times

HIIT Workout Exercise #3

• 20 Push Up
• 10 Rest
• 20 Bicep Curls
• 10 Rest

Complete 4 Times

HIIT Workout Exercise #4

• 20 Bicycle Crunches
• 10 Rest
• 20 Elbow Plank
• 10 Rest

Complete 4 Times

Other Intervals to Try:

• 30/30: 30 Seconds of Exercise & 30 Seconds of Rest
• 30/30/30: 30 Seconds of the 1^st Exercise ( no rest), 30 Seconds of the 2^nd Exercise and 30 Seconds rest
• 45/15: 45 Seconds of Exercise & 15 Seconds of Rest
• 50/10: 50 Seconds of Exercise & 10 Seconds of Rest

Transcript for the Video

 

Hi. This is Steve Pfiester, with DualFIT.com. I’m going to take you through a 20 minute HIIT workout for beginners. Guys, don’t get freaked out by the term HIIT. It’s just an [inaudible: 00:16] term for interval training. It stands for High-Intensity Interval Training. It was born out of high- intensity intermittent exercise, and that’s really what we’re going to do today. It’s going to be an exercise that’s relatively high-intense, followed by something moderate. Today, we’re just going to full-on rest. Our ratio today is going to be 2:1; 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off. If that’s too overwhelming for you, for beginners, we can go to 1:1 ratio; 15 seconds on, 15 seconds off. The important thing is that high-intensity interval has to be just that; it has to be highly intense. Let’s get started.

The tools you’re going to need for today’s workout is some sort of resistance, whether you use dumbbells, whether you use 2 gallons of water. I’m going to use a regular bar. I have a 65-pound bar set up for myself. You’re going to need a mat to help protect your elbows. Then I’m using a platform, so during my squats, I know how far I need to get down and back up. We have 4 4-minute segments to get through. We’re going to repeat this 4 times before moving to the next segment. The first one is thrusters followed by plank. It’s just going to be thrusters followed by just a static holding plank. 20 seconds on of thrusters, followed by 10 seconds of rest, then 20 seconds of plank followed by 10 seconds rest. I’m going to start my timer.

Thrusters are a unique exercise; they use a lot of joint movement. First thing we need to do is clean the bar to our chest; a proper squat. I move my hips back. Here’s the bell. I sit and I press. I’m not using my shoulders, I’m using my hips. I push through my heels. Good midline stabilization and I press. This isn’t quite high-intense enough; I need to be moving as fast as I can without my form breaking down. Lock it out completely over the top. There’s 20 seconds. We just get to rest for 10. Get ready for plank. The next exercise is just a static hold plank.

There’s the bell. 20 seconds in plank. What am I thinking about? My hands need to be underneath my chest, right underneath my shoulders in a straight line. My stomach is in tight, and I’m trying not to life my bottom or sag. Remember, once we get out of plank, we get 10 more seconds of rest, and then we have to repeat this 3 more times. There it is. Back to thrusters for 20 seconds, 10 seconds off; back to plank. We need 4 rounds of this.

The next couple we’re going to do is bent over row, followed up-up-down- down in plank. I’ll explain that in just a second. Remember, its 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off. You don’t have to use a crazy-heavy weight. I’m only using 65 pounds. Let’s get ready for the bell. 20 seconds fast as we can go. There it is. With good form, hold here. Remember, when you do this for 4 minutes straight, it’s going to be 4 rounds of bent over rows followed by up-up-down-down in plank. Using my lats, my bottom is out, my back stays straight, and I pull to my gut. Don’t pull up here to your chest; pull in to your stomach.

Relax. We have 10 seconds to recover. The reason we recover for 10 seconds is because I want the next interval to be intense. Start on your elbows. Good plank. Up-up-down-down, as fast as you can go. That’s it. Up-up-down- down. Elbow-elbow, palm-palm, elbow-elbow, palm-palm, elbow-elbow. Keep that stomach in tight, guys. Look, I’m alternating sides. Fast as you can go, followed by 10 second break.

At the end of this, we need to go through 3 more rounds of that. Let’s keep this going. We’re halfway through this workout. The next segment is going to be curls followed by pushups. When you’re breathing hard, curls are relatively tough. We’re going to start by donning the bar straight up. Do not swing. We don’t need a crazy-heavy weight. What I don’t want you to do is use your hips. Try to stay in good from. We’re going as fast as we can without form breaking down. We’re going to work the biceps. Then we’re going to move into pushup, where we use triceps, shoulders, and chest; full- body today. Fast as you can go without your form breaking down.

We don’t have to get into pushup position until the bell rings, so shake that out and relax. We want that relaxed period because we want to do our pushups as good as possible. Hands underneath the chest, all the way down, all the way up. I don’t want you in here like this, guys. All the way down, all the way up. If you need to move to your knees, you can; there’s nothing wrong with that. What I don’t want to see is this, from the hips. Straight down, straight up; just pump them out. Fantastic.

Curls, pushups; tough segment. You’ve got 3 more rounds of this for a total of 4 minutes. Get ‘er done. These hip workouts always need to finish with something light-core. That’s my favorite thing to do. We’ve used the large muscle groups to work; now we’re moving on to core. Bicycle crunches followed by elbow plank; that’s all core. 20 seconds of bicycle crunches. For a good bicycle crunch, you have to make sure you keep your shoulders up and your elbows stay out. I’m going to rotate towards my knee as fast as I can go. I don’t want to go so fast that my form breaks down. I want to make sure I’m rotating my body. Shoulder blades are up, bottom is lifted, side- to-side. As you get fatigued, you’re going to want to bring your elbows in. Don’t do that. 20 seconds; you can work hard for 20 seconds. Now we get into break.

Let’s let those abdominals calm down just a little bit. Moving into elbow plank. With elbow plank, to make it even more efficient, hold that belly button in tight and pull your elbows forward. Watch. I go up on my tippy toes, I lift my bottom slightly, I want to get that abdominal contraction. I hold my tummy in. I don’t breathe deep, I breathe with my chest. 3 seconds, 2 seconds, 1. We have 4 minutes of that. That means 3 more rounds.

I didn’t pick these exercises, these couplets. I didn’t pick them randomly, they have purpose. The first one was thrusters followed by plank. The next one was bent over row, then the up-up-down-down. Curls and pushups; a push and a pull. We finished with core, so everything has purpose. This should be a 20-minute workout, depending on your intervals of work followed by rest. If you have to go to segments of 15 followed by 15 rest, that’s perfectly fine. Try to stay with me at 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off the way it was written.

All right, guys. Good luck.

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