Get Fit, Stay Functional: The Surprising Benefits of Combining HIIT and Functional Exercise

August 25, 2024

by Cathe Friedrich

Are you looking for ways to pack more movement and fitness benefits into a single exercise session? Why not combine the intensity of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) with functional fitness exercises? The result will be greater efficiency and less boredom. This powerful duo will burn more calories, boost your functional fitness, and make you stronger and more agile. Discover how merging these two training styles can unlock your full potential and transform your body.

What Is HIIT Training?

HIIT training – you know the drill. Short bursts of high-intensity exercise followed by low intensity or full resting periods. During the active portions of a HIIT workout, you exercise at more than 90% of your maximal oxygen uptake and then partially recover before repeating the sequence up to 20 minutes.

This short but sweet way of working out is effective for improving cardiovascular function, increasing caloric expenditure, and muscular endurance. However, it also boosts anaerobic fitness. By doing this, you increase your lactic acid threshold, allowing you to clear lactic acid faster, so you can exercise longer without fatigue. Its emphasis on short bursts of high-intensity activity allows you to push the body to its limits and thus elicit drastic physiological changes (more mitochondrial per unit area, less insulin resistance, better cardiac function).

Functional Fitness: Building Strength for Life

Functional fitness focuses on activities that replicate common movements you do in daily life i.e. squats, lunges, or step-ups. The type of workout is designed to improve coordination, balance, and general functional strength, so that your movements become more efficient. Functional exercises can lead to significant gains in muscular strength, flexibility, and even improvements for joint stability.

The Importance of Combining HIIT and Functional Fitness

While HIIT and Functional Fitness are both effective workouts on their own — combining them into one can boost your physical fitness and well-being in one workout. For example, combining the two into a single workout gives you cardiovascular benefits, improves muscle endurance, and boosts your functional fitness in the most time-efficient way possible.

Ways to Combine HIIT and Functional Fitness

You can combine HIIT and Functional Fitness in various ways, depending on your fitness goals and preferences. Here are three ways to combine these two training methodologies:

Incorporate HIIT into Your Strength Training Routines

One way to combine HIIT and Functional Fitness and get a more efficient workout is to add intensity to your functional strength training routines or resistance to your HIIT routines, to keep your heart pounding. Here are examples:

Shorten your rest periods: Cut the rest time between functional strength-training sets, so you’re not allowing your body a full recovery. This will keep your heart rate up. The result? You’ll get cardiovascular benefits at the same time as you’re building functional strength.
Focus on compound movements: Power up your functional strength training with multi-joint movements. Emphasize the big Functional, compound movements – squats, deadlifts, push-ups, lunges, and bench press. Doing mostly compound exercises will boost the intensity of your sweat session while boosting functionality.
Increase the weight: The heavier the resistance, the harder you’ll work and the more intense your session will be. Pick up heavier weights (assuming you’ve mastered the form) and cut the number of reps for a greater challenge.
Add plyometric movements to your functional fitness routine: Plyometric exercises elevate your heart rate and give you more cardiovascular benefits than a functional fitness routine alone. So, alternate a functional fitness exercise with an explosive movement, like jump squats, and don’t be surprised if you sweat a little harder.
Incorporate agility drills into your workouts: Agility drills boost your heart rate and build speed and agility, all of which make you more functional while boosting your heart rate and burning calories. Think cone drills or ladder drills.

Here’s an example. For HIIT training, you could alternate between jump squats, burpees, and mountain climbers. But you can also shake things up and get more functional benefits by including squats, lunges, and step-ups in a session.

For example, you can try doing a HIIT workout that includes burpees, jump squats, and mountain climbers, and then add some functional exercises like squats, lunges, and step-ups to challenge your muscles and improve your functional fitness.

Create Circuit-Style Workouts that Combine HIIT and Functional Exercises

Another way to combine the power of HIIT and Functional Fitness is with circuit-style workouts. Choose 5 or 6 exercises, including functional movements and ones that elevate your heart rate, for example, step-ups, lunges, burpees, mountain climbers, and squats, and do them circuit-style for 30 minutes. Perform each exercise for 30 seconds (working up to 60 seconds if you like), and rest for 15 to 30 seconds between exercises. After completing each circuit, rest for one to two minutes and repeat a few times.

Tips for Combining HIIT and Functional Fitness

Don’t try to do more intense combo workouts, like this, until you’re comfortable with basic functional fitness exercises, like deadlift, squats, and lunges. You should also be familiar with high-intensity movements, like burpees and mountain climbers, and have built a baseline level of cardiovascular fitness. Start out slowly and gradually increase the demands on your body.

You can do shorter workouts of only 20 minutes in the beginning and expand the duration over time, as you become fitter. Remember, proper form is more important than how long you do an exercise and the number of sets and reps you complete.

Give Yourself Adequate Recovery after Intense Sessions

With the intense nature of combining HIIT and Functional Fitness, ensure you’re giving your body enough time to recover between sessions. Give yourself at least 48 hours between intense sessions and you may need as long as 72 hours for your body to fully recover. Two or three combined sessions weekly is enough to get the full benefits. After each session, use active recovery techniques to help your body recover faster. This could include foam rolling, self-myofascial release, and light stretching.

Also, don’t be afraid to mix up the exercises you do to work different muscle groups and challenge your muscles in different ways. This is one of the best ways to build functional fitness. It’ll also help you build a well-rounded fitness base and reduce the risk of injury or burnout.

Conclusion

So, challenge yourself and get more done in a single session by combining the benefits of HIIT and Functional Fitness into a single session that challenges your cardiovascular system and your muscles. Remember to start gradually, prioritize recovery, and plan and structure your workouts to ensure a balanced routine.

References:

Atakan MM, Li Y, Koşar ŞN, Turnagöl HH, Yan X. Evidence-Based Effects of High-Intensity Interval Training on Exercise Capacity and Health: A Review with Historical Perspective. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Jul 5;18(13):7201. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18137201. PMID: 34281138; PMCID: PMC8294064.
Feito Y, Heinrich KM, Butcher SJ, Poston WSC. High-Intensity Functional Training (HIFT): Definition and Research Implications for Improved Fitness. Sports (Basel). 2018 Aug 7;6(3):76. doi: 10.3390/sports6030076. PMID: 30087252; PMCID: PMC6162410.
Anna Lisa Martin-Niedecken, Andrea Mahrer, Katja Rogers, Eling, and Alexandra Schättin. “‘HIIT’ the ExerCube: Comparing the Effectiveness of Functional High-Intensity Interval Training in Conventional vs. Exergame-Based Training.” Frontiers in Computer Science 2 (October 23, 2020). https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomp.2020.00033.