From big mick to fit mick: tabata training

By Mike Ashworth | November 6, 2009

Recently I had a personal session with my trainer Christian Vila. Before we got started I told him that I felt I could be doing more exercises whilst at the gym.

I currently visit the gym three times a week and my program consists of three different workouts that are used in rotation.

He expressed some surprise as each program is optimised to make the most of the available time and consist of about 22 sets of exercises together with some additional CV work such as rowing, cycling etc and maybe some kettlebells.

What he said I needed to do, was not to workout for longer, but workout harder within the allotted time (about an hour and a half in the gym which includes the exercise program and then post workout stretches).

He then went on to explain a method of exercise called Tabata Training which will help with this.

This is not for the faint hearted and I mean this quite literally, it can be very intense and you need to ensure that your body can cope with the intensity.

Thankfully I’ve had a clean bill of health recently regarding my cardiovascular system so this was not a problem.

20/10

Tabata Training was developed by Dr. Izumi Tabata in Tokyo. He figured out a way to get maximal anerobic and aerobic benefits from a short and simple workout which can be done with a variety of exercises.

Tabata training is simply doing an exercise for 20 seconds constantly then taking 10 seconds off before repeating the cycle for 8 cycles this means you can get a hugely effective workout in about 4 minutes per exercise.

Proven Benefits

Hugely effective fat burner, due to effect on the metabolism.

Short and Effective workouts are ideal for those who have limited time to workout.

Can be done anywhere with anything from Crunches to Squats.

Getting Started

Getting started with Tabata is easy you just need to pick an exercise and keep your eye on the clock.

So long as you are roughly getting things right then you will be fine – Although do try to stick as closely as you can to 20 on 10 off as any other time limits won’t be as effective.

Pick an Exercise which can either be a body weight movement like:

-Pushups
-Pull-ups
-Body weight Squats
-Dips
-Sprints

Or a Weighted Movement:

-Kettle Bell Swings
-Thrusters
-Squats
-Cleans

Whatever you choose simply go all out for 20 seconds. Take a 10 Second rest. Repeat 7 times. This will not only initiate a crazy burn in your muscles it will get your heart rate up making you feel like you have really worked your body.

On paper it looks pretty easy. On the gym floor it’s 240 seconds of fitness heaven and hell! Any workout that crams the workload and fitness gains of a 30 minute workout into the time it takes to boil an egg is going to be challenging.

The Aerobic Myth

We’ve been fed the myth that an aerobic myth for over 30 years. Even doctors have been fooled.

The truth is, that slow aerobic training is terribly inefficient when it comes to losing weight.

It all has to do with something called Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption. It’s a way of describing the calories you burn after you’re done exercising.

With aerobic training, once you’re done, that’s it, you no longer burn calories from that effort.

However, with high intensity exercise (even as short as 4 minutes at a time) your body will continue to burn calories for up to 2 days.

That’s right - your body is still working hard, burning that stubborn fat, long after your workout is complete.

Study Supports Tabata

A study was then done at Physical Activities Sciences Laboratory, Laval University, Quebec, Canada, and challenged the common belief among health professionals that low-intensity, long-duration exercise is the best program for fat loss.

They compared the impact of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise and high-intensity aerobics on fat loss.

The bottom line was that the low intensity group burned more calories during their workouts, almost twice as many. However, the high intensity group got 9 times more fat loss benefit for every calorie burned while exercising.

How did this happen? Compared to moderate-intensity endurance exercise, high- intensity intermittent exercise causes more calories and fat to be burned following the workout. They also said it may be that appetite is suppressed more following intense intervals.