Get fit in 7 mins with high-intensity interval training workouts

HIIT or high-intensity interval training is one of the biggest buzzwords in fitness right now.

A new study has now outlined 12 HIIT exercises that can get you into scientifically proven good shape in as little as seven minutes.

The principle of HIIT is short, intense workouts that can give you maximum benefits but in less time.

"There's very good evidence" that high-intensity interval training provides "many of the fitness benefits of prolonged endurance training but in much less time," study author Chris Jordan, the director of exercise physiology at the Human Performance Institute in Orlando, Florida, told The New York Times.

There are 12 exercises listed that should do the trick, with each to be performed for 30 seconds with 10 seconds of transition time between bouts.

Total time for the entire circuit workout is about seven minutes, but it can be repeated two to three times.

The 12 HIIT exercises are:

1. Jumping jacks (total body)

2. Wall sit (lower body)

3. Push-up (upper body)

4. Abdominal crunch (core)

5. Step-up onto chair (total body)

6. Squat (lower body)

7. Triceps dip on chair (upper body)

8. Plank (core)

9. High knees/running in place (total body)

10. Lunge (lower body)

11. Push-up and rotation (upper body)

12. Side plank (core)

Array

According to a 2011 study, just two weeks of high-intensity interval exercise was found to improve aerobic capacity as much as six to eight weeks of endurance training.

The findings have been published in the American College of Sports Medicine's Health and Fitness Journal.