Best HIIT Training for All Levels: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced

Physically demanding, heart pumping, and leg-burning, HIIT is all the rage in the fitness realm at the moment. In a world where many feel they don’t have enough spare time to dedicate to exercising, HIIT offers a time-efficient way of burning calories and shedding fat.

In this article, we’ll take a look at what the benefits of HIIT are and how you can make the most of them whatever level you’re at.

Benefits of HIIT

From burning a ton of calories to being super-cheap and easy to do, HIIT sessions can provide loads of great benefits that make them recommended by personal trainers everywhere.

1. Burns calories (and fat) quick

One of the main reasons people turn to HIIT is because it can help you get fit without taking up loads of your time.

In just 30 minutes you can burn up to 30% more calories in a HIIT session than you can running, biking, or weight training.

Burning loads of calories means you also lose weight. Weight loss in HIIT is much the same as with most endurance exercises, just in less time. Even after your workout, you can still burn calories as your metabolism is elevated for hours after a HIIT session.

2. Improve oxygen consumption

Your muscles’ ability to use oxygen is vital for cardio and muscular health. Endurance training has long been the gold standard for improving oxygen consumption but HIIT may just be about to take the crown.

Not only can HIIT produce the same benefits but it can deliver them in half the time.

3. Doesn’t need equipment

Whilst you can use equipment, there is no necessity for it in a HIIIT workout. This means that it can be done for free and in a location convenient to you.

You just use your bodyweight for resistance and focus on getting your heart-rate up and keeping it there for the full interval. Bodyweight workouts result in optimal muscle building and increased calorie burn compared to a HIIT using dumbbells or barbells.

4. Health Benefits

HIIT can have important health benefits too. It can reduce resting heart rate and blood pressure in overweight individuals. This is particularly noticeable when compared with continuous endurance exercise or moderate-intensity exercise.

Interestingly, HIIT does not affect the blood pressure of individuals with normal blood pressure and weight.

Blood sugar levels can be reduced by HIIT programs too. Its benefits in reducing blood sugar levels and improving insulin resistance. For individuals at risk of type 2 diabetes HIIT exercise may be particularly beneficial.

HIIT for Beginners

HIIT workouts can sometimes be quite intimidating if you are just starting your weight loss journey or haven’t done much high-intensity exercise.

As a beginner, your HIIT exercises should include simple, easy-to-follow exercises. The fun, energetic nature of HIIT makes it perfectly suited to beginners who are looking to keep fit and avoid losing motivation early on in their program.

The recommended work:rest ratio should be 1:1. This means that for every 30 seconds of high-intensity exercise, you should have 30 seconds of rest or low-intensity exercise. 30 seconds is probably a great starting point as it gives you time to acclimatize to workouts that aren’t too long or short.

As you get fitter you can adjust the work:rest ratio. Personally, I like to keep the work and rest within a minute as it makes it easier to track workout length (and is nice for my OCD!). By this logic, you would go for 35:25 seconds (work:rest) as you get fitter, probably up to a max of 45:15.

Check out our recommended HIIT workouts for beginners below.

1. Beginner Leg HIIT

Work:rest ratio of 30:30

• High knees
• Lunges
• Squats
• Reverse lunges

Repeat each round 6 times for a leg blasting HIIT session.

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2. Beginner Full-body HIIT

Work:rest ratio of 30:30

• High Knees
• Mountain climbers
• Squats
• Burpees (no press-up)
• Lunges
• Plank

Repeat 4 times for a high-energy 24-minute session.

3. Repetition HIIT workout

Alternatively, try out this workout which doesn’t use a timer but instead each exercise is done for a certain amount of repetitions (reps).

• 10 burpees
• 30 star jumps
• 20 squats
• 20 star jumps
• 30 mountain climbers
• 10 star jumps

Rest for 2 minutes after you have completed the full round, then repeat 4 times.

HIIT for Intermediates

For those who consider themselves an intermediate level of fitness, you may be pondering doing HIIT exercises to change up your workout routine, re-motivate yourself, or because you feel like your current regime isn’t producing the results anymore.

Intermediates should target 35:25 second work:rest intervals and include more advanced exercises in their sessions. You may even want to try out short but fast workouts lasting less than 15 minutes. Great if you’re short on time, right?

Here are our recommended workouts for intermediate level.

1. Intermediate Leg HIIT

35 seconds on, 25 seconds off. Let’s go!

• Squat Jumps
• Reverse lunge with kick
• Squat thrusts
• Drop lunges

Repeat 5 times and then struggle to walk for the next 3 days.

2. Intermediate Full Body HIIT

• High Knees
• Burpees
• Squat jumps
• Press-ups
• Star jumps
• Plank

3. Quick HIIT Blast

Short on time? This workout should take just 10-minutes giving you a good cardio blast in the middle of a busy day.

Each exercise requires you to work a little harder ensuring you maximize the benefits in a short space of time.

35 seconds on 25 seconds off for this one

• Split squat
• Press-up and hold at bottom
• Reverse lunge and kick
• Shoulder taps

Ouch! Repeat 2 times. If you’re feeling fit go for 3 sets.

HIIT for Advanced Level

Consider yourself advanced? Then why not try out our brutal HIIT workouts designed to wreck legs, pump chests, and leave you gasping for air. You’ll hate the workout but love the results!

1. Advanced Leg HIIT

For each exercise, you should go 40 seconds on and 20 seconds rest. Be sure to warm up properly, especially the glutes, hamstrings, and quads.

• High knees
• Split squat
• Reverse lunge and hop
• Star jumps
• Boxing
• Skaters

Repeat 4 times for a ruthless session in less than half an hour.

2. Advanced Full Body HIIT Superset

You should complete this workout in supersets. Some sets are timed, others exercises are a certain number of reps.

Round 1

• 30s High knees
• 30s Burpees (no press-up)
• 30s Split lunges
• 30s Mountain climbers

Round 2

• 10 Heel taps
• 20 Ankle taps
• 10 Reverse crunches
• 20 Bicycle crunches
• 10 V-sits

Round 3

• 5 to 1 Press-ups
• 5 High to low planks
• 30s Plank
• 30s Side plank
• 30s Side plank

Round 4

• 30s Squat hold
• 30s Split squat
• 10 Reverse lunge and kick (5 each side)
• 10 Squat jumps

Repeat twice, this should take less than 30-minutes. If you reckon you can do 3 rounds then go for it!

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3. Advanced Dumbbell HIIT

Whilst HIIT can be done with bodyweight, it can be nice to throw a few dumbbell exercises in there every so often. This is great for extra muscle building and adds a different dimension to your HIIT.

For our dumbbell HIIT try 40-seconds on and 40-seconds off.

• High knees*
• Squat to shoulder press
• Press-up to row
• Reverse lunge to bicep curl
• Crunches*
• Rope climbs*
• Squats
• Burpees*
• Knee to stand
• Plank*

*no dumbbell used for this exercise

Final Thoughts

There we are then. 9 different HIIT workouts to suit individuals of all fitness levels, equipment, and time commitments.

Whatever your fitness goals, throwing a HIIT routine into your workout schedule is bound to provide plenty of benefits.

For those new to body weight exercises and HIIT, here is a quick exercise diagram from Darebee introducing the different workouts mentioned above and parts of the body you are focusing on.

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