Holistically Katie

Are you going on the elliptical/treadmill for an hour at the gym? Do you find yourself getting bored from your workouts? Has your body shape remained the same the past couple months even though you’ve been working out? Are you losing motivation?

The best way of training I’ve found personally for fixing these problems is called: Functional HIIT Workouts.

HIIT stands for high intensity interval training. Basically, you push your body as hard as you can for a quick interval, then rest, then you repeat it. The reason why this training is the best for burning fat and changing your body is:

1) It engages all main muscle groups at the same time (legs, abs, core, arms, back)

2) You sweat and burn lots of calories in a short period of time

3) Mind Muscle Connection; it’s functional training. You have to focus on each muscle as you work it, which then helps you work harder and more effectively through each move. You’re not just mindlessly on a machine thinking about what you’ll eat for dinner that night. You must focus to get results.

4) You won’t just lose weight, but you will look more toned. Your body shape will begin to change. You will avoid looking “skinny fat”

Functional HIIT training is the best way to train is because it is way more effective at burning fat while not taking up lots of time. Most effective HIIT workouts can be done in twenty minutes, or less. You could be on the ellitpical going at a steady pace for an hour and burn less calories than you would doing twenty minutes of HIIT. You also are barely engaging your muscles on an elliptical, but doing HIIT, you engage all your main muscle groups. You will still be burning calories after you finish your workout due to all the energy your muscles use up to perform the hard exercises. Since HIIT training is so intense, I only recommend doing it 3-4 times per week, and lifting 4-5 times per week. You can combine your strength workouts with your HIIT workouts, however, you should perform the strength training, and perform HIIT as a burnout. Alternatively, you can combine strength and HIIT together into one workout. The following routine contains my favorite total body strength/HIIT moves:

45 seconds of each exercise and repeat each twice:

• Squat jack holding a dumbbell

• Reverse lunge with a bicep curl

• Pushup to a plank row

• Kettle bell swing plus overhead tricep extension

Equipment for a great HIIT session:

*Weight lifting gloves: Stabilize you during pushups/burpees, they also make holding the weight easier because your hands will likely be super sweaty

*Seconds App: My favorite timer for intervals. It even comes with built in timers so you can start using it right away!

*Stepblocks: Great for cardio moves such as quick feet switches

*Bench/chair: Effective for step ups or tricep dips

*FitnessBlender: By far my favorite free service for fun, effective workouts. They have over 200 HIIT workouts. I am not sponsored or affiliated, but have been using their workouts for years, and I’m not sick of them! All the workouts are typed out at the bottom for you to write down or print as well

FitnessBlender has a ton of HIIT and strength workout routines but here are some of my favorite moves.

Do each exercise for 20 seconds each, and repeat each for three times.

• Squat jumps

• Burpee with a plank jack

• Side lunge with center hop

• Pushup to a side plank dip

• Reverse lunge pulse (x3) and switch

I will be recording my workouts very soon, and sharing it on my page so you can see these moves in action.