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Modern Health - 5 places you can do High Intensity Interval Training

Kimberly Hicks-Ruttan

Summer is heading our way and High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) can come along the way. I am such a fan of HIIT training because you can do it anywhere.

This is week four of learning about HIIT. Check out my top five ideas for incorporating HIIT wherever you are this summer. The timing for all these workouts is simple - work hard for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds for eight rounds.

1. HIIT in your living room, family room, kitchen, bedroom, backyard, balcony and stairs
Run up and down stairs
Push ups, lunges, tricep dips on coffee table, bench, kitchen counter while making breakfast or dinner

Four Days of HIIT workouts:

Upper Body
1. Punch up/down
2. Speed Bag Twist

Core
1. Wood chop      
2. Figure-8 squat jump

Cardio
1. Alternating jump lunge
2. Skater hop

Lower Body
1. Single-leg deadlift holding dumbbells
2. Single-leg elevated glute bridge

Upper Body
1. Push ups
2. Triceps Dips 

2. HIIT in the park
There is always open space in the park in comparison to a packed gym and fresh air can do wonders for your mental health. Use the ground, a park bench or picnic table.

  1. Burpee

  2. Push ups (incline or decline depending on intensity)

  3. Shuttle Runs – set markers on the ground and sprint back and forth as you touch down at either side

  4. Triceps Dips

  5. Step Up and Down on a Park Bench

  6. One-legged Static Lunge

3. HIIT at a baseball diamond or soccer field

  1. Walk up and down the bleachers

  2. Push ups on the bleachers

  3. Lunges on the bleachers

  4. Knee ups

  5. Jacks

  6. Shuffle Squat

4. HIIT in a hotel room 

  1. High knees

  2. Push ups

  3. Squat 180 turns

  4. Mountain climbers

  5. High Knees

  6. Quick Squats (also known as Air Squats)

5. Beach/campground/lake or dock

  1. Walking lunges

  2. Down dog push ups

  3. Lateral side to side plank walks

  4. Lateral lunges right and left

If you are travelling by car to the beach or a cottage, bring lightweight portable yet effective equipment such as tubing, a small booty band or a TRX that can be attached to a tree.

If you still think you can’t do HIIT, check out my eight-week HIIT Summer Shape Up. These short and intense workouts burn calories when you’re not working out. Due to an effect called Excess Post-Exercise Energy Consumption (EPOC) you will burn calories for 24 hours after one six-minute workout. 

It will help you achieve short term, realistic and achievable goals as well as establish a regular routine for exercising. Visit my onpodio website to learn more. 

About Kimberly Hicks-Ruttan
I’m the founder of Fit2Move - virtual fitness in your home, on your own time. I am a certified fitness instructor and personal trainer. Connect with me on Facebook where I run a FREE group called Fit Tips with Kimberly.