Low Impact Full Body HIIT Workout with Weights

It’s been a while since I’ve done a new to me Heather Robertson workout and I’ve missed her excellent workouts! Low Impact Full Body HIIT Workout w/ Weights is total body metabolic strength training workout that is all low impact. This workout is made up of 4 circuits. Each circuit is contains 4 exercises and one of those exercises (always the 4th exercise) is a low impact cardio exercise. So this is a cardio + strength workout. Each exercise is done for 30 seconds + 10 seconds of recovery. You repeat each circuit 3 times. There is an interval timer in the lower right hand corner of the screen and each exercise is previewed during the recovery. This workout is done all music–no talking.

I have missed Heather’s workouts! They always work me well, have great music and are so enjoyable. This is another excellent one. Each circuit contains one low impact cardio move and in circuits 2 & 4, that exercise seemed more like a recovery but that’s okay. I was working hard in the rest of the circuits. I am building the strength of left arm back up and this workout helped with that a lot since it was easy to modify certain moves due to the 10 second preview. I used 10-18 pound dumbbells in my right hand and 3-8 pound dumbbells in my left hand. I also did push ups on my knees, which btw, was a big deal. Before this morning I have had to modify even a knee push up but apparently all the work I’m doing (and the super modified push ups before this morning) worked because I was able to do full knee push ups. Hopefully when I am 12 weeks post surgery I can start attempting push ups on my toes again.

Anyway, the consensus is–a great total body metabolic strength workout. I actually tried to wear a weighted vest with this workout but the very first circuit has you on your back for a reverse crunch and the vest was really hurting my back when I laid on it. So that didn’t work out! But a weighted vest would have been a nice addition.

Low Impact Full Body HIIT Workout w/ Weights is 42:14 minutes; 5 minute warm up and 4 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells. Heather is using 10 and 15 pound dumbbells.

Circuit 1:

1. One leg push press (squat into overhead press with one knee raise, alternate knees)
2. Bear row (in bear pose, do a renegade row each arm, then step feet out to plank then back in to bear pose)
3. Reverse crunch (lay on back, DBs/arms extended straight to ceiling, do a reverse crunch with straight legs, pushing legs up to ceiling then lowering straight legs until they are a few inches off the floor)
4. Speed skater (low impact lateral skaters, reaching arms overhead when changing sides and tapping the ground when in curtsy lunge)
5. Repeat #1-4 two more times
6. 30 second rest

Circuit 2:

1. Lunge & curl (alternating reverse lunges with double arm bicep curls)
2. One arm dumbbell swing (holding a DB in each hand, do a wide squat, bringing DBs down between legs and when you straighten, swing one DB in front of you to just above chest level, alternate arms with a squat between each swing)
3. Deadlift curl and press (deadlift + hammer curl + overhead press)
4. Star steps (low jacks with a narrow squat between each side of the jack)
5. Repeat #1-4 two more times
6. 30 second rest

Circuit 3:

1. Toe tap + press (holding one DB in both hands, do a narrow squat and hold the squat while tapping your feet/leg out to side once each leg then stand and do an overhead press)
2. Mountain climber push up (in straight arm plank, bring knee to same side elbow (outside of body) each side + one push up)
3. Sit up & press (lay on back, knees bent and feet on floor, hold one DB in both hands at chest, do a crunch while pushing DB up toward the ceiling)
4. High low swing (holding one DB in both hands do kettlebell swings with DB, lower into wide squat and hold the squat while swinging DB to about chest level then stand and swing DB overhead, alternate between these two swings)
5. Repeat #1-4 two more times
6. 30 second rest

Circuit 4:

1. Squat & curl (squat + double arm hammer curl when standing)
2. Glute bridge + press (lay on back, knees bent and feet on floor, lift hips into bridge, do a chest press then lower hips and DBs at the same time)
3. High-low flys (standing bent arm side raises alternated with bent over rear delt fly)
4. Power shuffle (squat walk 2 steps to side, stand and raise onto to toes while reaching arms overhead)
5. Repeat #1-4 two more times

For more info on Heather Robertson’s workouts and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.