Holiday Breakthrough Workout

Stay on track with this 30-minute sweat session.

You can make excuses this holiday season or make progress; the choice is up to you. This high-intensity interval training (HIIT) session is everything you need to get your workout in and done—so you can make time for the season’s fun and start the new year in better shape than ever before. This workout was created by 24 Hour Fitness’ Director of Fitness, Josh Lyon.

For a 30-minute workout:

Perform each movement for one minute, moving at your highest intensity without sacrificing precision of technique.

Rest for 30–45 seconds between each movement.

MOVEMENT PREP AND WARM-UP

1. Moving Lunge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t15ZdrDqT6E

• Stand with your feet more than hip-width apart and your toes pointed forward.
• Shift your weight to your right side, bending your right knee as if to sit in a chair behind your right leg, while keeping your left leg long and strong.
• Straighten your right leg to return to start, and repeat on your left side.
• Take deep breaths throughout the movement.

2. Dancing Plank

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow7GQmAhOZQ

• Stand tall, feet hip-width apart, and hinge forward slowly to place your hands on the floor in front of you.
• Walk your hands forward into a plank position with your wrists, elbows and shoulders stacked and your body in a strong, straight line from head to heels.
• Hold the plank, and then walk your hands back to your feet and slowly roll up to standing. Repeat.

Tip: Move smoothly from one position to the next.

Tip: Try to keep your legs straight for maximum hamstring stretch, but soften or bend your knees if you need to.

3. Standing Run

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODkAdJQ6nqw

• With a long spine and wide shoulders, begin running in place.
• Keep your weight on the balls of your feet and “pop” up off the ground.

Tip: Maintain an upright posture and “kite” position while you’re running, with a long spine and wide shoulders.

Tip: To keep your weight on the balls of your feet, imagine there’s a credit card or bubble wrap under your heels.

TOTAL BODY CONDITIONING

4. Squat Leap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj4xuC2cajM

• Stand with feet hip-width apart or slightly wider.
• Drop into a squat and explode up and forward.
• Land gently with soft knees to stick your landing.
• Step back to your starting point to repeat, or repeat in sequence until you run out of space before turning around to continue the movement for the total number of reps.

Tip: Keep your spine long and shoulders wide in a “kite” position for upright posture.

Tip: Be quick off the ground, as if you’re leaping off a rock covered in hot lava.

5. Bent-Over Row and Curl

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bzIKQQy_Ko

• Stand tall with feet hip-width apart. Hold one dumbbell in each hand with your hands hanging at your sides.
• Engage your abs, hinge forward at your hips and bend your knees slightly. Let your arms swing slightly forward with the weight of the dumbbells.
• Squeeze your shoulder blades as you bend your elbows to draw the dumbbells back to either side of your rib cage.
• Reverse the motion as you engage your glutes to return to standing.
• With arms straight, shoulders anchored and elbows slightly away from your sides, perform a biceps curl.
• Lower the weights to your sides, and repeat the bent-over row and curl sequence.

6. Squat Kick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyGs3H12WWQ

• Stand with feet slightly more than hip-width apart.
• Sit down and back into a squat.
• Press the ground away through your heels as you return to standing, and kick your right leg forward.
• Return to your starting position, and repeat the squat and kick with your left leg.

Tip: Imagine you’re kicking a giant.

7. Speed Skaters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOe0hnpfe0I

• Stand with your feet a bit wider than shoulder-width apart and knees slightly bent.
• Bend deep at the knees and lower your hips, keeping your torso upright, spine aligned and head up.
• Shift your weight onto your left foot, and then leap explosively as far as you can to your right. Land softly with your right knee bent and your left leg extended behind you to the outside of your right leg.
• Let your arms swing through the motion and across your body.
• Quickly leap as far left as you can, and continue to alternate sides.

Tip: Imagine you’re keeping a credit card under your heels, and keep your weight on the balls of your feet.

Tip: Keep an athletic position during the movement.

8. Standing Triceps Press

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eqRTWQD1mM

• Stand with your spine long and your shoulders wide. Grip one end of a dumbbell with one hand placed over the other.
• Engage your abs as you bend your elbows and press the dumbbell up to the ceiling.
• Bend your elbows, keeping them close to your ears and pointed to the ceiling, to lower the dumbbell behind your head.
• Keeping your upper arms as stationary as possible, press the dumbbell away to the ceiling. Lower it behind your head and repeat.

Tip: Breath out as you raise the dumbbell, and breathe in as you lower it.

9. Wall Sit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_yMJJXV7fg

• Stand against a wall with your heels touching it.
• Press your back against the wall and slowly walk your feet forward, bending your knees and allowing your back and hips to slide down the wall until your hips and knees are at 90-degree angles.
• Brace your core and maintain this seated position.

Tip: For an extra challenge, extend your arms on either side to shoulder height, keeping them pressed against the wall while you hold the seated position.

10. Spiderman Push-Up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJPzFaoEYcI

• Begin in a plank position, with your body in a strong, straight line from head to heels.
• As you begin bending your elbows, bring your left knee out to the side toward your left shoulder.
• At the bottom of your push-up, begin pressing the earth down as you extend your left leg to return to your plank position.
• Repeat with your right knee and continue, alternating sides.

Tip: Lower yourself slowly to the floor.

Tip: Spread your fingers and press the floor down as you push up.

11. Bridge Reboot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZOpqZsfprY

• Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor, arms at your sides.
• Press your heels down and lift your hips high, engaging your abs and squeezing your glutes to raise them as high as possible.

Tip: Lift your toes so that only your heels are pressing into the floor.

Tip: Keep your spine strong from head to knee. Imagine you’re squeezing a melon between your knees but not juicing it.

12. Core Cycle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnnHeoHCm1Q

• Lie on your back with your elbows bent and fingertips at your ears and your knees bent with your feet planted on the floor.
• Engage your core and pull your belly button to the floor.
• Extend your right leg so that your foot is a few inches off the floor as you bend your left knee and lift and twist your torso, driving your right elbow to the left knee.
• Lower your torso and extend your left leg as you bend your right knee and drive your left elbow to meet it. Continue, alternating sides.

Tip: Keep your feet off the floor at all times.

COOLDOWN AND FLEXIBILITY

13. A Stretch for Every Season

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E1VK5ILEGg

• Stand tall and step forward with your right foot into a lunge.
• Place both hands on the floor inside your right foot.
• Keep your back leg straight as you open your chest and lift your left arm out and up to the ceiling.
• Rotate to place your left hand on the floor again.
• Step your right foot back into plank position, and then step your left foot forward outside your hands.
• Keep your back leg straight as you open your chest and lift your right arm out and up to the ceiling. Return to the plank position and continue to alternate sides.

Tip: Make sure your bent knee does not extend past your toes.

Tip: Hold each stretch for one or two seconds.

14. Total Hip Reset

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXQAXmhIt08

• Sit on the floor with your knees drawn up to your chest and your feet flat on the floor.
• Let your knees drop open, and then position one knee on the floor in front of you—your “leading” leg.
• Extend your “trailing” leg to the side and behind your hips, so that your hips, knees and ankles are bent at 90-degree angles.
• Maintain a long spine and take deep breaths as you hold this stretch.

Tip: To increase the stretch, hinge forward from the hip over your leading leg.

15. Total Body Release

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tOD6oolt50

• Lower your body into a half-kneeling position, with your left knee and your right foot on the floor, so that your right leg is bent at a 90-degree angle.
• Keep your spine long and strong from head to knee as you reach your left arm up and over your head to your right for a long side stretch.
• Push forward from your hip as you continue to stretch, taking deep breaths.
• Return to half kneeling, step your left foot forward with your right knee on the floor and repeat the stretch on your right side.

Tip: Imagine you’re as strong as steel from head to knee.

Photo credit: BONNINSTUDIO Stocksy

Videography: Tom Casey, box24studio.com; Hair and Make-Up: Mariah Nicole, mariahnicole.com

Models: Glenn Payne, Erica Johnson, 24 Hour Fitness