With the holidays in full swing, who has the time, let alone the desire, to fit in a workout?! End of the year deadlines make it a struggle to get to the gym after work, and with the sun setting so early, who said running in the dark was fun?! The good news is, maintaining an exercise routine is easier than you think: it can take a total of 20-40 minutes including a warmup, the workout itself, and the cool down.

Shorter workouts with a higher intensity can be more beneficial than traditional workouts that take longer time. High intensity workouts have been gaining popularity since the early 2000s and come in lots of formats including CrossFitÒ, high intensity interval training (HIIT) – which is typically more cardio-centered (running, cycling, rowing, etc.), high intensity multimodal training (HIMT), extreme conditioning programs (ECP), and functional fitness training (FFT). Despite the fact that some of these formats are very specific as to what they entail exercise-wise and the details of the specific workouts, most can be placed under the umbrella term of high intensity functional training (HIFT).⁽¹⁾ HIFT is a type of workout that includes multimodal, functional exercises that involve the whole body, universal motor recruitment patterns in multiple planes of movement including squats, deadlifts, cleans, pull ups, jumping, etc. ^(2,3,4) This approach not only challenges and develops a person’s body weight endurance and body weight skills, ⁽¹⁾ but when these exercises are done at high intensity in an interval format or a continuous circuit, they are extremely effective at increasing muscle strength and power and improving aerobic and anaerobic capacities.

Now, this should not be confused with a recent New York Times article that spoke about 5-minute-high intensity workouts or high intensity “movement snacks” performed throughout the day. Movement snacks are movement breaks that interrupt your workday to keep you out of stagnant positions – they’re not meant to burn calories, increase strength or cardiac output as the article implies. Also, the 5-minute workouts they mentioned in the article were more HIIT workouts involving single plane movements like cardio exercises such as cycling for 20 seconds at high intensity with minimal rest in between, for bouts of 5 minutes. This “snack” is much different from the HIFT workouts we’re talking about here. To be clear (we like to be transparent with you), the “snack” approach that is referenced in the Times article – and which they openly criticize – may indeed not reap the benefits that traditional workouts with longer rest periods have to offer – but again studies have demonstrated that HIFT at 4-week^(5), 8-week⁽⁶⁾, and 16-week⁽⁷⁾ trials improved aerobic capacity, muscular strength, overall body composition and lean body mass, and a decrease in diastolic blood pressure and resting heart rate.

So, what does this mean for us?!

If you have equipment, great! But if not, don’t worry, no equipment is necessary. Here is a quick list of movements you’ll want to include and a workout to go along with it:

1. In the warmup you’ll want to include movements and dynamic stretches that will increase blood flow and prepare you for what you’ll be doing in the workout.
2. For the workout itself, try to include movements that follow this simple 6-part rule: a squatting exercise, a lunging exercise, a pushing exercise, a pulling exercise, a rotational exercise, and a stability exercise. This can sound like a lot, but you can always combine them as well.
3. In the cool down, we’re looking to get the heart back to resting rate, get blood back to the heart and do some static or dynamic stretching to move lactic acid within the body, improve flexibility, and help decrease muscle soreness.

Not all of us are at the same fitness level or fitness desire, and with that in mind, we’ve included modifications in the videos. This is also a simple plan and workout to get you started and it doesn’t leave you roaming around a gym trying to figure out what all of the machines are supposed to do. Yes, the point is to increase the intensity of your workouts and to decrease the amount of time you spend doing the workout. We want you to get more bang for your buck if you will (and you will), but we all have to start somewhere. If you need to take it slowly at first, do so, but then try to increase the intensity and decrease the time it takes for you to do the workout over time.

References

1. Dominski FH, Tibana RA and Andrade A (2022) “Functional Fitness Training”, CrossFit, HIMT, or HIFT: What Is the Preferable Terminology? Front. Sports Act. Living 4:882195. doi: 10.3389/fspor.2022.882195

2. Heinrich, K.M.; Spencer, V.; Fehl, N.; Poston, W.S. Mission essential fitness: Comparison of functional circuit training to traditional army physical training for active duty military. Mil. Med. 2012, 177, 1125–1130.

3. Poston, W.S.; Haddock, C.K.; Heinrich, K.M.; Jahnke, S.A.; Jitnarin, N.; Batchelor, D.B. Is high-intensity functional training (HIFT)/CrossFit safe for military fitness training? Mil. Med. 2016, 181, 627–637.

4. Bastug, G.; Özcan, R.; Gültekin, D.; Günay, Ö. The effects of cross-fit, pilates and zumba exercise on body composition and body image of women. Int. J. Sports Exerc. Train. Sci. 2016, 2, 22–29.

5. Kliszczewicz B, McKenzie M, Nickerson B. Physiological adaptation following four-weeks of high-intensity functional training. Vojnosanit Pregl 76(3): 272-277, 2019.

6. Brisebois MF, Rigby BR, Nichols DL. Physiological and fitness adaptations after eight weeks of high-intensity functional training in physically inactive adults. Sports 6(4): 146, 2018.

7. Feito Y, Heinrich KM, Butcher SJ, Poston WSC. High-Intensity Functional Training (HIFT): Definition and Research Implications for Improved Fitness. Sports (Basel). 6(3), 2018.