11 Best HIIT Exercises To Burn Fat Quick

You might’ve heard HIIT workout before but just had no idea what HIIT even stood for and what HIIT exercises even consisted of. HIIT stands for high-intensity interval training. And HIIT exercises consist of a lot of quick bursts of movement with very short rest time.

One of the best HIIT exercises that you might be very familiar with is jump roping!

Personally, I have a love-hate relationship with high-intensity interval training. Some of the reasons why I love high-intensity training are due to the euphoric feeling I get afterward and also the results I get from doing HIIT exercises. But the reason why I hate high-intensity interval training is that it is straight-up exhausting and taxing.

Now that we know what HIIT stands for, we need to talk about why it’s great for burning fat and losing calories more efficiently than your standard workouts. In this blog post, I’ll go over reasons why you might want to include high-intensity interval training in your workouts and specific HIIT exercises you can start doing!

HIIT Workout Benefits

There are several key benefits to high-intensity interval training.

• Your HIIT workouts will take a shorter amount of time than your traditional workouts. For example- let’s say your workouts typically take about an hour. With high-intensity interval training, your workouts could take 20 to 30 minutes which are perfect for busy moms.
• HIIT will increase your metabolism for hours after your workout and keep your heart rate going! (you’ll basically be a fat-burning machine)
• It is proven to improve your overall health by reducing blood sugar levels, resting heart rate, and blood pressure.

HIIT workouts have changed the way I workout since I’ve been introduced to them. And they most definitely came in handy after I had a baby and needed a quicker and more efficient way to shed all of my baby weight.

10 Best HIIT Exercises

1. Burpees

You may or may not have heard about burpees. People either love them or hate them. I happen to be one of those people that absolutely loves them.

Here’s how you do a burpee-

• Start off in a standing position- feet shoulder width apart.
• Squat down, knees bent, weight on your hips
• Place both hands on the floor in front of you with your weight on your hands
• Jump your feet back on the balls of your feet as if you’re in a plank position (keep that butt up in a nice straight position)
• Now jump your feet back where it was
• Jump up with your hands reaching for the sky
• Land into the squat position and REPEAT

That is just ONE burpee. Do you see why people hate it? You will catch yourself drenched in sweat after a good amount of them.

2. Jumping Jacks

We’ve basically all have done jumping jacks in P.E. (physical exercise) class in elementary school. Well these are still a great exercise to do. It’s crazy how much calories you can burn without any workout equipment. Just do these HIIT body exercises, add in some ab exercises, and you just did your workout for the day!

Going to the gym just isn’t feasible for a lot of us. Especially during this pandemic. So I created a quick, fat blasting, 30 minute home workout for those of you that cannot go to the gym or don’t have any workout equipment at home. If you have a baby under 30 lbs, you can even use them for some of the exercises!

3. Squat Jumps

Here’s how you do a squat jump:

• Get into a squat position
• Jump up
• Land into a squat position
• Jump up again

…..AND REPEAT!

It’s good to know your limitations but at the same time, push yourself a little harder each time you do these exercises. I typically do around 3 sets of 15-20 reps of each of these exercises. You don’t even have to do all 3 in one workout (I don’t or I’d burn myself out quick!). Just incorporate one of these into your workout and feel the burn!

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4. Hill Sprints

Any HIIT exercise is a killer. BUT THIS ONE will make you want to chug a whole gallon of water in one sitting. Find a hill in your neighborhood or a hilly trail and run up and down with short rest intervals.

5. Interval Sprints

Interval sprints are probably one of my favorite HIIT exercises. It’s a quick, short burst of high intensity running, and it’s over. And as weird as it may sound, it feels so good after doing interval sprints.

6. High-Knees

High-knee exercises work your abs and everything below your waist. That is including your quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves while keeping your heart rate up and efficiently burns fat (like all of these other HIIT exercises).

7. Mountain Climbers

Mountain climbers target the stubborn fat that likes to hang out around your lower abs. And they are another great cardio-intensive exercise to melt fat off your body not just your lower abs.

8. Tuck Jumps

Tuck jumps are basically jumping while tucking your knees in while your feet are off the ground. It’s almost like a crunch movement in the air.

9. Running In Place

Is it too cold outside to go for a run? Or maybe you’d much rather run inside but don’t have a treadmill. RUN IN PLACE! You’ll be surprised how much you’ll sweat just running in place. You could even incorporate other exercises and create a circuit of exercises to do at home, right in your living room.

10. Jump Roping

One of my favorite high intensity exercises is the good ‘ol jump roping for about 20 to 30 seconds with 40 second rest periods inbetween sets.

11. Any Combination of Exercises

Combine any few exercises and do them back to back. And include short rests. When I say short rests, I’m saying 30-45 second breaks in-between the whole circuit of exercises.

For example, let’s say I’m trying to do a circuit of 4 different exercises. Those exercises are squat jumps, push-ups, running in place, and crunches. I’ll perform all 4 of these exercises back to back. After I finished 1 circuit of these 4 exercises, I’ll take a 30 to 45-second break. Then, continue onto my second set of the circuit.

These are no doubt the best HIIT exercises I like to incorproate into my workouts. Subscribe to my newsletter to be the first to know about a new workout post and more fitness freebies! You’ll get a passcode in your inbox to get all access to my freebies library!