HIIT Workout
20-Minute EMOM Workout
Twenty minutes, twenty rounds, four exercises rotating every minute. You'll cycle through squats, push-ups, lunges, and burpees — completing the prescribed reps and resting for the remainder of each minute. The four-exercise rotation means each movement comes up five times, with three minutes of recovery between each appearance. This is the sweet spot EMOM duration for most people — long enough to be genuinely challenging, short enough to maintain intensity throughout. The exercise selection covers your entire body with no equipment needed. As you get fitter, increase the rep counts to reduce your rest windows.
Workout Breakdown
More HIIT Workouts
Tabata Core Crusher Ab Workout
A Tabata workout focused entirely on your core — 16 minutes of intense abdominal work across three Tabata blocks. You'll cycle through crunches, bicycle kicks, plank holds, mountain climbers, leg raises, Russian twists, flutter kicks, and dead bugs. Each exercise gets the classic 20 seconds of maximum effort followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated for 8 rounds per block. This isn't a casual ab workout — the Tabata protocol ensures your core muscles are working at near-maximum capacity with minimal recovery. The variety of exercises hits your rectus abdominis, obliques, transverse abdominis, and hip flexors from every angle. Includes a brief warm-up and cool-down. Best done 2-3 times per week with at least a day of rest between sessions.
Upper Body HIIT Workout 20 Minutes
An upper body focused HIIT workout that proves you don't need weights to build serious pushing strength and endurance. Four rounds of push-ups, tricep dips, plank shoulder taps, and diamond push-ups with 40 seconds of work and 20 seconds of rest. Each exercise targets your chest, shoulders, and triceps from a different angle, while the plank-based movements engage your core throughout. Twenty minutes total including warm-up and cool-down. If you can't do full push-ups yet, modify from your knees — the interval format still delivers results. Pair this with the HIIT Leg Workout for a complete no-equipment training split.
Pyramid HIIT Workout
A pyramid workout that builds intensity up and then brings it back down. Starting at 20 seconds of work with 10 seconds of rest, each round increases the work duration while proportionally increasing rest — 30/15, 40/20, 50/25, up to 60/30 at the peak, then back down. Burpees throughout, so the challenge is purely cardiovascular and mental. The ascending phase teaches you to manage increasing fatigue while the descending phase rewards your effort with progressively shorter work periods. Twenty-five minutes including warm-up and cool-down. Advanced difficulty — sustained burpees at varying intensities requires both fitness and mental grit.