Most people use their lunch time for eating and gossip, but this time is precious, and you could use it to make a real difference to your health. Instead of staying at your desk, you could burn up to 300 calories doing a quick HIIT workout on your lunch break!
High-Intensity Interval Training which is famous as HIIT is a training method that involves short bursts of exercises followed by short rest periods. It serves the purpose of maximizing your calorie burn for a short time by cranking your heart rate up with challenging activities. During HIIT, you should be aiming for your heart rate to be in Zone 4 or even Zone 5, breaking the anaerobic threshold.
Why HIIT?
The reason HIIT works so effectively is that it causes the after-burn effect. When you do HIIT, the intensity of the exercise induces an increased need for oxygen, so we end up with an oxygen shortage. It means your body must find more oxygen to recover, known as EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption). It, in turn, boosts your metabolism and burns more calories.
Due to their intensity, HIIT workout doesn’t need to last hours because of the intensity. So, these are perfect workout options if you’re short on time. Typically, a HIIT workout lasts around 20-45 minutes, giving your body a chance to burn more than 300 calories for this short lunch break.
You can go through our blog “HIIT Workouts : Doing it the Right Way” for a clear view about High Intensity Interval Training.
Preparation For Lunchtime HIIT
What’s great about HIIT is it can be done using just your body weight, which means you only need a little space. If your office is cramped, you can take this circuit outside; it’s intense enough to warm you up if it’s cold!
One thing you must do before commencing a HIIT workout is a 3-5 minutes warmup. It can be anything from jumping on the spot to star jumps that will raise your heart rate and warm your muscles up. It will protect your muscles from any injury.
Some HIIT body weight circuits contain exercises that strain the wrists, such as planks, push-ups, and mountain climbers. Therefore, prepare your joints by circling your wrists back and forth before you get stuck in.
Lunchtime HIIT Workout Routines
For each of the following exercises, try 40 seconds of work and 20 seconds of rest, and then repeat from the top:
Mountain Climbers
This move fires up your abs while keeping your heart rate high. Assume a standard push-up position and run each leg towards your chest as though you were running off the ground as fast as possible.
Push-Ups
Another great all-over exercise, push-ups can be intensified by lifting a leg or eased up by coming down to your knees. The trick with push-ups is to ensure that despite doing as many as you can at speed, you still make the full range of motion – it should look like your nose is near touching the floor.
Jumping Lunges
Adding plyometrics to any move makes it far more of a challenge. Assume your lunge position is sinking nicely and low. Then as you extend through the legs, jump as high as you can and switch legs. So you are alternating the leg you lunge off, land in a lunging position with the other leg leading the way. These are sure to set your quads on fire, but keep pushing through and use your arms to help drive you up.
High Knees
Jog on the spot bringing your knees up as high as you can in front of you. Tilt your pelvis forward, and lean back slightly to get more abdominal activation.
Heel Flicks
Now reverse! Jog on the spot flicking your heels up to your bottom as fast as possible to keep that heart rate up.
Frog Jumps
Start with your legs together and feet facing out, squat down, allowing your knees to turn out. And then explode up, straightening the legs before returning to start.
Skaters
Start in a slight squat so your legs are loaded with power, then jump sideways to the left and land on your left leg, with your right leg lifted off the ground. Now jump leading with your right leg and land on the right leg, with your left leg away from the floor. Use your arms to propel you further, opposite arm to the opposite leg.
Plank Up Downs
Start in a plank off your hands, keeping your bum down and shoulder blades squeezed together to ensure your spine stays in neutral alignment. Bring your right hand down to an elbow plank position and follow it with the left. Bring the right arm back up to a hand plank and follow it with the left. Avoid looking up as it puts extra strain on the neck.
Shadow Boxing Sit-Ups
Lie on your back with your knees bent, ready for a sit-up. But this time as you brace your abs and bring your upper body up, throw a jab and a cross, punching towards the opposite knee. It adds some extra oblique engagement and makes the exercise a little bit more of a challenge. Breathe out as you lift and punch.
Endless Possibilities with HIIT
The possibilities of HIIT for your lunchtime workout are endless. It’s all about getting a ton of volume into a short space of time – without anybody noticing you’ve left the office. A stopwatch and your body are enough to create a killer circuit at a moment’s notice. Keep your heart rate high, listen out for the clock, and push through the lactic acid till the final whistle.
If you want to learn more about HIIT training, you can find the best gym near me.
So next time your lunch hour strikes, why not grab your colleagues and challenge them to this anytime, anyplace workout.
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