What to do? You may be pressed for time. Long hours at work, kids at home, and limited time to achieve your personal goals.
How do I work in time at the gym? What to do about the extra pounds that seem to accumulate with stress and a high demand schedule?
Want the easy answer? Home based workouts designed for fat loss.
Home HIIT Workouts for Fat Loss
Specifically high intensity interval training (HIIT). Cut out the commute to the gym, not to mention parking, finding a locker, and finding space/equipment. Why bother when you can perform amazing HIIT workouts with a minimum of products from the comfort of your own home?
For fat loss specifically, there is one underlying variable we really want to focus on. Hormones! How do we stimulate fat metabolizing hormones in the most efficient manner? Release of fat metabolizing hormones can be attained through relative exercise intensity.
Source: WODSHOTSMeaning if we can design workouts that stimulate your heart to near maximum levels for short periods, we will get a myriad of benefits. Namely reduction in visceral adipose tissue otherwise known as belly fat. Studies show that as little as ten seconds of all-out effort can stimulate the positive hormones associated with fat loss.1
That’s not to say 10 seconds is all it takes. It is a starting point though. If we can stack workouts that incorporate multiple near maximal efforts with ample time for recovery, we can produce tremendous fat loss effects.
Positive hormone release leading to higher levels of fat burning during the workout. More importantly, we can turn your body into a metabolic furnace as HIIT workouts have been shown to increase calorie burn for hours after your workout. An effect traditional aerobic exercise can’t produce.
Here are 3 amazing HIIT workouts you can perform at home.
Home HIIT Workouts for Fat Loss 1 – TABATA:
Perform the exercises below as a pair. Do the first exercise for 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds of rest while you transition to the second exercise and perform it for 20 seconds with 10 seconds of rest as well. Repeat each pair for 4 cycles or 4 minutes total.
Equipment Needed:
- You and your bodyweight.
1a. Burpee
-To make low burpees low-impact perform the push up from your knees and replace the jumps to/from plank with stepping your feet back and forth. Also, if need be, remove the final squat jump and return to standing instead.
1b. Flutter Kicks
-Focus on keeping your lower back pressed firmly into the floor and abs flattened during the exercise.
-The higher your legs go off the ground the easier the movement gets. Thus to make the exercise easier, raise your legs or bend your knees.
2a. Mountain Climbers
-Try to maintain a contracted core to keep your hips and pelvis stabilized while also supporting your lower back.
2b. Bicycles
-Similar to the flutter kicks focus on keeping your lower back connected to the floor and flattening your abs through the floor below you.
3a. Squat Jump
-Find your comfortable foot width and angle. Knees should always be in line with your toes throughout the flexion and extension phases.
3b. Elbow Touch Plank
-Movement at the hips is ok but try to minimize it by keeping your lower core engaged and stabilizing the lower body.
Home HIIT Workouts for Fat Loss – 2
300: For the following 5 exercises, perform them as a circuit. You’ll have 5 rounds overall with repetition counts of 14, 12, 10, 8, and 6.
Get a pair of dumbbells ready! Ideally you have a few pairs available or an adjustable dumbbell to appropriately match weights with your strength level. Optimizing the weight means you could do 1-2 more repetitions perfectly at any given rep count. If you could do 3 or more perfect repetitions add more weight!
Equipment Needed:
- You and your bodyweight.
- A selection of dumbbells.
1. See-Saw Overhead Press
-Keep the body as neutral as possible using core stability to avoid rotation and shifting.
2. Squat Jumps
-Perform as fast as safely possible.
-The combination of an upper body exercise followed by a lower body exercise will send the heart rate towards maximum.
3. Bent Over Rows
-Keep the spine neutral throughout the movements and eyes forward not back towards the weights.
4. Front Squat
-Make sure to keep the weights close to your frame to eliminate stress and torque on your low back.
5. Sit Ups
-Focus on contracting and flattening the core to sit up, not pressing the abdominals out.
Home HIIT Workouts for Fat Loss 3 – Slow x Fast Supersets
For the following pairs of exercises perform 3 sets of each pair before moving onto the next. For exercise one focuses on performing the rep at a slow methodical pace. For exercise two try to finish the reps as fast as possible while under control.
Equipment Needed:
- You and your bodyweight.
- A selection of dumbbells.
- Some resistance bands.
1a. Push Ups Bands
-Perform sets of 10.
-Try to take 3 seconds to go from the top to the bottom of the push up then press up as fast as comfortable.
1b. Alternating Dumbbell Swings
-Perform sets of 24 so each arm swings 12 times.
-As fast as safely possible.
2a. See-saw Bent Over Rows
-Perform sets of 20 so that each arm rows 10 times.
2b. Burpee
-Perform 8 repetitions as fast as safely possible.
3a. Side Elbow Plank
-Perform sets of 30 seconds per side.
3b. Squat to Overhead Press Bands
-Perform 20 repetitions as fast as safely possible.
-Make sure to press straight overhead, avoiding the pull to let the arms fall slightly forward or extending from the lower back.
All the above routines can be completed within 15-30 minutes with a bare minimum of equipment. They are sure to get you moving and sweating. More importantly, from the comfort of your own home you can knock off those unwanted layers of fat and carve out extra time for you.
by Living.Fit
Citations
- Boutcher SH. High-intensity intermittent exercise and fat loss. J Obes. 2011;2011:868305. doi: 10.1155/2011/868305. Epub 2010 Nov 24. PMID: 21113312; PMCID: PMC2991639.
Image Sources
- Burpee: WODSHOTS
- Push-up: Domagoj Bregant on Pexels