HIIT Me Baby One More Time (Free HIIT Workout Plan)

Not just lyrics by the amazing Ms. Britney Spears, but also a REALLY great way to burn the MAXIMUM amount of calories in one session!!!  HIIT AKA High Intensity Interval Training is short intervals of maximum intensity exercise separated by longer intervals of low to moderate recovery work.

It directly involves your heart rate & cardiovascular system, so if you have any cardio problems or health concerns this may not be for you, or you should definitely contact your physician before beginning this program.

HIIT workouts have some pretty amazing health benefits such as:
It’s quick!!  If you only have 20 minutes to work out this is definitely the most effective way to spend it.

Increased aerobic capacity – You can increase the amount of oxygen your body can use, so your overall aerobic capacity can increase faster than with just jogging.  In other words, you will feel more comfortable running faster if you are trying to decrease your 5k or even marathon race times.

Metabolic adaptations – Your metabolism tends to increase allowing you to use fat as fuel.
Increases caloric output – Increases the amount of calories your body burns during & after your exercise session and because it increases the length of time it takes your body to recover from each session.

Increased lactate threshold of muscles – Ability of muscles to sustain more lactic acid buildup.

Anabolic effect – If you eat just a tiny bit more calories than what you burn via natural metabolism & workouts, it allows you to put on muscle not put on fat.

So now you know all the reasons why you should do it, and I’m sure you are ready to get out from behind the computer & go do it.  Here are the guidelines:

Find your max heart rate, 220 – age= HR max.  (Mine for example is 220 – 29= 191)
Only do this if you can work between 70 – 85% of your HR max.  If that’s not comfortable for you, start this with doing 60% max just like my schedule shows, then after a couple of weeks you can use the schedule.

I recommend my clients use a bike or a treadmill, but you can absolutely run outside or do this via jump rope, push ups, weight training, Tabata protocol, etc.

Make sure you can get an accurate heart rate reading.  Heart rate monitors are obviously the best, but I find my own pulse, count it for 6 seconds and multiply by 10, thus giving me my 60 sec heart rate.  That’s probably second best, because the HR monitors on cardio equipment are never very trustworthy.

If you feel lightheaded, cool down immediately and try again another day.
You must give yourself 24-48 hours between sessions, and 2 – 3 sessions each week are the most you should do in a week.

Here’s the schedule:
Week 1:
Warm up for 5 min
60 second sprint, HR = 70% max
90 second recovery
Repeat for 5 total sprints.

Week 2:
Warm up for 5 min
60 second sprint, HR = 70% max
90 second recovery
Repeat for 8 total sprints.

Week 3:
Warm up for 5 min
60 second sprint, HR = 70% max
90 second recovery
Repeat for 10 total sprints.

Week 4:
Warm up for 5 min
60 second sprint, HR = 80% max
90 second recovery
Repeat for 5 total sprints.

Week 5:
Warm up for 5 min
60 second sprint, HR = 80% max
90 second recovery
Repeat for 8 total sprints.

Week 6:
Warm up for 5 min
60 second sprint, HR = 80% max
90 second recovery
Repeat for 10 total sprints.

Week 7:
Warm up for 5 min
60 second sprint, HR = 90% max
90 second recovery
Repeat for 5 total sprints.

Week 8:
Warm up for 5 min
60 second sprint, HR = 90% max
90 second recovery
Repeat for 8 total sprints.

Week 9:
Warm up for 5 min
60 second sprint, HR = 90% max
90 second recovery
Repeat for 10 total sprints.

Now, this is MY adaptation of HIIT.  Not everyone has the same interpretation of it so feel free to do your own research on it.  But here’s what one of my clients has to say about it:

“Kyra started me on HIIT workout plan about a month and a half ago. I had been struggling with a weight plateau for a few months, and although I was getting toned from my workouts, I wasn’t seeing the weight loss results I wanted. After only a couple of weeks, I was able to finally break through the plateau! More importantly, I find that by integrating the HIIT into my workout routine, I have become more disciplined overall with my exercise and diet, and am challenging myself to things I wouldn’t have before, like my first 5K next week (and that is from someone who hates running!). So glad Kyra introduced HIIT to me!”

Now you try it out & let me know what you think!

Your Coach,
Kyra

P.S. Download my FREE ebook right now & Get 40 HIIT workouts you can do from anywhere!