One of my absolute favorite types of HIIT (high intensity interval training) is tabata training. It's fast and furious & you can combine just about any movement possible.
Tabata is a training method discovered by Japanese scientist, Dr. Izumi Tabata & a team of researchers. They studied 2 groups of athletes over a 6 week period. Group one trained at a moderate intensity level while the group 2 trained at a high intensity level. The moderate intensity group worked out for 1 hour five days a week. The high intensity group worked out four days a week for 4 min; each workout consisted of 20 seconds of work & 10 seconds of rest in between each set.
The result? Group two, the group that did HIIT (the group that worked out for a shorter period of time) saw a 28% improvement in their anaerobic (muscular) system & an improvement in their aerobic (cardiovascular) system. Group one improved their aerobic (cardiovascular) system but showed little to no result in their anaerobic (muscular) system. It then became the method used to train the Japanese Olympic speed skating team. Sprint/rest/sprint/rest/sprint/rest. It's genius!
So what does this mean for you? The basic structure of Tabata is 4 minutes: 20 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest for 8 consecutive rounds. It's only 4 minutes so you need to go as hard/fast as you can, giving every ounce of your effort during the 20 second work periods. Examples) a. Push-up Tabata: 20 seconds of max effort push-ups, followed by 10 seconds of rest, 8 rounds. b. If you are riding your bicycle, 20 seconds of sprints, 10 seconds of rest for a 4 solid minutes. c. Tabata mashup: max effort sit ups, max effort body weight squats. Every other 20 sec you alternate the movement. You can do all body weight or if you have access to equipment you can do kettlebell swing tabatas, hangclean tabatas, pull-ups…the options are literally limitless. You can also stack tabatas; 4 minutes: 20 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest, 8 rounds. Rest 1 min, then complete another 4 minute tabata. So on & so forth.
Just adding a basic 4 min Tabata is perfect if you are short on time or just need a change of pace. Aside from being fast & effective, you don't really need any equipment except for a timer that can be set to intervals. Below I listed 2 examples:
- High Knees
- Squat Jumps
- Mountain Climber/Burpee
- Knee Grab
Thank you for this! I had never heard of it but have been looking for different HIIT workouts. I just did that ab one and damn, it works for only 4 minutes!!
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