Add Variety To Your HIIT Workouts With Hill Sprints
by Scott Tousignant · Filed Under: Cardio
There is no question that High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is very effective at burning fat and it’s a very time efficient form of exercise. But I believe the greatest benefit of HIIT is the “Fun Factor”. The chances of you ‘sticking with it‘ will skyrocket when you are having fun with your workout program.
Adding to the ‘fun factor’ is that HIIT can be performed in nearly limitless ways. You can easily mix up the interval times as well as the exercises. I feel that one of the funnest ways to perform HIIT is to get outdoors and perform hill sprints. It’s an incredible workout and you can incorporate a great deal of variety within the hill sprint session.
Check out the variety of movements that I incorporated into this recent hill sprint HIIT workout…
In this hill sprint HIIT workout I did:
There was no set time for the interval so I didn’t require a stop watch or Gymboss Timer. The work interval is done going up the hill (as long as that takes you), while the rest interval is done while you go down the hill (as long as that takes you). The only thing that I needed to know was when my 10 minutes was up. I was pretty fried at the end of the 10 minutes. Could I have pushed it to 15 minutes??? I’m not sure. If I dug deep I may have been able to 
Mixing up your HIIT workouts is a great way to stimulate a positive change in your physique and your performance. You’ll also experience a significant and positive motivational impact when you add variety to your training, which plays a big role in exercise compliance.
So get out there and have some fun. Find the nearest hill and put the fun back into fitness.
To achieving your limitless potential,
Scott Tousignant
PS This hill sprint HIIT workout is just one of 60 fast and fun workouts from the Fat Loss Quickie program. With these quickie’s you’ll never be bored from working out ever again.
Awesome Scott!! Really enjoy your blogs and videos…Keep em coming!
Love the workout! Looked like fun. Beautiful hill! Thanks a lot guys!!
PS: Love the Rocky impression!
hehe… I’m glad that someone watched it to the end and saw my Rocky impression
I enjoyed watching the video afterward because I had no idea that Angie was doing any kind of commentary
And then I heard Shayne ask to use the washroom in the recording as well. I guess that’s why he didn’t do the hill sprints with me 
Scott, great workout!
I know firsthand the benefits of doing hills. It’s one of the best cardio workout you can do. My background is in track and as you know, running hills is an integral part of the off season training.
Currently I’m running bootcamps and I take my guys to the hills at least once a week. Like you, I make it fun my adding a variety of different runs. One run I do, is a slalom run – where I set up about 10 cones zigg-zagging up the hill (like slalom skiing, except it’s uphill. The change of direction really works all the muscles in the legs and glutes.
Thanks for sharing, you made it look easy!
Kester
Thanks for the comment Kester. I definitely integrate some slalom runs into my hill work. We use to do the same when training for track and cross country. Hill work always seemed to help my stride with track and field.
Scott,
Always enjoy your reports etc. but it’s very frustrating when the video stops every 4 seconds…at least here in Jerez de la Frontera, in Spain.
Regards,
Norman
Thanks Norman. I’m glad to hear that you enjoy my reports. As for the video it all depends on how many people are watching the video at once and your internet speed. What I usually do when this happens is press play on the video to allow it to get started and then I hit pause. When you hit the pause button you will notice that a red or black bar in the time line starts to fill up. Once it’s full I then hit play. Sometimes you only have to pause the video for 10 seconds while other times you need to pause it for one minute.
Hope that helps you.
PS Sometimes the video doesn’t appear when you first visit the post and all that you see is a blank white spot where the video should be. If that ever happens just simply refresh your page and it will appear.
I really like this form of HIIT; however, there are no hills close by where I live in Sacramento, CA. In fact the city is pretty darned flat everywhere. I cannot think of a park that has a hill like that.
It’s hard to find hills around here too Bev. When I use to run cross country and needed to do hill training our coaches would bring us to the edge of a highway over pass and do our hill training there
The speed limit was only 60 on the highway, but it still may have not been the smartest thing for a coach to do with a bunch of young students.
Our city is very flat. The hill that I run on is a man made hill that was created for tobogganing in the winter. The only other hills are old landfills.
Hi Scott, I love your work, and appreciate how you challenge us, but on this one, I am going to have to say that I am glad I am a flat lander. Mike Logan
love watching your workout ideas. I love how you mix it up, require no equipment and take it outdoors. I plan on trying this one when I find the perfect hill. Thanks. Loved the “Rocky” at the end!!!