A sedentary lifestyle can significantly increase your risk for cardiovascular disease. People who watch four or more hours of television each day have an 80% higher risk of dying from heart disease. This is compared to those who watch two hours or less.

Many of us spend even more than four hours in front of computer screens due to our jobs. This extended sitting can be just as harmful.

What is the good news? Including a bodyweight HIIT workout into your routine regularly can help combat these risks. Just 20 to 30 minutes of physical activity daily can lower your heart disease risk. By the way, HIIT stands for high-intensity interval training; if you didn’t know it, now you do!

The American Heart Association recommends getting in 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise each week. This helps counteract the negative effects of sitting too much. Or, you can do shorter and more intense bursts of exercise like HIIT.

6 Best Bodyweight HIIT Workouts You Can Do At Home

We will discuss six different styles of bodyweight HIIT workouts and the benefits of HIIT below. These workouts are perfect for those who are short on time or unable to get to the gym. 

You can do them right in your office with minimal space needed. Let’s check them out.

20-Minute Full-Body Bodyweight HIIT Workout

This workout is a total body blaster. It targets major muscle groups like the legs, core, chest, and back. The goal is to elevate your heart rate and maintain intensity throughout. 

A study has shown that just six weeks of full-body HIIT improved cardiovascular function in previously sedentary adults. It is considered a great option for reducing the risk of heart disease.

You’ll feel the burn in your quads during squats and your chest during push-ups. The plank jacks will set your core on fire. This routine is perfect for busy days when you need a quick, effective workout.

Think of this workout as your personal fitness playground. Each exercise is like a mini-challenge, testing your limits and pushing you beyond your comfort zone. It’s not just about sweating — it’s about proving to yourself what you can achieve in just a few intense minutes.

The beauty of this full-body HIIT workout lies in its simplicity and efficiency. No fancy equipment is needed, just your body weight and a bit of determination.

TABATA HIIT Workout

Tabata is a form of HIIT developed in Japan and created by Dr. Izumi Tabata in the 1990s. This workout consists of eight rounds of twenty seconds of intense effort followed by ten seconds of rest. This workout style has been dubbed one of the most energetically effective training methods.

Tabata is the king of HIIT protocols, pushing your body to its limits in just four minutes per exercise. This workout targets your entire body, with a focus on cardiovascular endurance and muscular strength. Your legs will feel the burn during high knees and squat thrusts, while diamond push-ups will challenge your upper body.

Prepare for an intense, sweat-dripping session that boosts your metabolism for hours after completion. It’s one of the fastest workouts you can do, finished in just 20 minutes. Tabata simultaneously improves aerobic and anaerobic fitness, improving your overall athletic performance.

Aerobic exercises use oxygen to produce energy and can be sustained for longer periods. Anaerobic exercises are high-intensity, short-duration activities that don’t rely on oxygen for energy production. Aerobic fitness improves endurance and cardiovascular health, while anaerobic fitness builds strength and muscle mass.

This workout also promotes muscular endurance, allowing muscles to sustain repetitive efforts over time. Despite its short duration, Tabata meets guidelines for improving cardiorespiratory fitness.

30-Minute Full Body Strengthening HIIT Workout

This workout focuses on building strength while keeping your heart rate up. It targets all major muscle groups with compound movements. You’ll feel stronger and more toned after consistent practice.

Plyometric push-ups will challenge your upper body and core, enhancing explosive strength and stability. As you push off the ground, you engage your chest, shoulders, and triceps. Bulgarian split squats will fire up your quads and glutes, improving lower body strength with each rep.

This routine is perfect for those looking to build strength without heavy weights. The dynamic nature of these movements keeps your heart rate elevated, promoting cardiovascular fitness alongside muscular endurance.

Expect to feel the burn as you progress through the exercises. This workout improves muscle tone and enhances coordination and agility. With regular practice, you’ll notice increased power in your movements and improved overall performance.

All-Out HIIT Interval Training

This workout is designed to push your limits. It focuses on movements that challenge your entire body and can help improve your explosive power. 

Your heart rate will soar, and you’ll burn calories long after the workout ends. This routine is perfect for those looking to break through fitness plateaus. This is when you’re stuck and not progressing even though you continue to exercise as usual.

Lunge jumps will target your quads and glutes and improve agility. Sit-up stand-ups and double-leg donkey kicks will work your core while increasing your heart rate. And if you are looking for a workout that targets the abs even more check out this HIIT ab workout. 

The high-intensity nature of this workout stimulates the production of growth hormones and it can also affect testosterone. These hormones play crucial roles in muscle growth and fat burning. 

However, the effects of HIIT on testosterone levels can vary. In men, HIIT may temporarily increase testosterone levels before returning to baseline. In women, studies suggest HIIT can decrease testosterone levels over time, particularly in those who suffer from polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). This nuance highlights how hormonal responses to exercise differ based on gender and individual factors.

Remember to listen to your body during this intense session. While pushing limits is good, proper form is essential to prevent injuries. Take brief rests if needed, but try to maintain the workout’s intensity. This routine can be adapted for different fitness levels by adjusting the speed or number of repetitions.

Upper-Body AMRAP Home Workout

This AMRAP workout effectively targets your upper body muscles. AMRAP stands for As Many Rounds As Possible within a set time frame. 

For instance, you might choose to work out for 20 minutes, repeating five exercises for multiple rounds. You aim to complete as many rounds of those five exercises as possible. The more rounds you finish, the more it indicates your fitness level is improving. 

AMRAP workouts are a great way to track your fitness progression. You can perform the same workout and note how many rounds you complete. You can enhance your fitness and stamina by consistently doing this workout or similar styles. 

Test yourself again in a month or two to see if your number of rounds increases. If it does, pat yourself on the back—you’re making progress! If not, keep working on it and try again in a few weeks. 

This particular AMRAP workout focuses on building strength and endurance in your chest, shoulders, back, and arms. You’ll definitely feel the burn as you push through as many rounds as possible. 

Wide push-ups will challenge your chest and shoulders. Pike push-ups will target your shoulders and upper chest.

This routine is ideal for anyone looking to sculpt their upper body without using weights. It’s particularly effective for upper-body muscular hypertrophy, targeting major muscle groups through compound exercises.

The high-volume, time-constrained nature of this AMRAP creates metabolic stress and mechanical tension. These factors are key for muscle growth and strength development.

Lower-Body AMRAP Home Workout

This AMRAP workout shifts focus to your lower body, targeting larger muscle groups. Lower body exercises engage muscles like quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. These larger muscles require more energy to work, leading to greater calorie burn during and after the workout.

The high-intensity nature of this AMRAP routine is excellent for building lower body strength and endurance. It challenges your cardiovascular system while promoting muscle growth in your legs and glutes. 

This routine is particularly effective for improving functional strength and power in your legs. It can enhance your performance in daily activities and sports. The high-volume approach also helps in sculpting and toning your lower body muscles.

Benefits Of Doing HIIT Workouts

Doing a bodyweight HIIT workout on a regular basis is a great way to achieve your fitness goals. It’s great to change it up and try new things, so go ahead and give all six a go.  Here are some of the benefits you can reap from including HIIT workouts like these in your weekly routine. 

Speeds Up Fat Loss Progress

You probably already know that one of the benefits of cardio is its role in fat loss. While diet is important, cardio exercises can help speed up progress significantly. 

One study tells us that HIIT training can promote an increase in lean mass. When we talk about an increase in lean mass, we are talking about muscle. Generally, people with higher lean mass have lower fat mass.

HIIT workouts are also particularly effective for fat loss due to their intense nature. A bodyweight HIIT workout can elevate your heart rate and help you burn calories over a short period. 

Another great thing about HIIT is it can help preserve muscle mass during weight loss. Muscle mass is crucial for maintaining a healthy metabolism. This preservation of lean mass contributes to long-term fat loss success and helps prevent the metabolic slowdown due to dieting.

Increases Metabolic Rate

Bodyweight HIIT workouts can be instrumental in body composition changes. It can promote positive changes in resting metabolism, particularly in overweight adults.

The intense nature of HIIT workouts challenges your body in ways that traditional steady-state cardio doesn’t. As a result, your body becomes more efficient at burning calories, even when you’re at rest. 

The increased metabolic rate continues even after your workout, a phenomenon known as the afterburn effect or EPOC. EPOC means your body continues to burn calories at an elevated rate for hours after your HIIT session. It stands for post-exercise oxygen consumption.

Studies suggest that this elevated calorie burn can last for up to 14 hours post-training. So you keep reaping the benefits even when you are relaxing after a workout or sitting at your computer. 

Improves Overall Fitness

High-intensity interval training can improve oxygen uptake, aerobic endurance, and even anaerobic capacity. All of these factors contribute to our physical fitness. 

HIIT workouts push your body to its limits, forcing it to adapt and improve rapidly. This type of training enhances your VO2 max, the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use during intense exercise. A higher VO2 max translates to better endurance and overall cardiovascular fitness.

HIIT improves aerobic and anaerobic energy systems, making your body more adaptable to various physical challenges in life. This adaptability enhances your performance in various physical activities, from endurance sports to strength training.

Enhances Cardiovascular Health

Academic guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity per week. This is required to support our heart health. This can help improve the oxygen consumption we talked about earlier, which is a predictor of our overall health. HIIT is recognized as an effective training method in preventing cardiovascular disease. 

HIIT workouts are particularly beneficial for heart health due to their ability to improve heart rate variability. This measure of the variation in time between each heartbeat is an indicator of a healthy, responsive cardiovascular system. Regular HIIT sessions can also help lower blood pressure and improve cholesterol levels.

HIIT has been shown to improve the function and structure of blood vessels. This enhancement in vascular (blood vessel) function can lead to better blood flow throughout the body, reducing cardiovascular risks.

Can You Do HIIT Workout Everyday?

While it’s generally recommended to allow recovery time between intense workouts, you can do HIIT six days in a row. This is providing that you change up the routine, stick to short sessions, and change up the body parts you target. Unlike resistance training that involves heavy weights and longer recovery periods, bodyweight HIIT workouts are less taxing on your muscles.

Our bodyweight HIIT workout programs are designed to split up exercises and offer variety. This approach allows you to target different muscle groups each day. As a result, you can effectively train without overtraining specific areas of your body. 

Just be sure to listen to your body and include active recovery or lower-intensity workouts as needed.

Safety Training Tips

• Warm Up Properly: Always start with a warm-up to prepare your muscles and joints for intense activity. This will help alleviate tightness in the muscles and help you perform the exercises with a better range of motion. Which in turn can stimulate muscle growth. 
• Listen To Your Body: Pay attention to how you feel during workouts. If you experience pain or fatigue, take a break or modify exercises. For example, switch from traditional full burpees to slower-paced burpees where you step out instead of jumping out.
• Stay Hydrated: Take small sips of water before and during your workout to avoid dehydration. Inadequate hydration during physical activity that lasts more than 30 seconds can negatively affect performance. Drink extra water after your session to support recovery. 
• Use Proper Form: Focus on maintaining good form throughout each exercise. For instance, keep your back straight and core engaged during squats to prevent injury.
• Gradually Increase Intensity: Start with lower intensity and gradually increase as your fitness level improves. If you’re new to HIIT, consider modified push-ups instead of full push-ups or squats instead of jump squats. 
• Cool Down After Workouts: Finish with a cool-down period to help your heart rate return to normal. Stretch the muscles, particularly those you worked the most, like hamstrings and quadriceps, if you had a lower body-focused HIIT. This will aid recovery and flexibility.

Conclusion

Bodyweight HIIT workouts offer an efficient and effective way to improve fitness, boost metabolism, and enhance overall health. Our guide featuring six diverse workouts is designed to keep your routine fresh and engaging while targeting different muscle groups. Each workout can be performed anywhere, making it easy to fit into your busy schedule.

We encourage you to embrace this challenge for a few weeks. By committing to these bodyweight HIIT workouts, you’ll experience increased fat loss, improved cardiovascular health, and enhanced strength. Let’s do this!