I admit it: Knocking out this particular article was tougher than I expected! With my deadline fast approaching, I was furiously trying to unpack from a recent move and keep up with an endless business to-do list, and I wasn't having much luck making time to sit down and write. Even so, I knew I had to get the piece done, and I wasn't about to let my other priorities—or my workouts!—drop off the radar.
The thing is, I know all of you can relate. Unless you're a trust-fund baby leading a life of leisure, you know how life manages to get in the way of your best-laid plans. There's always something that needs to get done, demanding more precious moments of your day. Suddenly, the sun has set, it's 9 p.m., and you haven't even squeezed in your daily training session yet.
I've been there several times, and like you, I hate missing a workout. So, I've developed an elegant solution, one that ensures I stay on track toward my fitness goals and don't skip my training. How? Well, I got creative: I combined the tenets of Tabata cardio with weights to deliver fast, challenging, effective workouts that get the job done in a fraction of the time of a traditional session!
Got Four Minutes to Spare?
If you've read my previous articles, like "The 4 Most Effective Ways to Burn Fat," you've heard me talk about Tabata before. Tabata, which is a specific exercise framework, was born out of a 1996 study performed by Japanese researcher Dr. Izumi Tabata on a group of highly trained Olympic speed skaters.1
The research subjects performed 7-8 rounds of 20-second cycling at 170 percent of VO2 max, followed by 10 seconds of rest after each round. This short-duration workout—about four minutes, all told—was shown to be more effective for improving aerobic and anaerobic capacity compared to lengthier, moderate-intensity cardio performed the same number of times in a week.
Another study published in 2013 took Tabata to the next level. This research repeated the basic Tabata protocol, but strung together four full four-minute rounds with a one-minute rest between rounds.2 During this 20-minute workout, the subjects burned 240-360 calories, and experienced a massive boost in energy expenditure for days after.
While each workout below is only four minutes, you can string them together—with a minute of rest between each workout—for a similarly intense and effective session.
Your Tabata Lifting Plan
While it's primarily used with cardiovascular equipment, Tabata's benefits aren't just limited to cardio or burning fat. The 20-second bursts of work are well-suited for lifting, engaging your muscles to near-maximal levels when you choose an appropriate weight. And that's exactly what you're going to do with this efficient workout plan.
In the following workouts, I suggest you start with 50 percent of what you'd normally use to elicit momentary muscular failure in a regular 10-rep set. As you get more experience with these Tabata workouts, you can increase your loads from there. In other words, don't let your ego drive you to go too heavy!
As for your rep cadence, shoot for an explosive—yet controlled—positive contraction, followed by a controlled negative, with no extended pauses. Your goal is as many clean, high-quality reps as possible within those 20-second segments.
6 Sample Tabata Workouts
To get the most out of your Tabata workouts, make sure you warm up well and mix in some exercises that will engage more than one muscle group at a time.
Each of these workouts is only four minutes long and contains only four exercises. You'll do 20 seconds of one exercise, followed by 10 seconds of rest as you transition between exercises, and repeat for a total of eight rounds.
In other words, do 20 seconds of work on the first exercise, rest for 10 seconds as you switch exercises, do 20 seconds of work, take 10 seconds to transition, and repeat for a total of four minutes. You'll perform each exercise twice.
Original article and pictures take www.bodybuilding.com site
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