10 Minute At Home HIIT Workout
In today’s world, some people find it very difficult to find time to exercise due to their busy schedules. If this is you, you might benefit from HIIT workouts!
HIIT, which stands for High Intensity Interval Training, is a term for workouts that involve short periods of intense exercise alternated with rest periods. One of the biggest advantages of HIIT is that you can get optimal health benefits in a short amount of time. HIIT consists of short bursts of intense exercise alternated with low-intensity recovery periods.
Typically, a HIIT workout will range from 10 to 30 minutes in duration, but despite how short the workout is, it can provide more health benefits than moderate intensity exercises. Regardless of what exercises are being completed, HIIT exercises should involve short periods of vigorous exercise that spike your heart rate.
Keep reading for a quick 10 minute HIIT workout that you can do at home.
Run In Place
Targets: glutes, quads, hip flexors, calf, core, and cardio
Running in place is often used as a part of a warmup before an exercise session. It is an exercise that requires you to constantly move and engage your muscles, which improves muscle strength, stability, and flexibility. Running is hard on your body, and it requires and helps to develop a strong core and upper body and lower body. Running in place may help reduce pain in your knees while making them stronger and healthier.
Running in place requires different muscle movements than normal running and doesn’t use the same muscles. By landing more on your toes, it builds lower leg strength.
How To Run In Place:
- Lift your right arm and left foot at the same time and raise your knee as high as your hips.
- Switch to the opposite foot, quickly lifting your right foot to hip height.
- At the same time, move your right arm back and your left arm forward and up.
Do this exercise for 45 seconds.
Plank
Targets: core
The plank is a simple yet effective exercise that helps you build stability and strength throughout your entire body.
The plank is a popular exercise in many exercise routines. It is a bodyweight exercise and can be done pretty much anywhere.
Bodyweight exercises like planks are great for your core, and since they rely on your own bodyweight, they’ll always be tailored to your own workout needs. The plank works a variety of muscles in your body, meaning that adding planks to your workout regimen will make your entire body stronger. But, planks don’t just improve muscle mass. They improve the strength of our skeletal system and they improve our ability to focus and concentrate, and even help us breathe better.
How To Do a Plank:
- Get into forearm plank position. Ensure your elbows on the ground directly underneath your shoulders with your feet hip-width apart.
- Make sure your back is flat and your head and neck are in a neutral position.
- Drive your elbows into the floor, and squeeze your quads, glutes and core.
Hold this exercise for 45 seconds.
Air Squats
Targets: thighs, hamstrings, quads, glutes, core
Air squats, also known as bodyweight squats, are commonly used in CrossFit and workout routines. They are done using your own body weight, while traditional squats may use weights. Air squats are a great way to learn the proper form for squats. Mastering these before moving on to traditional squats reduces the risk of injury.
Air squats also help to build both a solid foundation for strength and balance in your lower body. They target your thighs, hamstrings, quadriceps, and glutes in particular, adding muscle mass in these areas. Air squats can also engage your core.
How To Do an Air Squat:
- Keep your feet at shoulder width apart and pointed straight ahead, arms straight out in front of you.
- Get into a squatting position. When squatting, your hips will move down and back.
- Keep your back as straight as possible. Once you get to the bottom of the movement, extend your legs and return to starting position.
Complete 3 sets of 10 reps of this exercise.
Wall Sit
Targets: quads, glutes, calves
A wall sit is an exercise done to strengthen the quadriceps muscles. Wall sits are used as a primary strengthening exercise in many sports requiring strong quadriceps. This exercise is a real quad burner and is generally used for building isometric strength and endurance in the quads, glutes and calves.
This exercise isolates the quadriceps muscles of the front of your thighs. In sports such as running that mostly work the hamstrings, strengthening the quads helps keep your muscles balanced. The wall sit builds muscular endurance which reduces fatigue and allows athletes to perform for longer periods of time. Strong quads are also important for non athletes, as you use them for getting out of a chair or walking down stairs.
How To Do a Wall Sit:
- Start with your back against a wall with your feet shoulder-width apart and about 2 feet from the wall.
- Engage your ab muscles and slide your back down the wall until your thighs are parallel to the ground.
- Adjust your feet so your knees are directly above your ankles and keep your back flat against the wall.
Hold this exercise for 45 seconds.
Push Ups
Targets: pectoral muscles, shoulders, triceps, abs
Traditional push ups are beneficial for upper body strength. They work the triceps, pectoral muscles and shoulders. When done with proper form, they can also strengthen the back and core by engaging the abdominal muscles. Push ups are a fast and effective exercise for building strength.
How To Do a Push Up:
- Get down on all fours, placing your hands slightly wider than your shoulders.
- Straighten your arms and legs.
- Lower your body until your chest nearly touches the floor.
- Pause, then push yourself back up.
Complete 3 sets of 10 reps.
HIIT exercise is a great and effective way to get the most out of your workouts in the least possible amount of time. If you find that you don’t have enough time in the day to get a workout in, try this 10 minute at home HIIT workout.