New to HIIT? Start With These Beginner Workouts

HIIT has a reputation for being brutal, and it can be, but you get to decide how hard your first few weeks feel. The hardest thing about HIIT workouts for beginners is finding an intensity that's hard enough to get the benefits, but not so hard that you can't recover in time to do it again a couple of days later.

Keeping your intervals shorter will help, and you can get them done on a treadmill, bike, weights, or with just your bodyweight.

What Is a HIIT Workout?

HIIT stands for high-intensity interval training, a type of interval training where you do short bursts of high intensity effort, followed by a slower paced recovery period before another high-intensity interval. The work interval is usually between 20 seconds up to a couple of minutes, and the rest period can be walking, slow pedaling, or pacing while you catch your breath (such as after a sprint).

HIIT is different from steady-state cardio where you stay at a comfortable pace for a longer time, like a jog or long bike ride.

Pros and Cons of HIIT for Beginners

HIIT is a great way to get your cardio in and improve your cardiovascular health, but there are some specific benefits and downsides for beginners.

More Efficient

HIIT improves aerobic fitness a little more than steady cardio, particularly for people who are less fit to start with. You can even see health benefits, like better blood sugar control, in as little as 10 minutes of hard effort compared to needing 50 minutes of steady cardio for the same benefits.

More Enjoyable

HIIT also tends to be more fun than people expect. Most people enjoy intervals more than steady cardio, probably because the constant switching keeps boredom away. One study found inactive adults liked HIIT more and more over their first six weeks as they got fitter.

More Difficult

Intervals feel less pleasant while you're doing them than easy steady cardio, even though people usually rate them as more enjoyable afterward, so this isn't a huge downside.

More Likely to Cause Injury

As HIIT's popularity grew, so did injury rates. In group classes in particular, burpees and squats cause the most injuries, likely because your knees and ankles need time to adjust to landing, and form can degrade when you're trying to go fast and running out of energy. If you have a heart condition, high blood pressure, or haven't exercised in years, check with your doctor before you go hard.

How to Start HIIT as a Beginner

Here are some tips for getting started with HIIT workouts for beginners:

• Go hard, but not too hard: As a beginner, you likely don't want to go above a 7 to 8 out of 10 in effort. For inactive people, this level is backed by research to improve aerobic fitness by 20% or more in eight weeks.
• Rest longer than you work: Recovery periods should be around three times longer than your work intervals to start (30 seconds hard, 60-90 seconds easy). This ratio is more manageable for beginners than long intervals.
• Keep it short: 10 to 20 minute HIIT sessions, including your warm up and cool down is a good place to start. You can improve your fitness, blood pressure, and waist size in low-volume 15 min or less HIIT sessions about as well as with longer steady workouts.
• Start low-impact: You don't have to jump around to get a good HIIT workout. Low-impact cardio, where you keep at least one foot on the ground (or butt on a seat) still work without pounding your joints. An air bike, a manual treadmill, or step-back burpees are good examples.

Read More: Low-Impact HIIT Workout That Doesn't Beat Up Your Body

The Best HIIT Workouts for Beginners

The main types of HIIT workouts are bodyweight circuits, intervals on cardio equipment like an air bike or treadmill, and outdoor sprints or circuits. The best cardio exercises for HIIT are ones you can ramp up and back off quickly, so you can push hard for 30 to 60 seconds and then recover. You can browse REP's cardio machines if you want to train indoors, or take things outside with this 20-minute total body outdoor circuit.

Warm up for 3 to 5 minutes before each of these and cool down afterward with a few minutes of easy movement. You can do one or all of these during the week, so long as you recover in between.

10-Minute Home HIIT Workout for Beginners

If you want a HIIT training home workout with zero equipment, this bodyweight circuit is one of the easiest HIIT workouts for beginners. It's based on a simple 11-minute routine that improved fitness in inactive adults in six weeks. You can do it right in your living room. Do each move for 30 seconds, then march in place for 30 seconds before the next one. Go through the circuit twice.

• High knees (or fast marching)
• Bodyweight squats
• Step-back burpees
• Mountain climbers
• Alternating reverse lunges

Once this feels manageable, swap in squat jumps for the squats and full jumping burpees for the step-back version.

Good to Know: Equipment-free HIIT done at home worked just as well as supervised sessions in a lab.

15-Minute Air Bike HIIT Workout

Air bikes are perfect for beginner HIIT because the harder you push, the harder the fan pushes back, and there's zero impact. On the REP® Strive™ Air Bike featuring VPR™, you can also change the fan blade angle to dial resistance up or down. This workout uses the same five one-minute intervals from the twice-a-week study above.

• Warm-up: 3 minutes easy, resistance level 1 to 3
• Work: 1 minute hard (7 to 8 out of 10), level 4 to 6
• Recover: 1 minute easy spin, level 1 to 2
• Repeat the work and recovery 5 times
• Cool-down: 2 minutes easy

If your last round falls apart, add 30 seconds to each recovery next time.

Read More: 5 Strive™ Air Bike Workouts for HIIT, Endurance, Recovery, and More

Beginner Treadmill HIIT Workout

A manual treadmill only moves when you do, so you change speed just by moving your body (bonus is no button mashing while you're gasping for air). Curved manual treadmills like the Strive™ Curved Treadmill also push your heart rate higher while lowering impact compared to a regular motorized treadmill. Keep the deck flat for a more controlled feel. If you're torn between indoor and outdoor intervals, here are the pros and cons of running on a treadmill vs. outside.

• Warm-up: 4 minutes easy walk
• Work: 30 seconds brisk jog or fast power walk (7 to 8 out of 10)
• Recover: 90 seconds easy walk
• Repeat the work and recovery 6 times
• Cool-down: 3 minutes easy walk

Read More: Boost Your Cardio Health With This HIIT Training Treadmill Workout

How Often Should Beginners Do HIIT?

Two or three HIIT sessions a week with at least one day in between is a good starting point for most beginners. Three short sessions a week with 10 minutes or less of hard work can improve fitness within a few weeks. Fill the other days with walking or beginner-friendly strength training. Bodyweight HIIT can build a little muscle and strength, but lifting weights is still your best bet for muscle gain.

Every couple of weeks, make one change, like adding a round, trimming 10 to 15 seconds of rest, or adding jumps. Changing all three at once is how people end up back on the floor.

Takeaway

HIIT is one of the most time-efficient ways to get fitter when you're starting out. It's just crucial not to go too overboard with the intensity or number of sessions you do so you can recover between sessions. Do one of these workouts two or three times a week and level it up when it feels easy. If you can still climb the stairs the next day, you nailed it.

FAQs

What are some effective HIIT exercises for beginners?

Effective HIIT exercises for beginners include high knees, bodyweight squats, step-back burpees, mountain climbers, and reverse lunges, since they're simple to learn and easy to speed up or slow down. Air bike sprints and jog-walk intervals on a treadmill are great machine-based cardio exercises for HIIT because there's little or no impact. Stick with low-impact versions for your first few weeks, then add jumps like squat jumps and full burpees once your form holds up when you're tired. Work for 30 seconds at a 7 or 8 out of 10, then rest for at least as long.

What affordable home equipment do I need to start HIIT?

You don't need any equipment to start HIIT, since most home HIIT workouts for beginners use bodyweight moves like squats, burpees, and mountain climbers. A yoga mat for floor moves, a jump rope, and a free interval timer app cover just about everything a beginner needs without costing much. If you want to add a machine later, an air bike gives you low-impact, full-body intervals in a small footprint, while a curved manual treadmill works well if you like running. You'll find both in REP's Strive™ cardio equipment lineup.

Is 10 minutes of HIIT a day enough?

Ten minutes of HIIT is enough to improve your fitness, especially as a beginner, since short sessions work about as well as longer ones for most health markers. You don't need to do it every day, though, and two or three 10-minute sessions a week plus walking or strength training on other days works well. Thirty minutes of HIIT every day is too much for most people because hard intervals need recovery time. Once you're more experienced, two or three 30-minute sessions a week, including warm-up and cool-down, is a reasonable upper range.

Does HIIT burn belly fat?

HIIT can help reduce belly fat, including the deeper visceral fat around your organs that's linked to heart disease and type 2 diabetes. You can't target fat loss to one spot, though, so HIIT trims fat all over your body, belly included. Overall, HIIT and steady cardio lead to similar fat loss, and neither does much for weight loss without some changes to what you eat. Combine HIIT with a modest calorie deficit and plenty of protein for the best results.

Does HIIT spike cortisol?

Yes, HIIT raises cortisol (a stress hormone that helps your body fire up energy for hard work), but only temporarily. Cortisol rises right after a session, dips below normal a couple of hours later, and returns to baseline within 24 hours. Your body also adapts, and the cortisol bump shrank by about 40% after just three weeks of training. The idea that HIIT leaves you chronically stressed is mostly a myth, so long as you don't do it every day and you give yourself rest days and decent sleep.