A Seven Minute HIIT At Home
Now that I’m home full time I found that I needed a way to strength train for preparation towards the 2020 Grant County Triathlon. I was looking for a way that used a modular workout plan that would allow me to switch out components to help stave off boredom. Fortunately I have enough exercise equipment in our small basement home gym to accomplish this goal. Researching the best way to utilize all of it led me to High Intensity Interval Training, aka “HIIT”. The concept of HIIT recommends exercising at a strenuous level for roughly seven minutes to spike your aerobic effort and force your body to adapt quicker. It’s concept is in direct opposition to most plans which involve longer intervals at sustained heart rates. I didn’t like the idea at first because I don’t like spiking my heart rate and feeling flushed, but I gave it a go to see what would happen.
Before I started my workout I had to design a training circuit using what I have at home. My equipment is pretty well rounded and designed for economy. I use resistance bands because they are considerably cheaper than iron weights and easier to store. I do have two dumbbells and a kettle bell at my disposal. I also have a jump rope and enough clearance in the basement to use it. The most useful piece of equipment is my gravity tower, which provides a lot of options using body weight exercises. There is a chin-up/pull-up bar, a dip bar, and supports for doing ab work.
After assembling a circuit I liked I worked through it in a controlled pace and timed it at roughly seven minutes to complete it. Interestingly, I found my heart rate reaching 135+ BPM. This is a good result given that I didn’t feel overly exerted. I also came to appreciate that I can knock an interval out during a work break and save my non-work schedule for longer cardio training sessions. I’m thinking I do two a day, one at 10:00 AM and one at 2:00 PM. It’s better than doing nothing!
If you are interested in my overall plan, my HIIT circuit looks like this:
Bench dumbbells – 20 pounds
15 reps bench press, 15 reps military press, 15 bench rows
Kettle bell – 15 pounds
25 swings
Standing bands and jump rope – Light: 15 pounds, Medium Light: 20 pounds, Medium – 30 pounds Heavy – 45 pounds
light – 15 raising arm chest flies each arm
medium light – 15 inside chest flies
medium – 15 should flies
heavy – 15 curls each arm
25 jump rope jumps
Gravity tower
15 assisted chin-ups
15 assisted pull-ups
15 dips
15 leg lifts
15 calf raises
–Cool-down–
Below is what my workout area looks like now. I hope to drywall the basement this year but for now it just has this space age insulation wrap.
