Total Body Tabata

    Tabata training is an easily used form of high-intensity interval training that is short, sweet, and to the point.  Tabata training was discovered by Dr. Izumi Tabata, a Japanese scientist, who, with the help of his research team from the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, conducted a study to determine that high-intensity interval training had a great impact on the aerobic and anaerobic systems.  If you are interested in reading more about the study and what the team of researchers did, click this link to read the article.  

     The Tabata program goes as follows: 8 rounds of 20 seconds of hard work with 10 seconds of rest.  It's that easy.  Any movement you like can be turned in to a high-intensity workout.  Do not be deceived by the fact that you are only working for 20 seconds at a time, if you are going hard on every round, you will be feeling it.  That's the glory of the Tabata; the short amount of work time is still enough to leave you breathless, sweaty, and wanting more.  

     This short video demos 5 moves for a full-body Tabata workout that will only take you 20 minutes to complete.  Each movement is performed for 8 rounds before moving on to the next movement, but no extra rest time is added in, i.e. when you finish the 8th round of push-ups, you have 10 seconds to get ready for your first round of mountain climbers.   Below the video, I have listed instructions and points of performance for each exercise, as well as options to scale down if necessary.

Good Morning - Hamstring, Glutes, and Low back

• Feet hip-width apart, slight bend in the knees, and a flat back
• Keep your weight in your heels as you push your hips back, bending at the hips
• You should feel a pull in the hamstrings (the back of your legs) and your glutes

Plank to Down-dog - Shoulders and Core

• Start in a solid plank position, wrists directly beneath the shoulders, and belly button pulled in to towards the spine
• Hands and feet will not move
• Open the shoulders, so your armpits are towards your thighs, and push the hips in to the air
• Bend the legs as needed to take pressure off of extremely tight hamstrings
• Return to your plank position

Push-up - Chest, Triceps, and Core

• Still in your solid plank position, lower the body down towards the ground so that the shoulder is in line with, or just below, the elbow
• Push back up to the starting position
• Modification: If you are unable to perform a push-up, or cannot perform very many push-ups, without losing core stability or failing to be able to return to the start position, feel free to come down on to the knees.  Another variation, find an object such as a bench or a wall to lean against in a more upright plank position and perform your push-ups that way.

Mountain Climbers - Cardio, Core, Upper back, Legs

• This movement is much more cardio intensive.
• From your plank position, raise the hips slightly.  Not as high as in your down-dog, but not straight in line with your shoulders as it is in your plank
• Draw the knees in towards the chest as fast as you can
• Modification: Do not feel the need to hop with the reps, keep it more low impact by pulling the knee in, step the foot back, draw the other knee in, and repeat for the 20 seconds.

Jumping Lunges - Cardio and Legs

• Set up in your lunge position, one leg forward and the other leg back.
• Lower the back knee towards the ground, keep the front knee tracking over the ankle, and the upper body should remain upright.
• Hop and quickly switch legs, lowering back down in to your lunge position of the other side.
• Modification: Take out the hop.  To make the movement more low impact, simply step the foot forward to your lunge, step the foot back even with the other foot, and switch.  You still get the benefits of the lunge without the harder impact of the jump.

Leave a comment letting me know what you thought of the workout and what movements you enjoy incorporating in to your Tabata training!  

Happy sweating!

-Kirsten