When you imagine a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workout, high-impact moves like burpees or or jump squats probably come to mind. These are definitely a great way to raise your heart rate during short intervals, but they’re not suitable for everyone.
Beginners in particular are better off starting with lower-impact exercises during their workouts, and even if you’re after something efficient like HIIT, you can raise your heart rate to maximize the benefits with moves that don’t require jumping around.
This 15-minute beginner HIIT workout from fitness trainer Joe Wicks, who goes by The Body Coach on YouTube, is the perfect place to start with interval training. It uses low-impact moves to fire up your metabolism and help you get fitter and stronger without putting too much strain on your body, and it doesn’t use weights or resistance bands, so you only need one of the best yoga mats to do it.
Watch The Body Coach’s 15-minute HIIT Workout
You do 15 exercises during the session, working for 30 seconds and then resting for 30 seconds with each of them. This gives beginners plenty of time to recover after each move, and also for Wicks to explain what exercise is coming next and how to do it.
All of the moves are bodyweight exercises and they have been picked to get your heart rate up without the need for a lot of explosive jumping around. You will be doing moves like marching or jogging on the spot, lunges and squats, all of which will help you get stronger and fitter while keeping the impact low.
To ensure the workout is suitable for your level you can also change the time you work for each move. Don’t be afraid to rest for longer if you’re finding some of the exercises too challenging to do for 30 seconds, and conversely if you are comfortable with a move then increase the work time to make sure it is challenging enough to raise your heart rate.
The main benefits from HIIT training in terms of burning a lot of energy, boosting your metabolism and increasing your fitness are all tied to raising your heart rate significantly during the work intervals, so it’s important to push yourself — in a safe manner, of course.
That means you do need to progress your workouts over time as well, to reflect your increasing fitness, using the principles of progressive overload to ensure you keep improving.
To do this you could use some dumbbells with this workout to make it harder, or do two 15-minute circuits. If you’d like to use weight but with a shorter session, this 7-minute dumbbell HIIT workout is a good one to try.
Getting started with any type of training or a new sport is challenging, so doing a gentle workout for beginners like this is definitely a smart option to begin with, rather than diving in at the deep end with a really hard session that discourages you.
Don’t be discouraged if Wicks’ workout does feel too tough either — HIIT isn’t for everyone and you might find you enjoy a dance-style workout like this 20-minute standing session more instead.
