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The Six Minute HIIT and Abs Workout

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Six minutes, zero equipment, one heart rate spike after another.

BowFlex fitness advisor Tom Holland built “The Six-Minute HIIT and Abs Workout” for the person staring at a clock that says they have ten minutes, tops, before the day swallows them whole. No dumbbells, no bands, no bench — just a circuit that pairs cardio bursts with core work and asks you to survive two trips through it.

• The routine alternates a cardio move with an abdominal move across six total exercises, each held for 30 seconds.
• The sequence runs: Mountain Climbers, Plank, Squat Jumps, Standing Ab Crunches, Burpees, and Jabs.
• Two full rounds equal six minutes; beginners can stop after one three-minute round, while advanced exercisers can double up for a 12-minute session.

The Structure Behind the Burn

Holland’s format isn’t random — it’s built on the classic HIIT principle of spiking the heart rate, then giving it just enough of a breather to reset before the next spike. Each cardio interval (mountain climbers, squat jumps, burpees) is immediately followed by an abdominal hold or crunch pattern, which keeps the body working without demanding the same explosive output twice in a row. That’s the same logic driving 10 HIIT Exercises to Lose Belly Fat FASTER, where cardio-to-core transitions are used to keep calorie burn high without extending total workout time.

Because everything is timed rather than counted, there’s no rep target to chase and no scoreboard to feel bad about. Thirty seconds of mountain climbers might mean 40 reps for one person and 20 for another — Holland’s instruction is simply to keep moving at a pace that’s sustainable for you.

It’s not about how many repetitions you do — it’s about working within your limits and challenging yourself.

Breaking Down the Six Moves

Mountain climbers open the circuit to get the heart rate up fast, driving the knees toward the chest from a plank position. That immediately rolls into a static plank hold, which keeps the core braced while giving the legs a moment to recover. Squat jumps come next for another cardio spike, followed by standing ab crunches — an upright core move that keeps blood flowing rather than dropping straight to the floor.

Burpees close out the cardio work with the highest demand in the set, combining a squat, plank, push-up and jump into one movement. The circuit finishes with jabs, a cardio-core hybrid that doubles as active recovery while still keeping the arms and torso engaged. Run the six moves once for three minutes, or twice through for the full six-minute version Holland designed the workout around.

Scaling It to Your Level

The built-in flexibility is what separates this from a rigid gym program. Someone new to HIIT can complete a single round and call it a three-minute win, while someone chasing a longer session can loop the whole sequence twice for 12 minutes without changing a single exercise. That same no-equipment, scale-it-yourself approach shows up in INSANE 7 MINUTE AT HOME WORKOUT, another short-format circuit built for people training in a living room instead of a gym.

The core appeal is efficiency: six specific movements, 30 seconds apiece, no gear to set up and no travel time to a gym. For anyone who’s put off a workout because they “didn’t have enough time,” Holland’s circuit removes that excuse entirely — the whole thing is over before a typical warm-up would even finish.