You’ve probably heard of many different workout styles. They should all help you reach your fitness goal. Maybe you want to increase your strength, lose weight, increase flexibility, or build muscle. However, many workout programs can help you with any fitness goal as long as you stick to your workout plan. So, there is another type of workout you can do in sports – Tabata workouts.
Tabata is an intense aerobic exercise from Japan. It is claimed to be one of the most effective ways to strengthen the heart, develop endurance and activate the lymph. The workout is suitable for practically everyone, but the frequency and intensity of exercise should be chosen individually to not deplete the body.
Got 4 minutes? Then you’ve got time for a workout. This protocol will bring you excellent results with a consistent commitment a few times a week.
It’s time to think about revitalizing your energy levels and kicking back into a regular exercise routine (for those of us who succumbed to the cold, dark mornings and evenings over winter).
If the thought of this makes you cringe, don’t give up just yet, because we’ve got an excellent solution for you.
So we’re about to present a very efficient workout that has the potential to give even more significant results than your typical trudge around the block and take less time! Introducing … Tabata training.
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What Is Tabata Workout?
The Tabata protocol is a form of High-Intensity Interval Training (or HIIT) that alternates short bursts of high-intensity anaerobic training followed by even shorter recovery periods.
It was initially devised by Irisawa Koichi, the head coach of the Japanese Speed Skating team in the 1990s, whose unusual training technique of short bursts with even shorter rest periods increased short-term explosive strength and long-term endurance.
Izumi Tabata, a coach under Koichi, was asked to analyze the effectiveness of the training method and published his findings in the 1996 journal “Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.”
Dr. Tabata found that this technique resulted in a “swift increase in VO2 max” (which is a measure of fitness), as well as improvements in anaerobic capacity (sprint, speed, and power).
For whatever reason, Tabata’s name became associated with the workout rather than Koichi, but regardless of who it’s named after, the research shows the protocol works.
In fact, the group of people who did a 4-minute Tabata session 5 times per week showed more improvement than a control group who did 1 hour of regular training 5 times a week, over 6 weeks.
The people who did 120 minutes of exercise over 6 weeks had MORE improvements than those who did 1800 minutes!
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So What Is A Tabata Plans?
The protocol for this workout is straightforward: 20 seconds of maximum effort, followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated 8 times (for 4 minutes).
The key is going hard enough in the 20-second effort and then as easy as possible for the 10 seconds of recovery.
Tabata Workout Plan:
How hard is hard?
Dr. Tabata explains:
if you feel ok after the session, you have not done it right! The first three sessions should be easy, and the last two should feel impossibly hard.
It can also be described as a feeling of “jelly-legs” during a final couple of efforts.
So basically, by the time you have finished, you should feel pretty shattered, but remember it’s all worth it for the efficient routine and quick results.
For example, Tabata training improves fitness helps build muscle and enables fat burning for several hours following the workout by increasing metabolic rate. All this means the 4 minutes of exercise equals more bang for your buck!
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How To Get The Best Out of Your Tabata Exercises.
Also, you can make your custom Tabata workout routine:
To get the maximum amount of results from this Tabata workout, you have to push yourself to the limit during each work period.
- Make sure your body is ready. Warm-up properly – get a sweat on and include a few easy repeats of the exercise you’ll be doing in the workout (e.g., some press-ups, burpees, fast spinning on the bike, etc.).
- Do your Tabata workout in the morning to raise your metabolism and burn more energy throughout the day.
- Alternate exercises during the workout to add some variety (e.g., burpees for the first 20 seconds, alternated with star jumps for the other 20 seconds).
- Download a good Tabata timer app (e.g. Tabata Pro or Tabata Stopwatch).
- Start off easy. Treat your first few Tabata workouts as practice as your body gets used to the movements involved and higher intensities.
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Tabata Exercises Are Fun!
Tabata workouts are not only very effective and efficient but also endlessly fun, as workouts mostly use motivational music to help keep pace with the exercises.
Getting used to the calculation includes these workouts so that you do not want to go back to regular workouts, which usually have periodic breaks or fewer repetitions than necessary (sparing yourself, hiding, or distracting). Working with Tabata is fast, purposeful, and focused.
It’s important to mention that actual Tabata workouts (including complex functional exercises) aren’t for complete beginners. Still, you can start with simple exercises and gradually incorporate more and more complex ones.
Tabata challenge. Workout plan for 31-day:
But it’s better to try it once than hear it a hundred times, so get started now!
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Important Things To Remember About Tabata Training:
- Scale the workout to your level of fitness. Not everyone will be able to start off with sprints on a bike or burpees. If a fast walk up a hill will get you breathing hard and your heart rate elevated, then this is the level where you should begin.
- The Tabata training protocol only works if you are not already fatigued. That means it is best to do it as a stand-alone workout (i.e., don’t combine it with weights sessions, a long run, etc.) It is most effective if you have an easy warm-up, do the Tabata session, then finish with an easy warm-down.
- Aim for 3-4 times per week maximum. Any more than this, and you’ll be compromising the point above and won’t recover properly for next time.
- Tabata, HIIT, and all interval sessions are only effective if you ensure there is a significant difference between the effort (i.e., the hard part) and the recovery (i.e., easy part). If you are not going easy enough to recover appropriately, each subsequent effort will lose its effectiveness as you start to draw on different energy systems.
- And finally, if you’re not currently exercising regularly, we recommend checking up with a registered and qualified health professional before getting into it!
Progress: Keep track of the weight of your Tabata exercises, repetitions, and the exercises themselves. Write them down and try to increase the weight or the number of repetitions. Sure, there may be times when it’s impossible to do so, but stay strict with yourself!
