At-Home HIIT Workout For Busy Women

The trendy HIIT workouts are popular for one reason: results. The structure is attractive for athletes and busy moms alike. With 10 to 30 minutes of work a couple times each week, you'll be able to burn calories and transform your body from the inside out. Every time you peak your cardio threshold, you'll earn hours of calorie-torching action post-workout – and you don't have to do anything! We've put together a quick at-home HIIT training workout for you.

Getting warmer. Before you dive into it, prime the muscles. It takes your body 3 to 5 minutes to efficiently switch energy systems when you begin aerobic training. Check out a warm-up here or follow the one below:

• Minute 1: Jumping jacks and butt kicks – alternate between the two as you want for 60 seconds. Your exertion level should be less than halfway to your hardest working speed.
• Minute 2: Pushups and inchworms – try giving five solid pushups for every two inchworms. This will warm up the upper body and get you used to working in a horizontal plane.
• Minute 3: Reverse stepping lunges and jumping lunges – Advance your steps into jumps if you can, splitting your time with each exercise. You can swap lunges or squats or plié squats and jumps if you prefer.

If you're feeling good, move onto the next part or go back and pick another minute of work to repeat until you feel good to go!

Minutes 4 and 5, turn it up! Time for your first peak building moment. For the next two minutes, you'll perform an ascending ladder using two exercises:

• 10 mountain climbers
• 2 forward stepping lunges

For the lunges, you'll complete one on each side for a total of two reps. Every time to come back to the lunges, you'll add two more reps, but you'll always perform 10 mountain climbers.

Here's the standard for your mountain climbers:

Look at the image below to mirror the lunge technique. Notice how the chest is lifted and both knees bend at 90 degrees. Keep your front knee behind the front toes and the back knee under the hip.

Minute 6 is active recovery.

It's not always go, go, go during these HIIT workouts. In fact, you need to incorporate a rest period. Like any busy mom, you're not one to sit around idly. Instead of stopping completely, you'll gradually take the heart rate down with control and maintain it at a lower aerobic level. For the next 60 seconds, complete as many side lunge rows (shown above) as possible, with or without dumbbells.

Minutes 7 and 8, crank it up, again!

For the next two minutes, you'll pick a number between six and 12. Stick to that number — it's the amount of reps you'll complete of the next three exercises. You'll cycle through them without stopping until the two minutes are up:

• Hand-Release Pushups:
  Step 1: Begin in high plank. Your body should be a straight, diagonal line from your head to your heels. Step 2: Keeping your core tight and squeezing your glutes, lower your chest completely down to the floor under control, angling your elbows out to no more than 45 degrees. Step 3: At the bottom of the movement, raise your hands up off the floor slightly by squeezing your shoulder blades together. Place your hand back on the floor and push back up into high plank. That is one rep. Repeat for allotted time.

(Photo: Skinny Mom / PopCulture.com)

• Prisoner Jacks:
  Step 1: Stand with your feet close together, hands behind your head, and lower down into a narrow squat so that your weight shifts back to your heels. Step 2: Staying low, but with your chest up, push off your heels and jump your feet wide, landing in a wide squat position. Jump back to the start position. Continue jumping your feet out and in with a squat as fast as you can.

(Photo: Skinny Mom / PopCulture.com)

• Crouching Tiger:
  Step 1: Start on all fours, with your hands directly under your shoulders and your knees directly under your hips. Curl the toes under and pop the hips up so the knees are hovering above the ground about 2 inches. Look at the floor between your hands. Step 2: Rotate the hips and torso as you kick one leg out to the side. You'll do this by lifting the hand off the ground and swinging the opposite leg under the body. Flex the foot and straighten the leg as best you can. Return the leg to hovering position and repeat on the opposite side. Try not to put those knees down or pike the hips!

Do not stop until time is up! Once you're finished, take 45 seconds to catch your breath. Finish the workout with your favorite stretches or ab routine, like the 30/20/10 Rock Your Core workout.