There’s no question that we need to be active to be healthy. Physical activity leads to happier, healthier lives. Tabata workouts are perfect for the busiest of people. Whether you are a beginner or an expert. The trick is finding a workout routine that you enjoy and sticking to it.
Too Much Bad Information
Our society has become so health-obsessed in recent years. Unfortunately, there is a ridiculous amount of bad information out there. People try trendy exercises and get-fit-fast schemes. They try all kinds of crazy tools and equipment that they are sure will transform their bodies.
None of it works, at least not long term, and a lot of it can actually do a decent amount of harm. True fitness takes time, dedication, and patience. Get back to basics and follow the solid health advice that is out there, and you’ll be on your way.
Tabata Workouts Work
One exercise form that has taken center stage in recent years is the Tabata method. Named after Dr. Izumi Tabata who developed it.
This workout is geared around shorter, high-intensity bursts of cardio routines. Think of it is as a series of sprints, broken up by quick recovery periods, versus a marathon.
If you do a Tabata workout right, you’re in for a great session. You have to push yourself as hard as you can for the short bursts of intensity. Use the short rest period as best as you can, and make sure that you work out consistently. If you can manage that, Tabata workouts can get you to your fitness goals fast.
What Are Tabata Workouts?
Tabata Workouts are eight rounds of 20 seconds of work, followed by 10 seconds or rest, for a total of four minutes. But, there’s a lot of bad information out there.
Have you heard this one? You can do only one 7 minute workout a day and lose fat, gain muscle, and transform your body. This is absolutely not true.
True fitness takes time. It’s hard work. You are never going to be able to transform your body with just 7 minutes a day. You can use the Tabata workouts or Tabata training method in a modified way. Use it to amp up your work-outs and break out of a rut or plateau.
The focus on Tabata workouts is intensity. There is a reason why the original method was so short. You can’t maintain your highest intensity for long.
Think about it this way. If a bear was chasing you, you could run pretty darn fast, right? At least, you could for a few minutes.
What if that bear was chasing you for an hour? You couldn’t keep up your fastest pace for long, and the bear would catch you.
That’s what will happen if you try to push a true Tabata workout past the short, prescribed few-minute period. You’ll tire out, get sloppy, and could hurt yourself.
Ways to Change-Up the Tabata Workouts
If you want to use Tabata workouts or training style for a longer period of time, you’ll have to change the rest period. You need to rest for longer to recover your ability to push yourself as hard as possible.
It’s still a great workout, but it shouldn’t be called true Tabata. It is actually “Tabata-style.” When that high-intensity, short-rest structure changes. You’ve taken the Tabata workouts and turned them into something else completely.
Designing Your Personal Tabata Workouts
Do you want to design a personal workout routine for yourself? Then you can incorporate Tabata training-style workouts for great benefits.
Remember to filter out all the trendy information and keep your workouts simple. Using Tabata workouts, you have to push yourself to your limit. Harder than you thought possible. But if you do that, you’re going to see results.
Pick Exercises You Love
You don’t have to follow any specific workout routine; pick an exercise you love. Structure your workout with high-intensity bursts and short rest periods. Make it work harder for yourself.
For example, if you love to lift weights. Get the most Tabata workouts benefits with weight lifting. You have to work hard, much harder than other people in the gym are working.
Others are grabbing 5-pound weights, whipping out 20 bicep curls to “tone” themselves. You need to grab the 20-pound weights and only doing about 8 reps.
This is definitely building muscle. But it also makes your heart rate soar. It’s that high-intensity Tabata-style training coming in. You get cardio training incorporated into your strength training. It’s a great two-for-one benefit and a real time-saver.
Try to do about 10 seconds of high-intensity work doing bicep curls. Following that, take about a 30-second break of rest or low-intensity work. Walk around for a few seconds and catch your breath. Swing your arms and legs, grab a quick drink, and recover.
Repeat that for two more rounds, and then take a longer break, about a minute. That’s one set done. Then move on to another strength move. Squats, deadlifts, tricep dips, or others. Repeat the entire routine until you’re done about 20-30 minutes of work. It’s not true Tabata, but it’s definitely effective.
Enjoy Your Tabata Workouts
The benefit of doing a workout like this is that you get to play. You can take a highly effective workout structure. Overlay it with a workout form you love. Then build a custom workout routine that you’ll never tire of. Best of all, you’ll get the benefits you want and be able to maintain a higher intensity for longer.
Tabata Workouts for Beginners
Squats
- Stand straight with shoulders above hips.
- Feet hip-width apart and toes turned out slightly.
- To begin, drop your hips back and down, keeping knees behind your toes at all times.
- Keep your hip and ankle in line, so knees do not collapse inward.
- Drop your hips as low as possible with a straight spine.
- Drive your weight into your heels to stand back up to start position.
- That is one repetition.
Crunches
- Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor, with your hands behind your head.
- Press your lower back into the floor while rolling shoulders up and forward.
- Lift your shoulder blades about four inches off the floor, contracting your abs at the top.
- Slowly lower your torso back down to the floor to complete one repetition.
Jog in Place / High Knees
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart.
- Look straight ahead and raise your hands to hip height.
- Quickly run in place, lifting knees as high as possible.
- Every time your foot comes to the floor, land on the balls of your feet.
- Left and right count as one repetition.
Front Lunges
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Arms reaching straight up or with hands on your hips.
- Step forward with one leg, bending both knees to drop your hips.
- Descend until your rear knee almost touches the floor.
- Your front knee comes directly above your ankle.
- Drive through your front heel and push off to return to start position.
- Left and right count as one repetition.
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