The term “HIIT workout” can sometimes feel a bit like that meme of the bespectacled anime guy pointing at a butterfly: in this situation, the butterfly could be literally any workout class or exercise and you are the man gesticulating, saying, “Is this a HIIT workout?”

While you might not be able to quite put your finger on the exact boundaries of what HIIT is – or maybe you are, and maybe you should be the fitness editor of British GQ, wise guy – our experts, thankfully, know exactly what they are and why they work. “High-intensity interval training simply means a workout that mixes periods of hard or all-out effort with shorter rest periods and has been proven to be an extremely effective and time-efficient form of training,” explained Third Space’s Lucie Cowan. “However, you’ll only reap the benefits if you push yourself out of your comfort zone, as exercise intervals must be performed at an intensity of at least 80 per cent of your max heart rate.”

“HIIT is not only incredibly time efficient, but can be an absolute game changer to your physique and also your tolerance for and recovery from fatigue,” explained strength and conditioning coach Arby Keheli. Motion Training’s Dudley MacDonald agreed: “[HIIT workouts] can act as a perfect finisher to get a sweat post-weights session.”

In general, HIIT is beneficial for nearly everyone, regardless of your goals. “The result is an improved ability to work at a higher intensity, or percentage of your max, for a longer amount of time,” explained Cowan.

Below are our experts’ guides on how to step up your HIIT game and – sorry in advance – hiit your goals.

© Nik Pate

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Arby Keheli, strength and conditioning coach

The structure of this bodyweight HIIT session is composed of three rounds, each comprising two exercises. For each round, work for 40 seconds and then rest for 20. Once you’ve completed all three rounds once, take a minute to rest and do the whole set again, followed by another minute’s rest, until you’ve gone through the whole thing four times.

For the static sprints, aim for ten reps before moving to five reps of the speed sprawls. For the mountain climbers, aim for 15 reps before moving to do five burpees. Aim for ten lateral shoot-throughs before moving to do five push-ups.

Round one: static sprint and speed sprawl

Exercise 1a: static sprint

  • Brace through the core while maintaining an upright position.

  • Make contact with the tip toe striking through the floor and lifting the knee to a right angle.

  • Quick contact and transition.

Exercise 1b: speed sprawl

  • Squat down and plant the hands on the floor while simultaneously shooting the feet back into a press-up position, making sure that the hips don’t drop too low.

  • Hop the feet back into a squat position while again simultaneously lifting the hands off the floor.

Round two: mountain climbers and burpee

Exercise 2a: mountain climbers

  • Load into a push-up position with the core braced, flat back and glutes engaged.

  • Draw the knee up and into the ribs. Quick transition between each liftoff.

  • Ensure you keep your body stable and minimise all other movement, then lift the knees.

Exercise 2b: burpee

  • Instead of dropping straight on the floor, focus on control throughout the movement.

  • From standing, sit into a squat position while maintaining a flat back, plant the hands on the floor and jump the feet back, landing in a press-up position. Lower yourself down until the chest touches the floor.

  • Reverse the process to get back up.

Round three: lateral shoot-through and push-up

Exercise 3a: lateral shoot-through

  • Start in a table top/beast position. The shoulders, elbows and wrist are in line, the back is flat and the hips stacked directly over the knees.

  • Lift the palm off the floor while kicking the same leg under the torso. You will then extend the leg and pull the arm back like you are drawing the string of a bow.

  • Keep the hip close to the ground but lifted, hold for a second and then return to centre back into that beast position.

  • The lateral shoot through should be performed slowly with a focus on movement quality.

Exercise 3b: push-up

  • Ensure that the wrist is directly stacked under the shoulder. Keep the core braced and minimise the arch through the lower back.

  • As you descend, keep the elbows tucked into the body loaded at around a 45-degree angle. Descend until the chest is about two inches off the floor and fully lock out at the top of the movement.

  • Regress to the knee if this movement is challenging.

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Lucie Cowan, Third Space

Here are three very different HIIT workouts based on different goals.

Workout one: bodyweight Tabata

Tabata has fast become a household name, thanks to Japanese scientist Dr Izumi Tabata, who developed the specific format (20 seconds on, ten seconds off, eight times through), proving that we really can push ourselves to our limits in only four minutes.

Essentially, each Tabata round only needs one exercise per circuit. Select a whole-body move that is simple and can be done quickly and safely (think jump squats, burpees or simple sprints) and perform it at your absolute max for 20 seconds, take a ten-second rest (a jog or a march), then begin again. This is a great one if you’re pressed for time or don’t have much space or equipment available.

Workout two: barbell complexes

HIIT isn’t exclusively achieved through bodyweight and plyometric exercises; think outside the box.

Adding compound barbell exercises into a high-intensity circuit means their fat loss properties are further enhanced and the workout can bridge the gap between strength and conditioning and typical cardio. If you’re into your heavy lifting but need a change, this one’s for you.

Barbell complexes are not meant to be fast paced, but focus on performing each rep explosively, using compound movements. It’s also not about loading your bar super heavy: select a weight that is light enough for you to maintain optimal technique, repeat these lifts back-to-back, with no rest between exercises until the complex has been completed. Once you complete the set, take one- to two-minutes rest.

Start with just the bar and add weight in small 1-2kg increments. This full-body complex should give you a nice place to start. Perform each exercise for 60 seconds and move straight on to the next, resting as little as possible unit the end of the set. That’s one round. Try for four in total.

Exercise 2a: barbell thruster

  • Begin by standing with the bar on the front of your shoulders.

  • Squat down until your bottom is at knee height and drive up explosively through the heels, pressing the weight overhead as you stand.

  • Pause and lower the bar down back to shoulders and sit back to the squat again. This is one fluid motion rep. Continue with no pauses between reps.

Exercise 2b: barbell reverse lunge

  • Place a barbell on the meaty part of the upper back. Stand with feet hip-width apart and elbows raised.

  • Keeping core braced, step back with your right leg until the left knee is one inch off the ground, both knees square.

  • Explode up and step the right leg back to the starting position. Repeat with the left and continue.

Exercise 2c: bent-over row to clean

  • Stand holding the bar and deadlift down the thigh, hinging from the hip to a 45 degree angle. The bar should be hanging down with your arms extended towards the ground.

  • Row the barbell towards the lower ribs, then release it back towards the floor.

  • Stand straight up so the bar is in front of your hips and perform a hang clean by bending your knees and sliding the bar down your thighs until it reaches the top of your knee.

  • Then jump under the bar to bring it to the top of your shoulders, flipping it up.

  • Bring the bar down to the front of your hip.

Exercise 2d: reverse burpee

  • A tough one! Begin lying down flat on the ground with arms overhead holding a light barbell. Brace the core hard. Use momentum and extend through your knees and hips to explosively stand up.

  • Upon standing up, bring barbell overhead for one rep. Lower barbell back to chest position, bend at the knees and in a single controlled motion, lower yourself to the floor, rolling onto your back and bringing barbell back overhead.

  • Repeat entire movement.

Workout three: HIIT for the cycle lovers

Descending miracle intervals are a go-to of mine for an impromptu session on the indoor bike. Miracle intervals were originally designed by Olympic coach Gale Bernhardt and adapted here by yours truly! Miracle intervals simply mean short sharp intervals on the bike with plenty of rest, so bike lovers can get creative and play with programming to suit.

A descending interval is a series of max-effort sprints on the bike that get shorter as the interval goes on – think of it as the light at the end of the tunnel getting closer! Here’s a 45-minute killer to get you going, made up of seven five-minute blocks of work and rest. Tougher than it looks!

  • 10 minute warm up

  • 45 second sprint, 4 minute 15 second easy riding

  • 40 second sprint, 4 minute 20 easy riding

  • 35 second sprint, 4 minute 25 easy riding

  • 30 second sprint, 4 minute 30 easy riding

  • 25 second sprint, 4 minute 35 easy riding

  • 20 second sprint, 4 minute 40 easy riding

  • 15 second sprint, 4 minute 45 easy riding

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Dudley MacDonald, Motion Training

Workout one: long (a little less intense, slightly lower heart rate)

If you’ve read any of my previous workouts you’ll be aware I own a Crossfit gym, so I’m going to go full Crossfit on you and start you off with an “EMOM” (every minute on the minute). This lasts 18 minutes, with 45 seconds’ work per exercise followed by 15 seconds’ rest. Start a new exercise every minute. Do six rounds of the full list.

This is a slightly longer workout, so I want your focus to be on consistency and maintaining reps every round. For example, don’t do 20 press-ups in round one if you know this will blow up your muscles so you are only able to do five reps by round six. Maintain your reps each round, but do not stress if you end up dropping a rep or two.

Exercise 1a: press-ups

  • Start at the top of the press-up with arms locked out and hands directly under the shoulders. Keeping your body in a straight line, from shoulder to foot, lower your chest to touch the floor. Then, drive through your hands to press back to full lockout.

  • To ensure you’re getting the most out of this exercise make sure you move through the full range of movement by hitting your chest on the floor and locking arms out at the top of every rep.

  • If you need to drop to your knees to achieve this, then do it! This is a great way to still get volume through your chest and triceps without compromising the quality of movement.

Exercise 1b: jumping squats

  • Start with feet shoulder-width apart. From here, send your hips slightly back as you track your knees over your toes to lower yourself to the bottom of your squat.

  • You are looking to get your hip crease lower than the top of your knee, while still keeping your chest up to prevent rounding through the lower back.

  • This is an explosive exercise, so from this bottom position, as you extend to reach the top of your squat, you need to open up the hips aggressively to get your feet off the floor. You don’t need to be trying to launch yourself as high as you can. Just a little hop off the floor is fine.

Exercise 1c: V-ups

  • Start lying flat on your back with arms reaching above your head.

  • From here, move your hands and feet towards each other, to meet in the middle right above your hips.

  • If you can’t move legs and arms at the same time then bend the knees and bring hands to knees for a slightly easier version of the movement.

Workout two: short (high heart rate, high intensity, sprint)

These sprint workouts are over fast but usually have you rolling around in the pain cave for a long time afterwards. These are a great way to get a seriously good workout in, even if you’re running low on time. The aim is to do five rounds of ten burpees followed by 100 high knees. Set a time cap of seven minutes: if you’ve not finished the work in seven minutes, your workout is finished anyway, so sprint.

This is a tough one to finish and one you may try multiple times. Don’t be too aggressive with pacing on rounds one, two and three. You’re going to need something left so you can push hard on the final two rounds. If you push hard enough, it’ll be over before you have time to realise it hurts, but don’t worry, that burn won’t be far behind.

Exercise 2a: burpee

  • Start from standing. Reach down to the floor by hinging through the hip (not squatting). Put your weight into your hands and jump both feet back at the same time (hands on the floor about a foot’s length away from the feet). Relax your chest to the floor. No need to control this too much. It’s not a press up.

  • On the way back up, lift your hips up high and jump your feet forwards to get your heels to ground under your hips.

  • Finish the movement by jumping and clapping over head.

Exercise 2b: High knees

  • Stand with feet under hips and alternately bring your knees up to hip height, in an exaggerated running motion. One knee coming up to hip height is one rep.

  • When you get tired you’ll want to let your knees drop, but be strict. Maintain that hip height.