The workout you didn't know you needed. This HIIT workout for fat loss at home needs no equipment and is an effective way to improve your cardio and increase your metabolism.
As a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist, I use workouts like this with some of my clients because they're easy to fit into your schedule no matter how busy your day.
HIIT Workouts Versus Strength Training
HIIT stands for high-intensity interval training. Which means this workout gets spicy. HIIT workouts are a great way to shed fat fast and build muscle.
Both HIIT workouts and traditional strength workouts can be used to lose weight and build muscle.
However, HIIT workouts will give more of a cardio challenge and target muscle endurance in addition to strength. This makes them a great choice for anyone short on time.
The best HIIT exercises are also often combo exercises or compound exercises that target the most muscle groups possible in an intense way.
The Fat Burning HIIT Workout
| Curtsy Lunge | 10 reps per leg |
| Squat Jumps | 25 seconds |
| Plank With Shoulder Taps or Walking Planks | 8 reps per arm |
| Burpees | 30 seconds |
| Bear Crawl | 30 seconds |
| Rest | 30 seconds |
To perform it: Perform each exercise back to back for the prescribed repetitions or time. Rest for 30 to 45 seconds and repeat for a total of three rounds.
If you're looking for more of a low impact workout, try this beginner HIIT workout instead.
The Workout PDF
Below is a printable PDF of the at home, fat-burning HIIT workout. Click the image to download and print it. Then, write down any notes as you go through it.
Want over 20 printable home workouts without any ads? Check out these Printable Power Workouts. All kinds of workouts to help you kick off your fitness journey right in one spot.
Tips To Perform The Workout
One of the crucial elements when working out at home (and especially using bodyweight exercises) is learning how to properly engage your muscles and tweak your own form- especially with high intensity interval training!
In particular, simply going through the motions as fast as you can, will become ineffective quickly. Instead, learn to slow it down and focus on engaging the muscles versus just doing.
Hot tip: If burpees suck to you, perform the movement without the ju,p (just up and down to standing) or use rolling squats instead.
Curtsy Lunge
Perform ten repetitions on each leg
- Begin standing upright
- Step back and towards your midline with your left foot
- Bend the back knee and drop down into a “curtsy” while keeping the front knee in line with the foot
- Reverse the movement and repeat on the opposite leg
This exercise is a great lunge variation (check out my favorite lunge variations here) that’s a little more geared towards the glutes.
Squat Jumps or Rolling Squats
Perform twenty-five seconds
- Begin standing upright
- Drive your hips back, bend the knees and begin lowering into a squat
- Drive through your feet and explode your arms up to jump up from the bottom position
- Land softly on the ball of the foot and immediately sink down into your next squat
A classic calisthenics option this exercise drives power through the lower body and explodes against gravity. If it's too intense, try performing speed squats instead.
Plank With Shoulder Tap or Walking Planks
Perform eight repetitions on each arm
- Begin in a plank position on your hands
- Keep the hands directly below the shoulders and the feet wider than normal
- Without dropping the low back or excessively twisting the hips, tap your right hand to your left shoulder
- Return to the ground and repeat on the other side
This plank exercise challenges your stability and the strength of the glutes and shoulders while supporting the movement change. Check out these plank variations for more ideas.
Burpees
Perform for thirty seconds
- Begin standing upright
- Drop down flat to the ground with your chest on the floor
- As soon as your chest touches the floor push back up to a plank position
- Jump the feet close to the hands and come into a deep squat position
- Explode up from the squat into a jump with your hands above your head
This exercise is the easiest way to get your heart rate up! It hits every major muscle group and challenges your endurance
Bear Crawls
Perform this exercise for thirty seconds
- come onto all fours lifting the knees so that they hover above the ground
- keeping the hips low move one hand and the opposite leg forward
- repeat on the other side and begin to crawl forward
- perform the crawls forward and backwards
This exercise targets the entire body but there’s extra work needed from the quads and shoulders. It takes us back to basic movements and really gets the hips and surrounding muscles fired up.
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Frequently Asked Questions About HIIT Workouts
Due to the nature of the workout, interval training is a great way to lose weight. Interval training keeps your heart rate up the entire time you exercise which helps burn calories (and thus body fat).
Plus, many of the exercises, when done correctly are strength-based which helps stimulate muscles.
Though much of belly fat will come down to nutrition and inflammation, HIIT training is a great form of exercise to pair with other changes. Learn more about the pillars of weight loss here
Definitely. It’s not the length of the HIIT workouts as much as the effort and intensity of the HIIT cardio workouts.
So long as you’re engaging the muscles and consistently scaling your effort, results will come.
All of this can easily be done in twenty minutes (or less!). Plus, as you progress you can always build up your workout time.
Add in an extra set every other week or even a couple of minutes of HIIT to keep your strength and fat loss progressing.
That's up to you. You can either perform this HIIT workout 2-3 times per week (with rest days in between) or add it into a 3 day workout split and perform it only once, for a cardio hit.
Sage Scott says
Fantastic tips! I'm going to remember these for when I travel.