Tabata Tune Up!

103009

"Tabata Something Else"

Pull-ups

Push-ups

Sit-ups

Squats

*each exercise will have 8 rounds, 20 seconds max effort, 10 seconds rest. Total of 32 intervals.

Tabata Tune Up

By Matt Fitzgerald

The Tabata Protocol isn't easy, but it can dramatically increase your aerobic and anaerobic capacity in just minutes a month.

As with many things, fitness results have to be earned. The fact is, nothing works if you don’t, and there may be no better proof of this principle than the Tabata Protocol. This unique workout has been shown to produce astonishing fitness gains, despite taking just 14 minutes to complete — and that’s if you include a five-minute warm-up and a five-minute cool-down. In other words, the workout itself takes a mere four minutes. But be forewarned: It is one tremendously tough workout.

Just ask Ed Reis, 33, a management consultant in Mission Viejo, Calif. He’s very familiar with the Tabata Protocol, which consists of six to eight 20-second intervals performed at absolute maximum intensity on a stationary bike (or any appropriate exercise), separated by 10-second periods of rest. He was introduced to the workout by his personal trainer, Brian MacKenzie, CFT, CCS, owner of Genetic Potential and CrossFit Newport Beach, training facilities in Newport Beach, Calif.

“The first time I did Tabata,” Reis recalls, “I looked at my heart-rate monitor about a third of the way into the session. I saw a bigger number than I had ever seen before, and I thought, I have how many more of these?!”

Reis was able to complete the workout, but admits he still gets butterflies every time MacKenzie prescribes another set of Tabata intervals. “Some days I would definitely rather do a longer workout than go that hard!” he says. “But the results are worth it. Within a couple weeks, my legs got stronger, I had more energy, and I could play soccer and basketball for much longer before I got tired.”

MacKenzie concurs. “Doing Tabata intervals will enhance the overall benefits you get from training, from fat loss to strength development.” In other words, if you want to crank up your fitness and you’re willing to work hard to get there, Tabata might just be the ticket.  Click HERE to ready further, courtesty of Experience Life Magazine.