15 vs 24 Minute Workouts: Which HIIT is Better?

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HIIT (or High-Intensity Interval Training) has come to the fore in recent years as being one of the best and most convenient ways of exercising. Yet everywhere you look, there are different exercises and they all have different times stamped on them. Which ones are better? The shorter, seemingly more intense exercise routines, or the longer ones?

Preparing For A Great Workout

We know exactly how you feel and spent a good amount of time looking at the advantages and disadvantages of each of them, just so we would know which HIIT Workout is better for us. Here’s our breakdown of the differences between a 15-minute and a 24-minute workout so that you can decide which is better for you.

Benefits of HIIT

Without a doubt, and regardless of what time limit you pick for your HIIT Workout, HIIT workouts are almost always more convenient than a 90-minute gym session. HIIT Workouts have noticeable results and help to strengthen the body in a lot of similar ways to a 90-minute gym session. Moreover, HIIT sessions are arguably more ‘doable’, meaning that everyone can engage with them in their spare time. A lot of people just can’t find the time to get a 90-minute gym session done once a week, let alone 3 or 4 times.

Rope Hiit Workout 1

The Benefits of HIIT include burning calories, using up your energy, boosting metabolism, not needing any specialized equipment, boosting your heart strength, and much, much more. Undoubtedly, you’re receiving a lot of the benefits from HIIT that you’re looking for with a shorter workout. So what’s the difference between a long and short HIIT workout?

The Advantages of a Shorter HIIT Workout

Shorter HIIT workouts do have their advantages. Firstly, they are a lot more convenient. Whilst it might not seem like too much of a difference between 15 and 24 minutes, imagine the difference between 8 and 30-minute workouts. 8 minutes is a lot less time and leaves you with more freedom in your schedule. Would it be great if you could get the same results in those 8 minutes as you could in 30?

Woman Jumping On The Box 1

Studies have shown that short HIIT Sessions do work. Short HIIT Workouts have been shown to work wonders on your body, helping to speed up your metabolism and strengthen your heart and lungs. Not only that, but exercises as short as 10 minutes can lead to a noticeable boost in endurance during just a 6-week period.

The Advantages of a Longer HIIT Workout

So why would anyone want to take part in the longer sessions? With Short HIIT Workouts having such good results, it would seem like the longer HIIT sessions are a waste of time. Well actually, longer workouts aren’t ready to be retired just yet. They continually workout the body and your muscles, leading to a better idea of your fitness level and a more reliable grade for measuring fatigue. For some professional athletes, building towards fatigue is what exercise and workouts should be all about.

Cez doing Exercise

Longer workouts also mean that you’re going to be able to workout and exercise more areas of your body. Instead of just repeating the same activities in a loop, longer workouts tend to have a more diverse range of activities for you to try. As long as you continue to follow the pattern of work, rest, work, rest, you’re still working out.

What to Focus on If You’re Going Short?

If you decide to go with the short workout sessions, then you’re going to want to focus on the right things to keep your body in shape and make sure that your workout was worth it. That means evenly dispersing your exercises throughout your body as much as you can.

woman in black sport bra

You’re going to want to work out your core muscles, your upper and lower body, and also focus on enough cardio to help you boost fat burn.

An Example Short HIIT Workout

To get the most out of a shorter HIIT Workout, you’re going to want to focus on a particular set of exercises. That includes, but isn’t limited to, the following:

  • Four minutes of Cardio. You want to use high energy activities like jumping jacks or jogging on the spot. Make sure to keep your body moving whilst you’re doing this. 30 seconds of high-intensity activity followed by 30 seconds of light walking on the spot or marching. Repeat several times to match the requirement.
  • 3 minutes of upper body and lower body training. This should include things like pushups, squats, crunches, and similar exercises.
  • 2 minutes of exercises which will strengthen your core muscles, such as planking. Don’t forget to rest if it’s too hard.
  • 1 minute to cool down and stretch.

Remember about the Warm-up

It is also a paramount to include a warm-up in your plan for injury prevention. During the warm-up is best to slightly elevate your heart to help you improve your blood flow to the muscles.

Examples of dynamic movements include leg swings, standing squats, lunges with an upper body twist, circular arm swings, cat-camel exercise, semi-circle neck movement, and so on.

If you have any home ellipticals equipment, a short and intense use on any type of rowing machines or any types of treadmills would also be a great option, to warm up your body.

The Conclusion: Which HIIT Workout is Best?

So, which is the better HIIT Workout? Well, it seems like neither is really ‘better’ than the other, they’re both just different ways of doing the same thing. For those with more time, we recommend the longer workouts though, because these will help to strengthen your body quicker and increase endurance faster. If you’re looking for quick results, then the longer workouts are going to give these to you, along with a more balanced effect.

The shorter workouts are effective and do give you results, but they can sometimes be uneven. Despite trying to work out all of the different areas of the body – as per our short HIIT Workout example above – 15 minutes just isn’t really enough to get your whole body going at the same level as the longer equivalents. That being said, we reckon that short HIIT Workouts are perfect for the beginner or someone who finds it difficult allocating time to their workout routine.

Woman exercise

Overall, if you can go with the longer HIIT workouts. The 24-minute workout is less than 10 minutes longer and will help you to see results faster. However, if your time is limited (which might be the reason you started HIIT workouts in the first place) then stick to the shorter workouts, which are still much better than nothing and great for travelling.

Do You Think a Short or Long HIIT Workout is Better for You?

46 thoughts on “15 vs 24 Minute Workouts: Which HIIT is Better?”

  1. I love this! I need quick, but efficient, workouts for when I get home from work. After 10+ hour days, I want to work out, but not necessarily hassle with the gym, so I appreciate workouts that I can do at home! I have a few HIIT type workouts that I rotate through on my work days. They definitely kick my bootie!

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  2. If I am short of time, then 15-Min sounds perfect, plus warmup and cooldown, the workout will be 25 mins..otherwise, I usually go for 25-min. Have a wonderful weekend, Agness.

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  3. I love that HIIT doesn’t take a long time and you can still get some good results! (Definitely beneficial for people who are busy). These are some great pointers about HIIT! I know I’d go for 15 minute HIIT workouts if I am short of time or feel really tired. Otherwise, hit me with the longer workouts XD.

    exquisitely.me

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  4. I love HIIT! Agness, great tips and I’m one of those people that don’t have or want to do 30+ minute workouts. I get more out of this and i can do it randomly, on my own time right at home.

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  5. I’ve been hibernating most of the winter and really need to get back into consistent workouts. Thanks for reminding me how quick and efficient short HIIT workouts can be!!

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  6. I am in desperate need of working out. Spring is coming and I want to be fit again! This is a really interesting article about the benefits of HIIT workouts. I am considering it.

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  7. I really think I must look into this and try a few different workouts. I need to really focus on my upper arm strength 🙂

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  8. this is such a thorough and useful post, agness! so much useful information. little did i know that the workouts i’ve been doing actually have a name, and a cool acronym at that! 🙂

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  9. That’s wonderful to know that you can still get good benefits from the shorter exercises. Sometimes we just don’t have much time in our day to squeeze in a lot of exercising, so knowing I can get by well enough with the shorter one on a time crunch kind of day makes me happy. Very informative post!

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  10. I love a HIIT workout – I have a hard time believing a short time is any good, but, like you, I’ve read a lot of studies showing the value of the short as well as longer HIIT! I’m just happy to have the options!

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  11. I’m about to go do my own version of a HIIT work-out! I’m home with a sick kiddo so no gym today, but I will be taking 20-25 minutes to get in a good sweat!
    I agree with you — make good use of your time. If you only have 15 minutes then use it and you will still see gains.

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  12. i’d go for a longer hiit workout! probably with more breaks (; but my motivation ebbs and flows, so i gotta go hard while i’m motivated (;

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  13. I curl a lot during the winter months, and I feel like curling is an excellent high-interval type of exercise. Great to read these tips and tricks. Thanks, Agness!

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  14. HIIT is my favorite form of exercise because I like to get everything in one shorter session. This is such an informative post — love it!

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  15. I have been a fan of the Turbo Jam workouts for years. I still own and use Turbo Fire which includes a series of different HITT workouts. I love getting a full body workout in a “doable” amount of time. My only problem with HITT workouts is that my glasses suck! They fly off my face the moment I do a burpee. Stupid glasses, I need new ones, STAT!

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  16. I love working out and trying different things, so this sounds awesome. It’s great that you gave a breakdown of exactly how to do the workout!

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