You mostly perform bodyweight exercises in your HIIT program because they are fast and burn plenty of calories in a quick time. However, you can also incorporate barbell exercises in high-intensity interval training to make your workout exciting and challenging. The barbell HIIT workouts strengthen muscles, increase strength, power, and balance, burn significant calories, and help promote weight loss.
If you’re looking for the best HIIT barbell workout and routines, you’ve come to the right place. I’ve shared various high intense barbell exercises and helpful workout programs in this article to help you revamp your fitness level. I’ll also hand out a PDF of the routines so you can download and use them offline whenever you want.
How to do HIIT with Barbell and Weight Plates?
You can do barbell HIIT workouts in the same way you do without weights. For example, performing exercises at your maximum heart rate in intervals.
There are various barbell exercises that you can do at a rapid pace, such as push press, hang clean, and squat jump in your high-intensity interval training.
The high-intensity interval training has various benefits, including better cardiovascular health, weight loss, and improved metabolic conditioning. And doing weighted HIIT with a barbell also ensures that it’ll increase strength and mass.
However, you won’t be able to do the exercises at a quick speed while holding a barbell compared to bodyweight workouts.
The 10 Best Barbell HIIT Workouts To Burn Fats and Build Muscles
Here’s a list of some of the best barbell workouts that you can do in your high-intensity interval training.
- Back Rack Jump Squats
- Deadlift Off Blocks
- Barbell Overhead Lunges
- Barbell Push Press
- Barbell Rollout
- Barbell Thruster
- Barbell Zercher Squat
- Hang Clean
- Sumo Deadlift to High Pull
- Landmine Oblique Twist
Additionally, you can incorporate more workouts from the best Crossfit exercises into your barbell HIIT workout program.
Related: The Best Dumbbell HIIT Workout Plan (With PDF)
1. Back Rack Jump Squats
Squat jump is an intense heart-pumping workout that burns many calories and boosts endurance. It is usually done without equipment, but you can also do it with a barbell.
The barbell jump squat strengthens the entire body, burns fats, improves athletic performances, and builds lower body muscles.
To do this exercise, place a loaded barbell on the back of your shoulder and stand upright in a shoulder-width stance. Next, perform a squat, and pushing through your heels, jump high as you return to the standing position.
2. Deadlift Off Blocks
The deadlift off blocks is one of the easier variations of the barbell deadlift because it puts less stress on the lower back, so you can do it at a fast pace to burn maximum calories. It works on the total body, especially the glutes, hamstrings, and back.
Doing Off Block deadlift will help you improve jumping, running, and other high-intensity movements where lower body strength requires.
To perform this movement, place the loaded barbell on the blocks or rack and stand straight with your feet hip-width apart and knees close to the bar. Next, bend at your hips and knees to firmly grab the bar with your hands just outside your knees. Now, generating strength through your feet, lift the bar until your hips are extended.
Use light weights if you want to perform at a fast speed. Moreover, you can wear a gym gelt to protect your back from injuries.
3. Barbell Overhead Lunges
Lunges are extremely useful for reinforcing and toning lower body muscles, especially the quads and hamstring. Doing it with a barbell helps build muscles, improve athletic performance, and burn many calories.
Whether you want to lose weight or improve strength and endurance, you can include lunges in a barbell HIIT program to achieve better results.
To perform a barbell lunge, put the appropriate weight into the bar, hold it overhead and stand in the split stance with your feet 10 to 12 inches apart. Brace your core, maintain a neutral spine position, and lower your body until your knees are bent at a 90-degree angle. Now, pushing through your feet, extend your knees to complete your first rep.
4. Barbell Push Press
The barbell push press is an intense exercise that works on multiple muscles throughout the body and helps develop strength, endurance, and speed and burn decent calories.
Studies also recommend overhead pressing exercise like push press improves weightlifting and sports performance.1Soriano MA, Suchomel TJ, Comfort P. Weightlifting Overhead Pressing Derivatives: A Review of the Literature. Sports Med. 2019 Jun;49(6):867-885. DOI: 10.1007/s40279-019-01096-8. PMID: 30924081; PMCID: PMC6548056. So if you’re a powerlifter, Crsofftiter, or sportsperson, you can include it in your workout regime.
To perform a barbell push press,
- Grab a loaded bar and place it on the front of your shoulder.
- Stand upright with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Keeping your core engaged, perform a quarter squat, which helps generate power.
- And as you return, press the bar overhead until your arms are entirely straight.
5. Barbell Rollout
The rollout is one of the highly effective exercises for building a solid core. It increases strength and mobility throughout the body and burns significant calories in the least time.
Sometimes it is also called a moving plank. I haven’t included plank because that is an isometric movement but doing a moving plank with a barbell is an excellent way to fortify abs, obliques, and other upper body muscles.
However, barbell rollout is an advanced abs workout, and you must have better strength and balance to do this exercise.
Here are the steps to do it properly:
- First, place the bar on the ground and put the weight plates into it.
- Sit on your knees, slightly lean forward, and grab the bar underneath your shoulders. Keep your hands shoulder-width apart.
- Brace your core and roll the barbell forward as far as possible without breaking the form.
- Hold in the extended position for a couple of seconds and then roll back to the starting position.
6. Barbell Thruster
The thruster is an intense Crossfit workout that burns significant calories, enhances muscle coordination, boosts strength and power, and improves overall performance.
It is the combination of the front squat and overhead press that’s why it strengthens the multiple muscles from the upper to lower body, such as the quads, shoulders, and glutes. Doing it properly also helps solidify core muscles.
The thruster is also suitable for all fitness levels. So whether you’re a beginner or intermediate, male or female, you can include this exercise in your barbell HIIT workout plan.
To do a barbell thruster: Holding a loaded bar on the front of your shoulder, stand in the shoulder-width stance with your toes pointing slightly out. Perform a full squat and while returning to the standing position, thrust the barbell overhead until your arms are entirely straight.
7. Barbell Zercher Squat
The Zercher squat is one of the fanciest barbell squat variations that strengthen various muscles simultaneously, such as the quadriceps, glutes, arms, and core.
It is slightly different than other squats where you put the barbell in the crook of your elbows instead on the shoulder.
It also burns decent calories and builds muscles at the same time.
Here’s how you can do it: Insert the appropriate weight into the bar and place it into the crook of your elbows. Then, stand in the hip-width stance and perform a regular squat. Keep your core tight and back straight throughout the movement.
8. Hang Clean
The hang clean is an integrated full-body exercise that enhances strength, power, performance, and speed. It is an advanced movement, so include it in your barbell HIIT workout routine if you want to challenge your strength and fitness level.
Here’s how you do a hang clean: Grab a loaded barbell with an overhand grip, stand upright and keep your arms straight with your hands just outside your knees. Brace your core, slightly bend your knees (to generate power), and pull the bar over your front shoulder. Extend your knees to stand up back.
9. Sumo Deadlift to High Pull
It is a compound movement where you have to perform two exercises concurrently, the sumo deadlift and high pull. It works on multiple muscles simultaneously throughout the body, especially the lower body, shoulder, and back.
The SDHL improves muscular strength, builds muscles, and is good for burning significant calories.
To perform a sumo deadlift to high pull, put the weight plates into the bar, stand in the sumo stance with your toes pointing out and lift the bar to complete a deadlift. And when the bar reaches your knees, pull it toward your neck with your full strength, at a fast pace.
10. Landmine Oblique Twist
The landmine twist is a functional strength and conditioning workout for developing core muscles. It strengthens and tones rectus abdominish, obliques, and other various muscles.
You can do it at a fast pace to burn decent calories and improve speed, balance, and overall performance.
To perform this exercise: Place one end of the barbell in the corner of a wall and insert the appropriate weight into the another. Stand in the shoulder-width stance, grab the bar firmly with your hands, and hold it in front of your face with straight arms. Brace your core and twist from right to left and left to right with keeping your arms extended.
15 minute HIIT Barbell Workout To Scale Up Strength and Endurance
Summary:
- Duration: 15 minutes
- Number of exercises: 7
- Number of Rounds: Two (2)
- Frequency: 5 times a week
- Targeted Gender: Male and Female
| Exercises | Activity | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Back Rack Jump Squats | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
| Barbell Overhead Lunges | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
| Barbell Rollout | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
| Deadlift Off Blocks | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
| Barbell Thruster | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
| Barbell Overhead Lunges | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
| Landmine Oblique Twist | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
30 Minute Barbell HIIT Routine To Burn Fats And Lose Weight
Summary:
- Duration: 30 minutes
- Number of exercises: 10
- Number of Rounds: Three (3)
- Frequency: 4 times a week
- Suitable for: Men and Women
| Exercises | Activity | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Back Rack Jump Squats | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
| Deadlift Off Blocks | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
| Barbell Overhead Lunges | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
| Barbell Rollout | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
| Barbell Push Press | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
| Hang Clean | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
| Landmine Oblique Twist | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
| Barbell Zercher Squat | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
| Thruster | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
45-Min Barbell HIIT Workout For Reaching Next Fitness Level
Overview:
- Duration: 45 minutes
- Goal: Build Strength, Muscle, Power, and Stamina
- Number of exercises: 15
- Number of Rounds: Three (3)
- Frequency: 3 times a week
- Suitable for: Men and Women
| Exercises | Activity | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Back Rack Jump Squats | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
| Barbell High Pull | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
| Deadlift Off Blocks | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
| Barbell Jammer | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
| Barbell Overhead Lunges | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
| Barbell Bent-over Row | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
| Barbell Rollout | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
| Standing Barbell Biceps Curl | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
| Barbell Push Press | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
| Hang Clean | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
| Close Grip Bench Press | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
| Landmine Oblique Twist | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
| Barbell Zercher Squat | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
| Thruster | 30-Sec | 30-Sec |
Download Barbell HIIT Training PDF
References
- 1Soriano MA, Suchomel TJ, Comfort P. Weightlifting Overhead Pressing Derivatives: A Review of the Literature. Sports Med. 2019 Jun;49(6):867-885. DOI: 10.1007/s40279-019-01096-8. PMID: 30924081; PMCID: PMC6548056.
