Strengthen your core and boost your metabolism without equipment in less than 30 minutes — here's how

Cardio sessions aren't just great for your physical health, but for your mind too. This is because working out can help reduce stress while boosting the body's production of feel-good endorphins. 

If spin classes aren’t your thing and you’d rather not head out on a 10K run, don’t worry — there are plenty of ways you can get get your heart rate up without leaving the house.

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts are a great way to burn energy and boost your fitness in a short amount of time. They're designed to push you up towards your maximum heart rate with quick bursts of effort, making this a seriously efficient way to exercise.

This workout from certified fitness trainer Anna Engelschall, who is better known online as GrowingAnnanas (opens in new tab), takes less than 25 minutes and is totally manageable wherever you have a bit of space — even from your living room.

Don't be fooled by its length though, as it may leave you feeling like you spent a full hour in the gym. Watch Engelschall’s YouTube video below to follow along with the workout at home.

Watch Anna Engelschall's Tabata workout

This is a Tabata training (opens in new tab) workout, which is a specific type of HIIT that sees you work for 20 seconds then rest for 10 seconds. Because of the frequent rests during this session, you should be able to push yourself pretty hard in the 20-second work periods. 

We also like how it targets the entire body without repeating any movements, making this a fun and interesting way to get fit. If you want to increase the difficulty of this workout, try holding a dumbbell to your chest (in a goblet position) during the squat and lunge variations. 

If you use a dumbbell from our selection of the best adjustable dumbbells (opens in new tab) you can come back to this workout and increase the weight you use as your strength improves, progressively overloading (opens in new tab) your training to build fitness.

We’d recommend pairing this session with an upper-body strength workout  (this dumbbell arm session only takes 30 minutes) so you can work your entire body in less than an hour. 

Make sure you stretch afterwards to reduce DOMS (delayed-onset muscle soreness) too. Start with these simple stretching exercises (opens in new tab) if you’re new to mobility work, then you can invest in one of the best foam rollers (opens in new tab) if you’re training regularly and want to give your muscles some well-earned recovery time.