Work out of the week: time effective tabata

30 Dec 2013

Tags: exercise classes brisbane, exercise classes melbourne, exercise classes sydney,

With lots going on at this time of year, our work out of the week is designed to only take 4 minutes a day so that you can spend more time with the important people in your life and have fun. However, don't be fooled, just because it only takes 4 minutes does NOT mean it is easy.

Basically you exercise for 20 seconds, then rest for 10 seconds and repeat this cycle 8 times for a total of 4 minutes.

This style of training is known as Tabata (pronounced tah-bah-tah or maybe it should be tab-HURT-a). Trust me it hurts.

So the challenge this week is to do 4 minutes of tabata every day. Choose 1 exercise for each day, ideally alternating between upper and lower body each day.

You can get a free app for iPhones called Tabata Timer which manages the timing for you, so all you have to do is train hard and listen for the beeps.

Here is how your tabata week might look:

Mon - Upper Body = Push Ups (knees, progressing to toes, progressing to explosive clap push ups)
Tues - Lower Body = Squats (air squats, progressing to jump squats, to 180 degree jump squats)
Wed - Upper Body = Cross over Mountain Climbers (knees, progressing to toes)
Thurs - Lower Body = Lunges (back step lunge, progressing to jump lunges, to skater lunges)
Friday - Upper Body = High Plank To Low Plank (knees, progressing to toes, to alternate leg)
Saturday - Total Body = Full Burpee with push up (step back, progressing to jump back, to hand release push ups)

Why Tabata?

There are some great benefits of tabata training, especially when done as part of a rounded training routine.
Time - it only takes 4 minutes, so it is fast, easy to fit in to a lunch hour at work, and you don't get board because it is over so quickly.
Intensity - the intensity of tabata training will get your heart rate pumping hard and your metabolism fired up, burned lots of calories quickly. Plus it will keep your metabolism active post working meaning you will continue to burn calories even after the session.
Going anaerobic - tabata training will target your anaerobic system as well as your aerobic system which has cross over benefits over into your overall fitness levels.

So take up the challenge this week, keep it short and sweet and enjoy the end of 2013 and the start of 2014.

Team evo