WEEKLY WORKOUT ROUTINE: LET'S HIIT IT!

So real talk: I hate cardio. There's a reason I was a sprinter in college. Even doing 4 laps of jogging for warmup was a pain for me. So when I got out of college, I basically eschewed all forms of cardio. But as we all know, cardio does have its benefits -- it's been proven to improve heart health, increase metabolism, improve recovery abilities and help with sugar and hormone control. Over the years, I've re-incorporated  cardio into my workouts because of this. I still don't do it very often -- max I'll do it 2 times per week in the summer months and I barely do it in the winter. I prefer to do my lifting workouts quickly with little rest to keep my heart rate up that way. But when I do cardio, I like to do HIIT circuits as opposed to long steady state sessions on the elliptical or the treadmill. Mostly because that's unbelievably boring to me lol. And also because it's now been relatively well established that HIIT burns more fat than steady-state cardio.

Ok, onto my favorite HIIT workouts. I do these for about 20 mins with 3-5 mins warm up and 3-5 mins cool down {I skip the warm up if I'm doing it after a lifting session}.

TREADMILL WORKOUT #1

My favorite thing to do on the treadmill is sprints (if I can't do them outside). I sprint for 30 seconds at anywhere from 10-12 mph then rest for 30 seconds by jumping onto the side of the treadmill. I repeat this for a total of 10 sets (10 mins). For the other 10 mins, I set a relatively low-medium incline and do the following: 1 min forward lunge , 1 min side squat R leg, 1 min side squat L leg, 1 min forward lunge w/ kickback, 1 min forward squat walk (the last 2 are killeeerrr). In between each of these exercises, I walk for 1 min at that incline to rest. Do this til you reach a total of 10 mins.

TREADMILL WORKOUT #2

Another option is the incline walk. Set an incline that you can maintain; I usually aim to be at about 45 degrees. I then set my speed at a walk, usually 2-3 mph, and just walk for about 10 mins. This is actually super hard if you set a high incline. I love that I get good glute activation with it too.

STAIRMASTER

My usual regimen on the stairmaster is pretty simple. I climb for 1 min at a slow rate (level 4 or 5, this is the rest minute) followed by 2 mins at a faster pace (usually about level 10). The first minute I climb normally and the second minute I skip every other step and try to push up with my heels to get good glute recruitment. This gets really hard about 5 mins in but it's a guaranteed good sweat session.

ELLIPTICAL

I rarely use the elliptical just because it bores me too much but it's still a great option. I basically make sure my resistance and my incline are set to a challenging level and do 1 min at high speed and 1 min at slow speed until it's been 10 mins. That's it!

Spinning is another great option that I've honestly never tried because historically, bike seats make my butt sore lol.

Here's this week's routine:

Monday: Legs {Quads, Glutes, Calves}

• Glute Pushdown {on assisted pull-up machine} – 4 sets x 12 reps each side (A)

• Curtsey Lunge – 4 sets x 15 reps each side (B)

• Smith Machine Split Squat – 4 sets x 8 reps (A)

• Side-to-Side Squat {w/ resistance band below knees} – 4 sets x 15 reps each side (B)

• Smith Machine Pistol Squat {light weight w/ these, they're surprisingly hard}– 4 sets x 10 reps each side (A)

• Smith Machine Calf Raise - 4 sets x 10 reps (B)

• Narrow Stance Leg Press {w/ resistance band below knees} – 4×10 reps (A)

• Wide Stance Leg Press {w/ resistance band below knees} – 4×10 reps (B)

Tuesday: Chest+Back

• Chest-supported Rope Lat Pulldown – 4 sets x 8 reps (A)

• Bent Over Fly – 4 sets x 10 reps (B)

• Dumbbell Bench Row- 4 sets x 8 reps each side (A)

• Flat Bench Press {dumbbells or bar} – 4 sets x 8 reps (B)

• Skull Crusher {on incline bench} – 4 sets x 8 reps (A)

• Incline Bench Press {dumbbells or bar} – 4 sets x 8 reps (B)

• Pec Fly on Machine – 4 sets x 8 reps

• Rear Delt on Machine – 4 sets x 8 reps

Wednesday: Choose a fitness class or get some cardio in!

Thursday: Legs {Hamstrings, Glutes}

• Dumbbell Sumo Squat – 4 sets x 8 reps (A)

• Dumbbell American Deadlift – 4 sets x 10 reps  (B)

• Cable Pull Through – 4 sets x 10 reps (A)

• Dumbbell Walking Lunges – 4 sets x 15 reps each side (B)

• Cable Donkey Kick {I wrap cable attachment right above the knee} – 4 sets x 10 reps each side (A)**

• Cable Fire Hydrant – 4 sets x 10 reps each side (B)**

• Barbell or Smith Machine Hip Thrusts {w/ resistance band below knees} – 4 sets x 10 reps > into 5 pulses > into 10 second hold

**I superset these on one side – so I do all my sets of donkey kicks and fire hydrants for my right leg then switch the cable attachment and do my left. Warning: This BURNS.)

Friday: Abs+Shoulders

• Upright Row – 4 sets x 8 reps (A)

• Overhead Press (dumbbell or bar)- 4 sets x 8 reps (B)

• Dumbbell Front Raise – 4 sets x 8 reps (A)

• DB Lateral Raise – 4 sets x 8 reps (B)

• Cable Rear Delt w/ reverse grip (thumbs pointing towards you) – 4 sets x 8 reps (A)

• Cable Leaning Lateral Raise – 4 sets x 8 reps (B)

Saturday: Abs+Cardio

• Insert your favorite ab routine here! My routine can be found at the bottom of this post

Sunday: Rest day