Tabata Workouts: A High Intensity Interval Training Method for Exercise with Great Benefits

Named after the Japanese Professor Izumi Tabata who invented this system in the 1990’s, Tabata Workouts involve a timed structure. The goal is to get a very intense workout in while restricting the rest period between sets of exercises. The good news is that done correctly, this will only take 4 minutes. The bad news, is that 4 minutes is going to suck.

It is essential that you are thoroughly warmed up before starting this, and that you have some sort of timer available that will let you count a certain number of seconds. Start off with three exercises in a workout, with a 3-4 minute recovery period between exercises. Try to vary your exercises, include an upper body exercise, a lower body exercise, and something that requires coordinate movement.

The Tabata Structure

8 Sets per exercise

20 seconds work

10 seconds rest

That’s all there is to it. In total that is four minutes of exercise. The goal is to challenge your body to function before it has had time to adequately recover from the last exercise period.

Key to Success

Tabata Workouts are a form of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), and in order to give the greatest benefits, they require that when you are exercising, that you are going all out, and that you stick to the format. It is not uncommon to get to the point of failure on some of these sets, given the amount of lactic acid you are building up in that four minutes. But the benefits are worth it.

Benefits

Exercise in general will improve your glucose metabolism and will act as a catalyst for burning stored fat cells. With this type of training in particular, you can burn up to 13.5 calories per minute, which is 25-30% more than you can burn by doing moderate exercise for a longer period of time. More, the calories will continue to burn at twice your normal metabolic rate for the 30 minutes following the workout.

Depending on the exercises you choose for a given workout, the benefits may be more strength development-oriented, or more cardio-oriented. Consider the following exercises:

Exercises to Try

Chest & Shoulders

Push-ups
Bench Press
Chest Flys
Shoulder Flys
Shoulder Press
Upright Rows

Abdominal Exercises

V-ups
Penguins
Boxers Leg Raises (with a partner)
Hanging Knee Raises

Leg Exercises

Squats
Lunges
Deep Lunge Footwork Drills


Back & Biceps

Pull-ups
Cable Pulls
Rowing
Barbell Curls
Dumbbell Curls

Pliometric Exercises

Jump-Tuck Burpees
Box Jumping
Broad Jumps
Jumping Rope

Complex Motions

Burpees
Body Builders
Kettlebell Swings
Mountain Climbers


Martial Arts Training

Power Swings (Single Stick)
Heavy Bag Hitting (Punches, Kicks, or Knees)
Silat Grounded Kicking & Movement
Harimau Shoot Exercises
Pummeling (with a partner)
Fast Hubud Blitz Training (with a partner)
Blitz Rounds on Focus Mitts (Punching)

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