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Today I’m going to show you how to do high-intensity interval training, also known as HIIT training for short. Interval training is a great way to burn fat, tone muscle and get in shape quickly and easily. So there’s a number of ways to do it, such as using some of the best HIIT exercises on the elliptical.

Using an Elliptical

One is using an elliptical which I’m going to show you. You can also run or sprint outside which is also excellent. It’s just that a lot of people tend to get injured doing a sprint. So I don’t really recommend that to too many people. There’s also a stationary bike and rowing. Basically, that’s okay, but it’s just not my first choice, which is the elliptical for a number of reasons which I’m going to show you right now.

Resistance Levels

And the first thing we’re going to do is when we start pedaling and then hit the quick start button. We’re going to go to the last time so the time goes up and then you want to go with the lowest cross round. This way it takes the pressure off your knees. And then the resistance we’re going to go up. It should be where it’s you can still get good motion, but it’s not so hard that it’s a struggle, it’s not too easy where you have to go too fast to keep up. So different machines have different resistance levels.

Holding on and Using Your Hands

And then initially you’re going to be probably to hold on for balance but it’s you get used to it you want your hands at your side like you’re walking in place. So we’re going to do this for a three-minute warmup. One three-minute warm-up and then on to the 3-minute point we’re going to do 30 seconds sprint all out and then 90 seconds slow then 30-second sprints. So it 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17 that’s eight 30 seconds frames and in between 90 seconds of going slow for recovery and then at the end is a three-minute warm out.

Great 20-Minute Workout

So it’s only 20 minutes, and you get a great workout in. You don’t do it every day, you would say every other day. So two or three times a week. I like to do it every other day and then on the off days of you other types of resistance functional training. But the other thing is there are all kinds of ellipticals. And what I don’t prefer is the ones with the arms because as you sprint you have enough push and pull and it really gets in the way. So you’re better off doing the one without the arms and then ideally you want to have your hands at your side. Because when you start sprinting, if you hold on like this, you’re just working your lower body instead of your upper body. It may take you a while to get the balance or motion down if you just have to hold on one beginning that’s fine.

Changing the Resistance

So we’re coming up on three minutes here. As you start going faster, you probably have to change the resistance either up or down as well. So we’re at 250 then get ready for my sprint. Okay. Here we go. And increase the resistance but not too fast. Okay. Then go dominant with the resistance a little lower now. So you will get out of breath when you do this, right? And you want to, initially, when you’ll be starting this for the first time, you don’t have to go all-out. You kind of go to your tolerance and you don’t have to do all eight of them either.

Increasing Your Level of Tolerance

Initially, just whenever you come to it with 2, 3, 4 and whatever your level of tolerance is, but eventually you want to get up to eight full-out sprints. You know to the point where thirty seconds you’re not able to continue. So we’re going to do one more here. You can also use your hands, either you can use this position or keep your hands this close, whatever you prefer.  All right. So that was our 2nd 30-second sprint, now maybe 90 seconds slow to recover. And after the eighth one, I’m going to do a warm out. So in 20 minutes, you’re done, and it’s a great workout.

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Today I’m going to share a quick functional training routine that can help you improve balance, power, flexibility, and strength.

Basic Balance

Functional training uses basic movement patterns to improve your performance in sports and everyday life. So we’re going to start with basic balance exercise. We stand on one leg, just hold your it up at 90 degrees parallel to the floor and see if you can hold out for 30 seconds. This improves stability and strength in your ankle, knee, hip. It also improves your sense of balance so that you can get through life a lot better. Then you do the other side.

If you have a hard time doing this, you can hold on to something. You can put something close by if you need to hold on for balance. And as it gets easy you can use a mattress. Look straight ahead. I’m using all these small muscles in my ankle and knee. You work out so many different things. It’s just a simple exercise, and I’ve worked so many different things. And we find as you get older and do these balance exercises, it can increase brain function. Let’s see if you can do that for 30 seconds.

Importance of Squats

Then squats are one of the most important things you can do this anywhere, just grab onto a railing or under a cabinet. Something to hold onto, and then you just put your knees directly over your ankles. Use slow, deliberate movements and come up, not all the way, go down to your parallel with the ground, come up very slowly. The slower you go, the more concentrated the exercise and the more it works your muscles. Just go down the slow, hold it, come up slow.

And as you get that, and if it gets easy, you can then go to a single leg. As I bring my right foot up and most of the pressure goes to the weight on my left side. Look straight ahead. Now I am going to bring my left toe up. So you do the double like the regular squat, and you do 15, 20, if that gets too easy, you can do ten on each side, 10, 15, 20.

And then this is another variation even more advanced. Again my knees right over my ankle. You want to avoid putting your knee in front of your foot as it puts too much pressure on your knee. So you can do 10, 15, 20 of those on each side as you advance. But initially, you can you just keep the two-legged one, look straight ahead go slow. You can feel the power in your quads and your thigh and your glutes.

All right. And then you could do for your thighs you can just do regular toe raises where you are coming up like this. You can stand out of step for more of a range of motion where your heels drop down and come up like this. You can do 10 to 15 of those. If that gets too easy for you, so you can do 10 of those, and when you can be one-legged, you can do ten each side. That, of course, strengthens calf muscle and then we can do ropes.

Benefits of Bands

So these bands are great because you can bring them anywhere. They’re great for traveling from your suitcase and put them on the door. Close the door. This will work your biceps. You flatten your shoulders, your upper back, and your shoulder blades. Relax. And if you let it all the way out and bring your shoulder blades back and then pull like that, it helps strengthen muscles in between your shoulder blades and improve your posture. Go nice and slow. And go back first and then pull. It’s great free exercise, and then you can do go up higher. This works out your shoulders, your arms and again they’ll improve your posture. You can do 10, 15 of those.

And also turn around and work your chest. So you do one at the time. This works your triceps your chest muscles, or you can work both at the same time. You can do 10 to 15 to 20 of those. So you know I like to mix it up, and you can do these pull parts. Well, I’m going the door it’s pulling like this. This strengthens your upper back muscles, your back, your arms also improve your posture. Come down a little bit down here, solid weight. So most of us are on the computer or you know banging full day like this, you know texting on the phone. So to get that posture back or strengthening your back muscles with all these exercises.

Okay, and you can do it at the top. Now when you do, you want to make sure like someone’s not on the other side of the door where you just open it as you’re in the middle of doing it and get bonked in the head. You can do some pull balance. Sit on an exercise ball or stick down like this. And then the triceps two at a time or one at a time or I like to do a combination, and if you slow the movement, you slow down, and you can get a much better resistance, much better attention. So you don’t need to go lifting a lot of weight. Something as simple as bags can do the trick if you do right, you focus on what you’re doing. Focus on the muscle, really slow deliberate movements, and you can even count four seconds down, four seconds up.

Doing Your Biceps

All right. I think that’s it for the door. And then biceps you can step on the band with this. So you can do step on one foot or if you want to add a step. And go nice and slow. You can do one or two at a time. So if I slow it down it increases the resistance again. Go slow, focus on the bicep muscle, and go down very slow. You can really feel it. Okay.

Whole Body Exercise

So another exercise. This is a great functional training exercise. Now, it pretty much involves your whole body, because we’re going to be lifting like this. Line up like this and push up like that. All right. So we’re working our legs, thighs, glutes and then chest, shoulders, arm, you are working your whole body with just this one exercise.

You can be 10, 15, 20 depends on how you feel. You know, it gets longer the more time to do it but you can start with five, and I’ll slow it down here. So notice when I am picking it up you know flat back, squat down, Squatting down, flat back this is close to my body. You can use a weighted ball. I am using a 10-point ball. But if you don’t have a weighted ball at home or in the hotel, you can use other objects, such as a book, bottled water or your six-month-old baby.

Okay, so that’s it. It’s a great one. And then I’ll show you one more body weight exercise, which is a plank. Get into a push-up position, suck it in all the way, tight your belly, tighten your bum muscles also, keep everything straight. Now you just hold it for 10, 20, 30 second or even more. This works your core, your abdomen, your glutes, your back, your arms, your chest, legs and it works your entire back, your neck, shoulders.

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