My HIIT Program

So after weeks of prepping, I think I've finally created a solid HIIT training program for both legs and upper body.  If you're interested, keep reading.

What is HIIT?

For those who don't know, HIIT stands for high intensity interval training.  Essentially the purpose of this type of training to elevate the heart rate for a predetermined amount of time with limited rest in between intervals.  For example, you would do 1 min of intense training like...sprinting, burpees, or jump rope, followed by 30 sec of rest, then start the 1 min intensity again.  The limited rest allows you to recover just enough to do the movements but doesn't allow the heart rate to drop, thus increasing caloric burn and improving cardiovascular health.  This is what the Insanity program is based on, hence people's success at dropping considerable amounts of weight using it.

The best part about HIIT:  training time is cut in half because your workout is 10x more efficient.  You can do an entire workout...full body in 25 - 30 min and be sweating and breathing heavy like you just ran a marathon.  Love it.  I went from spending 1:30 in the gym to under an hour and I'm working 15x harder than before.

In all honesty, I've lost more weight and leaned out more post Insanity using this program than I did with the actual program.  And make no mistake about it, nothing is borrowed from that thing other than a couple stretches I do at the end, and those are ones I've been doing for years anyway so technically they're not stolen.  Again, not trying to nag the program, just being honest.

For this program I highly recommended getting this app on your phone.  Don't know what to tell Apple users, but since y'all already know I'm #teamandroid don't be surprised that I'm only provided one link.  I'm sure you can find it in the Apple store.  Milk dud had it the gym...he paid $0.99.  Y'all also know I'm not about that life, so don't be surprised that my app is free.  But anyways, the app will allow you to literally program the entire workout in, rests included, and cycle through it without stopping.  I even programmed in the breaks between sets so I don't have to actually touch it the entire time.  Saves on time and energy and you don't have to bring a notebook and a pencil to the gym like you're about to take notes all the damn time.

My week typically looks like this, pending of course some unforeseen event that I must tend to:

Monday...Legs

Tuesday...Upper

Wednesday...Legs

Thursday...upper

Friday...Legs

You'll notice Saturday and Sunday ain't on the list...remember, I don't workout on those days.  I also squat on both the upper body and leg days, so I'm squatting 5 days a week with 2 full days of rest to let these weary bones recover.  Haven't had any problems yet, other than my knees aching from being triiiied all week long.  They don't hurt, they just feel like I was lifting 185 lbs for a week.

Leg Circuit

First and foremost, everyone should have a leg day and said day should include use of the squat rack if one is using a gym.  I don't know what this notion is of people walking by the greatest lower body machine ever created.  You want to get strong?  Squat.  You want a firm butt?  Squat.  You wanna tone up those legs?  Squat.  So basically what I'm trying to say is...squat.

Left:  Standard squat
Right:  front squat

Now that that's covered, I can get into the actual program.

The actual circuit itself takes exactly 25:30 to complete.  That's 2 sets of 11 movements.  Not bad if you ask me.  After the set you do 25-35 squats and/or deadlifts gradually increasing in weight.  I'll let you determine what weight that is for you.  My personal max is 185 lbs, so I usually do about 20-25 reps of 160 lbs then do 1-2 at the max.  Form is key for me, which is why the max reps aren't as high as you might think.

The actual circuit itself is 11 movements done for :45 followed by :15 of rest.  Then there's a 2:00 break between each set.  If you use the app you can program all of that in and it will tell you all of that, including the break.  It cycles through to the second one automatically.  Pretty hot considering I was doing all of this manually at one point.

The goal here is not to worry about the number of reps you do, just do as many as possible.  If you need a visual demo of any of the movements, check out this guy's YouTube channel.  I've mentioned him before.  He was kinda the inspiration behind this.

***Also, make sure you do some kind of warm-up before this.  I usually hang with my buddy Mr. StairMaster for 10 min or so, then do a few light ab moves and stretch thoroughly before doing this.  The last thing you need is to be doing all this jumping and pull something.***

• Burpee lunges
• Rest
• Rotating squats
• Rest
• Star burpees
• Rest
• Squat pulses
• Rest
• Jumping lunges
• Rest
• Side-to-side burpees
• Rest
• Body weight squats
• Rest
• Knee strike burpees
• Rest
• Ski hoops
• Rest
• Kick out burpees
• Rest
• Single leg plyo
• Break

If for some reason you think you can do this sans breaks, I encourage you to try it.  Don't worry, I'll wait...

...

That's what I thought.  You'll probably get about half way through before you vomit or one of your legs completely falls off.  Or you'll stop half way though one of the sets.  Either way, a break is necessary...helps keep the form and give you a little bit of wind for the next movement.

If you do the circuit correctly, your heart rate should be sky high and your legs should be burning.  Use the 2:00 break in between sets to grab some water since, as you can see, there's not designated water break.

You can take a few minutes to catch your breath after fully completing the circuit because you're going to need it for the squats.  Even though your body is nice 'n' toasty warm now, it's still a good idea to warm up a little by starting with light weight.  A power lifter friend of mine even starts off lifting just the bar and his max is 545 lbs.  I usually do the bar, the add 25 lbs (each side), then 35 lbs, then 45 lbs, then 55 lbs, the 65 lbs.  By the time everything is said 'n' done, I probably do somewhere between 25-35 reps.  I'm not really particular on the number since it's form and strength (and to get a band of minions like this) I'm going for here, but I aim for 3x10.

After that you do 2x15 calf raises, leg curls, and leg extensions (not necessarily in that order), cool down, and stretch.  You don't have to kill it with the leg curls since your quads should have gotten a good workout between the circuit and the squats.  

Total amount of time spent:  approx. 60 min...most of which is depending on how long it takes you to squat.

This circuit coupled with the weights afterward gives you a complete lower body workout.  Hopefully you live on the first floor or have an elevator in your building because chances are you won't be doing too much walking in the upcoming days.

My goals for this:  5 reps at max weight for squats and slowly increase the overall max to 220 lbs.  That might seem like a random number for you, but I'm trying to get to 1.5x my body weight, which is around that amount.

Upper Body Circuit

The upper body circuit is set up just like the lower body one, except...well, with upper body movements. 

• Side-to-side burpees
• Rest
• Dive bombers
• Rest
• Tricep extension
• Rest
• Bicep curls
• Rest
• Squat pulses
• Rest
• Renegade burpees
• Rest
• Star burpees
• Rest
• Bent over rows
• Rest
• Push up jacks
• Rest
• Squat press/clean
• Break

These are done for 45 sec with 15 sec rest between each just like with the lower body.

Total amount of time spent on circuit:  23:30. 

Once you do your squats and wrist curls you'll probably be closer to an hour.  

*SN* Wrist curls aren't anything major...I just like 'em.  Feel free to skip 'em if you want.

Renegade burpees

I'm sure you won't have the arm strength to do anything else.  In fact, you may have even have arms at all.  I've spaced out the free weight exercises because I was finding that my arms felt like (insert expletive here) by the 4th exercise, and I wasn't able to properly do all of the exercises after it.  Sometimes less is better.  If you do this correctly, your arms will basically be immobile for the next day or so.  You've been warned...

Results

So far I've seen fantastical results with this program.  Even the trainers at the gym are seeing a difference...which also signifies that I'm there waaay too often, but whatevs.  I not sure how much weight I've lost since I think scales are devil and lie on the regular, but I've noticed that my clothes fit differently, especially the pants, so there are some obvi changes going on.  Since kid sister is gone, I'm going to tighten up my diet and see if that makes more of a difference.

As you can see, most of the movements in both upper and lower body don't require weights, and the ones that do don't require heavy ones.  You can go to Wal-Mart and put up 2 dumbbells for like $25 and be good to go for awhile.  If I wasn't moderately addicted to the gym and the squat rack that's what I would do.

I like this routine better than Insanity because the voice in my head doesn't sound like a gay man it's shorter and I have the attention span of a small child.  45 min of something is excess to me in my old age, especially when it's physically challenging.  You can do these in your basement while watching a 30 min program and be finished before the program is over.  Quick 'n' sweet, short & to the point.  That's how I like things.  When I was in college and had copious amounts of time, I could do an hour and a half in the gym.  After 2 hrs worth of driving and 8 hrs worth of working, an hour is more than enough...or if you go to Crunch Fitness, 100 min is more than enough (since they don't validate any more than that).