If you’re serious about burning fat, losing weight, and improving your physical fitness, interval training is one of the things you should add to your workout routine. High-intensity interval training has become increasingly popular in the past decade due to how effective this approach to training can be.
Interval training allows you to do more in the gym in less time. Interval training combines various exercises to give you a more effective workout. Each exercise is performed right after another with little or no rest until you’re done with all your stations.
Some of the benefits of interval training include:
- Interval training burns more calories than conventional training. You can burn more than 1000 calories for every hour you spend doing it.
- It improves your cardiovascular endurance, allowing you to workout for longer periods.
- It makes your time at the gym more efficient.
- It leads to more significant fat loss than conventional exercises.
- It improves your overall muscle endurance and speed.
Thanks to interval training, excuses like not having enough time to exercise are no longer valid. Start with pre-designed circuits at first, and start building your own circuits as your fitness knowledge grows. The key to building a good interval circuit is adding exercises that work different body parts, so you get some passive rest as you move through your circuits.
Interval Exercises That Get Rid Of Excess Fat On Your Body
Ready to make interval training part of your fitness routine? Here are some simple interval circuits you can add to your workout program:
1) The Heart Pumper
This circuit will take you anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes to complete depending on your fitness level, and you don’t get any breaks after your exercises or circuits. It’s called the heart pumper for a reason. The goal is to push your cardiovascular system. Aim to perform five to ten rounds of this circuit when you work out.
Here’s what it looks like
2) The Pusher
This circuit only consists of three exercises, but it hits most of the major muscle groups in the body, like the core, hamstrings, quads, glutes, upper back, shoulders, biceps, and triceps. It combines classic push and pull exercises to give you a full body workout.
You get to rest as much as you need between reps performing this exercise as long as you keep the bar on your back. You also get up to 90 seconds of rest after completing each round. You can complete the circuit in about 15 to 20 minutes. The exercises you’ll be performing are:
- Ten barbell back squats;
- Ten bodyweight pullups, and;
- Ten barbell push presses.
3) Tough Runs
Tough runs are great for people who prefer running to conventional exercises or anyone looking to improve their cardio. Running is one of the most underrated exercises since it actually gives you a full body workout and pushes your cardiovascular system to its limit.
This exercise should take you anywhere between 12 to 18 minutes. And you should rest for as long as you run throughout the circuit.
To perform a tough run, run at about 90 percent of your maximum pace for 30 seconds, then rest for 30 seconds. Repeat the process, aiming to get about 12 rounds or as many as possible. Gradually increase the number of rounds you perform as your body gets used to performing these sprints. Run on an incline to make things more challenging.
4) Hardcore Box Jumps
Add this workout to the end of your weight training sessions or combine it with bodyweight exercises. Aim for a 2:1 work-to-rest ratio when performing this exercise, meaning you get to rest for about half the time you work.
To perform this exercise, jump on an exercise box as many times as possible in 30 seconds. Focus on performing the exercise as fast as possible, then rest for 15 seconds. Repeat the process until you’ve completed at least eight rounds. If you find that too challenging, use a shorter exercise box.
5) Kettlebell Squat Swings
Here’s an effective way to make conventional squats more challenging. You’ll need a kettlebell to perform this exercise. Don’t let the name fool you; there’s not much to this interval. You simply perform squats with the kettlebell and follow up with kettlebell swings.
Perform as many reps as you can get in 30 seconds and rest for the same amount of time.
6) The Karate Kid
This circuit gives you a full-body workout that targets many of the muscles that make a massive difference in martial arts, like the hip flexors, back, chest, shoulders, and legs. You don’t get any rest when going through the circuit, but you rest for up to 90 seconds after completing each round. Here’s what this circuit looks like:
- Ten pushups reps;
- Ten bodyweight squats;
- Ten hip thrusts;
- Ten burpees;
- Alligator crawls for 30 seconds;
- Bear crawls for 30 seconds, and;
- Shrimping for 30 seconds.
Add more reps to each exercise as your body gets used to the circuit. Going through these exercises fast strengthens your muscles and improves their endurance so you can perform physically demanding movements for longer periods without getting tired.
7) The Double Kettlebell Crusher
One kettlebell is more than enough to make your exercises more challenging, but two kettlebells take things to another level. This exercise is excellent for muscle endurance and fat burn. It also improves your grip strength, which is helpful to people who participate in sports where gripping and pulling are the norm, like martial arts like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, or wrestling.
The key to this exercise is to keep both kettlebells in your hands once you pick them up until you’re done with the entire round. It should take you less than 20 minutes to complete the workout. Here’s what the exercise looks like:
- Walk 50 feet while carrying the kettlebells overhead;
- Five reps of kettlebell cleans and presses;
- Cover 50 feet rack walking;
- Five reps of kettlebell squats;
- Five reps of bent-over rows, and;
- 50 feet farmer’s walk.
Aim to perform about three rounds of this circuit, resting for up to three minutes between rounds. Keep the kettlebells outside your hands and in front of your shoulders while walking with them.
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