This week, my first beginner HIIT workout was released! HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training and is one of the best forms of exercise for burning calories, even after you stop exercising. This after-burn effect has made HIIT workouts extremely popular among millions of fitness enthusiasts throughout the world.
Up to this point, over on the Properly Built YouTube channel, I have focused on workouts for intermediate and advanced exercisers. Now, I wanted to give beginners an opportunity to experience this type of training. That is why the Low Impact Beginner HIIT Workout was released. It’s certainly challenging, but allows exercisers to go at their own pace, and get to know this fast and effective way of training.
But why did I choose the exercises that I did for this workout? In this post I give you an inside look at the thought process behind choosing the correct movements, and the benefits of each.
Each exercise is broken down to reveal the muscles it targets, the benefits of working this area of your body, and the psychology behind the sequence they are performed in.
Before we break it down, take a look at the preview of the Low Impact Beginner Workout so that you can visualise each exercise that we will be talking about.
The Low Impact Beginner HIIT Preview
1. Star Steps
The first movement of any workout is critical. It sets the tone and pace of the session and prepares the body mentally and physically for what’s to come. Star Steps are a good choice here as they immediately get the whole body moving. You are forced to think of where your body is (called proprioception), and to make tiny adjustments to your balance and form.
Your co-ordination is also fired, as you do two big movements at once. These big movements force the body to warm-up, and thus prepares your muscles for the exercises to come. This move focuses on your leg muscles, shoulders and core.
2. Slow Motion Mountain Climbers
As this is a low impact workout, I wanted to be particularly kind to people’s knees. Therefore, exercise two is in slow motion!
Normally, Mountain Climbers are done at an almost running like speed. This time, however, they are slowed way down as we purposely focus on the reach to the sky and the knee lift. This is a great mobility exercise and builds the exerciser’s confidence, as most people can do this move quite easily.
Activate your core each time you lift your knee to really get a good abdominal workout too. After the first two exercises in this workout, you feel like you are slowly building momentum, and naturally glide into movement number three.
3. Shuttle Runs
After staying in the same position for the previous exercises, now it’s time to move around a little! Here, we are aiming to increase our heart rate and work on our cardio.
In this workout, Shuttle Runs involve shuffling from side to side and touching the ground before changing direction. The fact that you have to lower your body to touch the ground, improves lower back mobility and pushes you to squat slightly to fully reach.
The pace of the workout increases with this move. Back, arm, core and leg muscles are worked here and this exercise acts as a nice launch pad into the rest of the HIIT session.
4. Squat Pulses with Punches
Have you ever tried a Squat Pulse? If you have, then you know the burn that you feel! It is such a deceptive move. It looks so easy, but quickly turns into a war of attrition between you and your mind, whether or not to keep going!
This is an excellent all round leg strengthener. Add to this the constant punching, and you have a very good cardio and strength move. The key to getting the full benefit of this exercise is to really push yourself to keep going for the entire forty seconds that is required.
This one will make you stronger both physically and mentally.
5. Elbow Touch in Push-Up Position
After predominantly working our legs in the last two exercises, we now focus more on the upper body and core.
The simple static Push-Up position is an excellent core move that really engages your entire core area. The idea behind the elbow touch is to go from four points of contact with the ground (two hands and two feet) to three points of contact, as one hand is momentarily raised off the ground to touch your elbow.
Once this happens, your body is forced to balance and adjust by putting slightly more pressure on your abdominal and back muscles. This works them hard and helps them become stronger. Your chest and arms have to stay strong too to hold your body weight, and finally, you have to focus so that you don’t tip over!
6. Glute Bridge with Chest Press
So far in this workout we have trained the legs, shoulders, arms, chest and core. We now finish by targeting the glutes (bum), hamstrings, and lower core.
With the Glute Bridge, you lie flat on your back, bring your heels to your bum, and then push your hips up so that only your feet and upper back are touching the ground. At the same time as you raise your hips, push your hands skyward as if doing a chest press. All in all, this is an excellent all round move that engages your entire body, and is wonderful for anyone fighting any lower back issues.
And that’s it! Once those six exercises are completed you have just one more thing to do…repeat them all again!
Doubling up on exercises in a workout is actually a great way of building an exerciser’s confidence. If, during the first round you were a little lost, then second time round your pace will be up, you’ll feel more in control, and you can focus more on your effort rather than solely on technique.
This workout lasts just twelve minutes, so the time investment is low. With no equipment and just a tiny bit of space needed, my aim is to break down the barriers to exercise, in the most fun and stress free way that I can.
The workouts will keep on coming over on the Properly Built YouTube Channel!
So if you enjoy variety and have no time for the gym, get over there and start building the body you want, one quick HIIT session at a time.