Build Strength Fast With This Lower Body HIIT Workout | Well+Good

High-intensity interval training or HIIT is a fitness practice that involves short bursts of work powered by all-out effort, followed by rest so your heart rate can recover. It has a lot of benefits for those interested in a time-efficient, heart rate-raising, boredom-free workout. If your interest is piqued, then the most recent episode of Good Moves, a 20-minute lower-body HIIT workout with trainer Kat Atienza, is just what you’re looking for.

This routine targets your legs, glutes, and hips via lunges, squats, and fast transitions between different exercises. You can add weights to build more strength or you can keep it body weight-only to focus on muscular endurance. Either way, this workout really packs a punch. (You may want to have a sweat towel nearby.) The best part about this workout is that it is information-packed, and Atienza guides you through every move with a lot of patience and explanation.

There are two circuits with three exercises each in this routine. Atienza begins with a simple dynamic warm-up of jumping jacks, hamstring scoops, lunges, and good mornings in order to prevent injury and allow you to get the most out of the session.

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The first circuit includes exercises that require you to move your legs forward and back in space, testing your balance and single-leg strength. They include seesaw lunges (a combo of forward and reverse lunges), bear plank to full plank (which requires walking your feet back and forth while maintaining level hips and pelvic stability), and glute bridges to hamstring bridges (during which your slide or step your feet out and back one at a time without letting the rest of your body rock back and forth).

Some other exercises included in the video deadlifts, which target the entire backside of your legs, from ankles to glutes, and side planks with a leg raise that’ll get into your core, as well as out outer hips and side glutes, as well as inner thighs.

The video ends with a relaxing cool-down, rewarding you for all of your hard work.