Most people are extremely busy, especially during the work week.
Between juggling a job, family responsibilities, household chores, and a social life, it can be difficult to fit in long workouts, let alone take the time to drive to and from the gym to get them done. For this reason, at home HIIT workouts are the perfect solution.
They offer the trifecta in terms of problem-solving: they are effective, they save the time and hassle of needing to commute to and from the gym, and the very nature of HIIT workouts makes them a very time-efficient way to exercise.
So, when you are short on time, there’s no better way to get your workout in than to do HIIT workouts at home.
In this guide, we designed and compiled a bunch of at home HIIT workouts to help you get your sweat on when you’re crunched for time but what to push your body.
We will look at:
- How to Do HIIT Workouts At Home
- What Do You Need to Do At-Home HIIT Workouts?
- 8 Awesome HIIT Workouts At Home
How to Do HIIT Workouts At Home
If you’ve never tried before, you might ask, “Can you do HIIT workouts at home?”
The short answer is yes; you can absolutely do HIIT workouts at home.
Of course, depending on the space and equipment you have available, you might be limited in terms of what exercises you can do in your at home HIIT workouts, but one of the best things about HIIT is that there are quite a few bodyweight or equipment-free exercises that lend themselves well to HIIT-style training.
What Do You Need to Do At Home HIIT Workouts?
The more space and exercise equipment you have at your disposal, the more options you will have with your at home HIIT workouts.
The bare minimum is really just enough space to move around, so something like a 7 x 7-foot plot with high enough ceilings that you can jump.
It’s really helpful to have a jump rope, a couple of resistance bands (both small booty band loops and tubes with handles), a plyometric box, or access to a step.
If you would like to build strength and muscle mass, in addition to boosting your metabolic rate and cardiovascular fitness, a set of adjustable dumbbells or a couple of pairs of weights is fantastic.
If you want to get fancy and have some real fun and versatility in your at home HIIT workouts, a couple of kettlebells and a medicine ball are awesome to have at your disposal because you can perform some great metabolic exercises with these training tools.
However, if you are on a tight budget or don’t anticipate doing HIIT workouts at home often enough to justify buying exercise equipment, you can also use weighted objects you have lying around the house to add resistance.
Oftentimes, a gallon of water is a perfect dumbbell substitute.
Lastly, a large stability ball is also useful for core exercises.
With that said, we’ve included a bunch of at-home bodyweight HIIT workouts so that you can get a great HIIT workout at home as long as you have cleared floor space.
Grab your water bottle, towel, phone, or another timer, and let’s get moving!
8 Awesome HIIT Workouts At Home
#1: 20-Minute Bodyweight HIIT Workout
This 20-minute total-body bodyweight workout is great for at home HIIT workouts when you don’t have access to dumbbells, resistance bands, or other exercise equipment.
Complete two rounds of the following 10 bodyweight exercises:
- 60 seconds jumping jacks
- 60 seconds alternating forward lunges
- 60 seconds push-ups
- 60 seconds bodyweight squats
- 60 seconds calf raises
- 60 seconds chair/couch triceps dips
- 60 seconds burpees
- 60 seconds single-leg bridges (30 seconds per leg)
- 60 seconds jump squats
- 60 seconds plank
#2: Bum Burner AMRAP At-Home HIIT Workout
AMRAP workouts, which stands for “As Many Reps As Possible,” work great for HIIT because banging out as many reps as you can squeeze in using proper form within a certain amount of time helps boost the intensity, power, speed, cardiovascular and metabolic demand of the workout.
In this lower-body AMRAP workout, you will perform a specific number of reps for a few exercises and do as many rounds of the exercises as you can in a designated amount of time.
Beginners should do as many rounds as possible in 6 minutes, intermediate athletes should go for 10 minutes, and advanced athletes should try to go for 12 minutes or longer.
- 15 squats
- 15 jump squats
- 15 squats
- 15 burpees
- 15 squats
- 20 alternating jumping lunges (10 per side)
If you have access to weights (dumbbells, a kettlebell, a medicine ball, or even a gallon of water), you can use resistance with your squats, but bodyweight squats are perfectly fine (and often challenging enough!) as well.
Make sure you use good form; don’t let your competitive nature and desire to do more rounds make your form and technique sloppy.
#3: Jump It Out AMRAP At-Home HIIT Workout
This AMRAP workout is a great HIIT workout to do at home because it’s just two bodyweight exercises, and you never really get any sort of rest. This means you can blast through a super tough workout in just 5-10 minutes.
Set a time goal that works for you–from 2-15 minutes and jump away!
Complete as many rounds as you can of the following:
- 12 Tuck jumps
- 12 Jump squats
Jump powerfully and with good form.
#4: 20-Minute At-Home Cardio HIIT Workout
This is one of the best HIIT workouts at home when you want to torch a ton of calories and improve your cardiovascular fitness, but you don’t have access to cardio equipment like a treadmill or indoor cycle.
It is a 20-minute cardio HIIT workout involving a simple circuit of bodyweight calisthenics you do at home with just a few feet to move.
Do 2 minutes of jogging in place to warm up.
Then complete three sets of the following cardio exercises:
- 60 seconds of jumping jacks
- 60 seconds of high knees sprinting in place
- 60 seconds of mountain climbers
- 60 seconds of side-to-side hops over a line
- 60 seconds of burpees
- 60 seconds of fast feet (squatting down, legs wide, alternating weight-bearing legs as fast as you can)
#5: Jump Rope At-Home HIIT Workout
You can do this challenging jump rope HIIT workout if you have a basic jump rope. Even if you don’t have one, you can do “invisible” jump roping by mimicking the motion as if you have a rope.
- Warm up by jogging in place for 2 minutes.
- 8 x 90 seconds jumping rope fast with 30 seconds of rest or easy jumping for recovery between each.
- 2-minute cooldown marching in place.
#6: Tabata At-Home HIIT Workout
Tabata is a specific HIIT training format involving doing eight rounds of 20 seconds of nearly maximal-intensity work followed by just 10 seconds of rest, making the entire Tabata workout just 4 minutes long.
You can choose any type of exercise for your Tabata workout, but burpees, jump squats, jump roping, step-ups, sprinting in place, and regular squats work well.
You can also string together 4-5 Tabatas for a longer HIIT workout.
- For example, begin with a Tabata of squats (4 minutes).
- Then do a Tabata of push-ups (4 minutes).
- Next, do a Tabata of high knees sprinting in place (4 minutes).
- End with a Tabata of burpees (4 minutes).
#7: Total-Body AMRAP At-Home HIIT Workout
This AMRAP workout will get your heart pumping as you strengthen your entire body. Do as many rounds of the designated number of reps of each exercise.
Complete as many rounds as possible in 6-15 minutes, depending on your fitness level:
- 10 burpees
- 8 up-down planks per side (leading with the right hand 8 times and with the left 8 times)
- 15 squats
#8: 30-Minute Total-Body HIIT Strengthening Workout
If you can access dumbbells or resistance bands, here’s a challenging 30-minute AMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible) workout.
Remember, while speed is important for maximizing the intensity of the workout, squeezing in more reps should never be prioritized over using proper form.
Complete two full rounds of the following:
- 60 seconds burpees
- 60 seconds of weighted squats (front squats with dumbbells or goblet squats with a kettlebell or medicine ball)
- 60 seconds push-ups or dumbbell chest press
- 60 seconds weighted Bulgarian split squats (30 seconds per side) where one leg is elevated behind you
- 60 seconds straight arm pull-downs using a resistance band from a pull-up bar or attached at the top of a door frame
- 60 seconds V-ups
- 60 seconds lateral lunge and biceps curl (30 seconds per side)
- 60 seconds bent-over dumbbell rows
- 60 seconds step-ups and overhead presses, alternating legs
- 60 seconds dips (full dips for advanced athletes, bent knee chair dips for beginners, and straight leg chair dips for intermediate athletes)
Keep track of how many reps you can complete for each exercise over the 60 seconds, and aim to beat your number every time you return to this workout!
If you’re looking for the same intensity in a running workout, you can check out our Tabata running workouts.