I added the (25 minutes) to the title because GymRa has a second workout with the exact same title and exact same trainer (Raneir Pollard)–except it’s 26 minutes. I have already reviewed Raneir’s 26 Min Grueling HIIT, so I needed something to set them apart.
This is another great workout led by Raneir. The intensity level in this one varied more–I didn’t find it “grueling,” like I did his 26 minute HIIT. It still had plenty of intensity. It is structured in traditional tabata format: 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of recovery, 8 of these 20/10 cycles equals one tabata. Raneir does 5 tabata circuits in this workout. However, on #4 the skater variations, Raneir left off 2 of the 20/10 cycles so you only do 6 cycles of the skaters. The first tabata really spikes your heart rate and the rest of the tabatas work you at various levels but my heart rate never spiked again until the final tabata. I’m sure that had something to do with the weight I was using. If I had been using a light dumbbell I wouldn’t have been working so hard! Though this is a good workout, I don’t think it qualifies as a HIIT. I think it would work nicely in combination with Raneir’s 26 Min Grueling HIIT. Start with this one and finish with the 26 minute one for an intense 51 minute workout that gives you full body strength and with intense cardio bursts.
Grueling HIIT Workout is 25 minutes long; 2:30 minute warm up and 1:20 minute stretch. Equipment: one dumbbell heavy enough for a one arm row.
- Jumping jacks variations (they increase in intensity as the tabata progresses–2 sets traditional jacks, 2 sets squat jacks, 2 sets air jacks, 2 sets squatting air jacks)
- Squat/lunge variations (narrow low squat and pulse–2 sets, 2 sets squats into reverse lunge, wide/low pulsing squats–2 sets, 2 sets squats to curtsy lunges)
- Push up variations (2 sets tricep diamond push ups, 2 sets tricep push upsw/ hands further apart, 2 sets with hands just wider than shoulder width, 2 sets w/ arms wide)
- Skater variations (2 sets basic lateral skaters, 2 sets adding a jump to lateral skater and 2 sets adding tapping hand to floor)
- Row variations (2 sets one arm rows in lunge, 2 sets renegade rows; repeat on other side of body) (one 20# DB)
For more info on GymRa and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.
