HIIT Exercise Routine with Kids
Exercise with Kids HIIT Routine
Learn the most fun way to exercise with kids! Turn a dance party into a HIIT cardio for mom! A HIIT dance party is the perfect way to HIIT with kids. Fun bonding with the family and a killer exercise for mom.
Having trouble getting your kids active? Taking them outside to play is nice but that’s not always an option. Sometimes you just need to break up the monotony during homeschool, or wish you could get them moving inside a bit before dinner. HIIT is a really fast and effective way to exercise that can become a lot of fun when you do it along with music!
What is a HIIT workout and can kids keep up?
HIIT is an acronym for high intensity interval training. HIIT workouts are fast and effective. Really great for a busy mom and really great for keeping ids engaged.
Basically the idea is that you do an exercise for a selected amount of time as hard and fast as you can (don’t woory, it’s a super short amount of time). Then you get a rest interval. Then you do the next exercise for the same set amount of time.
For my kids I have them do 30 seconds of each workout with a 30 second rest between exercises. If you are new to this form of exercise this can be a great place for you to start to. I do 45 seconds of each workout with a 15 second rest between each exercise.
HIIT is really effective at burning calories fast, increasing both your strength and cardio fitness levels, and increases your metabolism for up to 48 hours after a workout! It is the PERFECT way for busy moms to work out. You can get a full workout done in 14 minutes.
How can I get my kids to participate in a HIIT workout?
My secret trick to getting my kids to participate in my HIIT workouts is turning it into a dance party. Seriously, I’ve been able to “trick” my kids into working out with me this way no matter what their ages! All the way from 1 to 10!
What’s great is that a dance party with you kids is getting them active and moving no matter what they are doing. My older kids love the challenge of keeping up with the HIIT exercises, but even if they stop early or go off script they are STILL:
- getting active
- enjoying it
- making memories
- having fun
- getting healthier
So it’s really a win all around! Plus little kids look super adorable trying to keep up.
A dance party with your kids is soooooo much fun! It’s simple, invigorating, children love it, you get to be silly, and get an amazing workout. There are so many fun ways to workout at home with your kids that you both will love!
A dance party, acro yoga, and gymnastics are all really fun and great exercise! You should give them all a try! But today we’re focusing on a HIIT workout dance party!
Throughout the years I’ve been a babysitter and nanny in addition to a mommy and I’ve never had any child turn down a dance party.
Whether you’re rocking out to Pandora, the radio, YouTube, or a kids song movie it’s fun for everyone!
Dancing in and of itself is great exercise! It gets those muscles moving, it releases endorphins, and it is wonderful cardio. Sometimes though you and your body might yearn for more that just silly dance moves.
Can an epic dance party be made into a FULL workout?
Totally! So I’ve put together a little cardio workout of fun and simple exercises to work into that dance party for if mommy really wants to feel the burn!
Older kids can totally get into the cardio challenge too! Complete each of these exercises throughout your fun bonding time with the kiddos for 30 seconds each with a 30 second rest between each exercise. (Advanced would be 45 seconds working and 15 seconds rests.)
Repeat as many times as you’re up to! (3 sets equals a full body HIIT routine that will burn calories and boost metabolism for the next 48 hours! For more details of what a HIIT routine is be sure to read my Guide To Healthy Living.)
Full Body HIIT Exercise with Kids
1. GRAPEVINE
This is a very common move in exercise dance classes and once you have it down it’s easy. Begin standing with feet together and step your right foot out to the side. Cross your left leg behind your right for the next step. Bring your right leg out to the right again for another step.
Then bring your left leg to meet your right for the final step. If you’re really feeling it add in a hop (and I even love to clap) as you bring your feet together. Then complete the same steps but going to the left. STEP, CROSS, STEP, TOGETHER, STEP, CROSS, STEP, TOGETHER!
2. BOX STEP
Begin standing with feet together and take a large step forward with your left foot slightly to the left. Then take a large step with your right foot toward your right. Bring your left foot back and to the left with a large step. Lastly bring your right foot back and to the right with a large step! Your feet should be stepping in the corners of your “box.” I repeat “UP, UP, DOWN, DOWN.”
3. CRAZY FROG LEGS
Here’s a real cardio killer I absolutely love! It couldn’t SOUND easier (ya right!) and kids love to do this one too! Stand in a wide stance, squat down a bit, and move your feet up and down without actually moving anywhere as fast as you can. The higher you bring your knees the harder this gets!
4. JUMP SQUAT
Start in a regular stance feet shoulder width apart. Slowly squat your booty straight back. Imagine sitting back into a chair. Swing your arms up overhead while you jump as high as you can. It doesn’t have to be very high at all to get a great workout, these are tough! Repeat as many times as you can in those 30 seconds!
5. LUNGE KNEE-UPS
Step your right leg back into a deep lunge. Make sure you are stepping back far enough that when you bend, your forward knee does not past over your toes. Swing your right leg forward (the one that was lunging in the back), bringing your knee towards your chest and then step back into lunge position. Repeat with a slow lunge and quick knee-up! Take your time and find your balance, that can be tough to get into rhythm. Complete as many as 30 seconds will allow and then switch sides!
Wrapping Up Exercise with Kids HIIT Workout
You can add these moves in as much as you want! You can do three sets, you can just do a couple of the exercises, it’s your call. But I bet you’ll feel great, and a little winded as you turn a kids dance party into your very own Zumba-like class! Above all have fun watching those smiling faces.
Right now we’re on a YouTube dance party binge we do every day that my 1 year old is totally obsessed with. (Although she does call the site “you poop”) If you’d like to give our dance party a try check out these songs!:
- Baby VuVu – Everybody Dance Now
- Schnuffle Bunny – Beep Beep
- Patty Shukla – I Can Do It
- The Gummy Bear Song
- Crazy Frog
- …and we always end with a cuddle and cool down to Rock a Bye Baby!
My favorite part about the post is that all of the moves can be done at home or on the go! Weights have been so expensive (especially during COVID)! Do you have music that your kids love?
Tiffany, thank you so much!! Hasn’t it been tough to find weights during covid?! My gosh! It drove me to finally invest in a nice set of adjustable weights so I wouldn’t have to search any more! There is a list of silly youtube songs my kids love dancing to at the end of the post but let’s see what I can think of off hand: baby vuvu-all night long, crazy frog, snuggle bunny – beep beep, gagnam style, shake it off… those are always winners for fun dancing with my little kiddos!
It is a great informative article but which excercises are recomended from experts?
Hi Andrew thanks for reaching out! Having been a CPT for over a decade, and specializing in prenatal and postpartum fitness, I would like to consider myself an expert in the field at this point, so all of these exercises are recommended by an expert.