25-Minute Bodyweight HIIT Workout

Bodyweight workouts are where its at. And they don’t leave much room for excuses, because lets be real, all you need is your own body weight (obvv). It’s like having your own personal gym with you at all times, your bodyweight is always with you. So you can do them basically anywhere, eliminating all those excuses we come up with to ditch breaking a sweat.

After I’d had my usual pre-workout coffee and energy bite I busted on over to the gym on Friday morning and came up with this workout. I recently decided to swap those prolonged steady-state cardio sesh’s I used to do  for circuits like this. I’d take my cardio like this over the elliptical any day. I wasn’t constantly checking the time annnd the next day I felt this in my core, upper back, and booty. And before I get into the specifics, let me just say that I purposefully cropped the awkward bug-eye face I was randomly making out of the tricep-dip starting position photo. Now back to your workout:

25-Minute Bodyweight HIIT Workout

Equipment I Used:
Interval Timer App (free)
Exercise Mat
Plyo Box/ Bench

For each of the following exercises, you’ll set your Interval Timer App for: 5  interval cycles of 45 seconds of work (High), 15 seconds of rest (Low), and set the repeat option to “ON” for 5 cycles. Also, make sure you set the warm-up and cool-down to 0:00 otherwise it will repeat these each time you go to do your next round. This definitely happened to me…I may have downloaded this app on my way out the door.

Don’t have a spare plyo box laying around? You can use a stair, step, workout bench, or park bench! Once you’ve completed the 5 minute round, take a quick drink of water and get right on to the next one. Feeling like a boss? You can always do another round if you want bragging rights to a solid 30-Minute workout!

• Triceps Dip with Alternating Kick: Start in a table top position. Hands on the box, facing forward, on either side of you. Shoulders neutral. Knees bent at 90 degrees. Dip down, keeping your elbows facing back while you bend them and kick your right leg straight upward as you lower your body. Push through your hands back to the starting position, lowering your right leg. Repeat, kicking up your left leg.
• Step Up with Knee Raise (left): Stand with box directly in front of you. Step your left foot up onto the box (your right foot still on the ground). Powering through your left leg, step up, lifting your right knee up into your chest. Lower your right foot back down to the ground. Step your left foot back down to starting position. This movement should be fluid — your weight should always be on that left leg, not the right. All of the movement in this exercise comes mainly from your left glute – that’s where you should feel it!
• Tri-Level Planks: Start in an elbow plank facing the bench. One hand at a time, walk yourself up into a standard plank position. Then again, one hand at a time, walk yourself into an extended elevated plank position with both hands on the bench, outstretched before you. Reverse the motion back down to an elbow plank. Each time you go through the sequence, alternate the hand you lead with.
• Step Up with Knee Raise (right): Stand with box directly in front of you. Step your right foot up onto the box (your left foot still on the ground). Powering through your right leg, step up, lifting your left knee up into your chest. Lower your left foot back down to the ground. Step your right  foot back down to starting position. This movement should be fluid — your weight should always be on that right leg, not the left. All of the movement in this exercise comes mainly from your right glute – that’s where you should feel it!
• Reptile Planks: Bring your right knee (bent out to the side and parallel to the ground) up to your right elbow, crunching your obliques. Repeat on the left side.

What are your favorite bodyweight exercises?

WEARING | jacket: Nike Dri-FIT Empire Training Jacket | leggings: Kyodan (Marshalls OR ebay) | tank: Firedaughter Clothing | sneakers: Nike