Author: Jon vitolo June 6, 2016

Time, space and equipment are all common issues we all face when it comes to training. Setting aside an hour to get to the gym may not be realistic for everyone but that doesn’t mean you cannot receive increased health and performance benefits from short workouts at high intensities with little or no equipment.

This is where the Tabata training methods can become an important training tool for everyone to the elite athlete or the average joe looking for improved performance.

Tabata was developed by a Japanese scientist, Dr. Izumi Tabata, at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo. They examined the training effects of two groups.

One group would exercise five days a week for an hour for more at moderate, steady-state intensities while the other group worked at high intensities four days a week and their exercise bouts would last only four minutes and twenty seconds. Theses shorter sessions would be performed in intervals of 20 seconds of work

Theses shorter sessions would be performed in intervals of 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest for a total of 8 rounds. After the conclusion of the 6-week study, it was determined that the participants working at the higher intensities for a shorter period of time had increased their aerobic and anaerobic capacities more than the group that had been performing longer bouts of exercise, more frequently at lower intensities.

These results are pretty shocking considering the group performing the high-intensity work was only exercising a total of 16 minutes per week! Most of us make excuses why we can’t find 16 minutes a day to devote to some type of physical activity.

For a firefighter aerobic capacity is critical, especially in high-stress situations where oxygen is being supplied to our bodies through a type of breathing apparatus and anaerobic capacity will determine the amount of force our muscles can produce when the aerobic system cannot meet the demands that our bodies are putting on them.

So what are you going to have to do to get going with incorporating this routine into your regimen?

Almost all of us have a smartphone now that gives us access to apps such as interval timers, stopwatches and even apps that are specifically designed for tabata. Download one of these apps or just use the clock on the wall, they will work as well.

I like the apps because there will usually be some type of countdown or buzzer to start and finish rounds which are helpful especially when you begin to fatigue.

Next you want to select the exercises that you will be doing for the duration. Do this ahead of time, 10 seconds is not a whole lot of time to figure this out if you haven’t laid out your plan.

You want to think about explosive, fast paced movements that put a big demand on the body. If you are going to go full body weight on this, I like to use jump squats, jump lunges, high knees, mountain climbers, plyometric push-ups, squat thrusts and burpees to name a few. Big muscle groups equal big demands on the aerobic system, once the aerobic system is tapping out we are working on our anaerobic system.

We have talked about kettlebells in previous articles and how and why this can have a big impact on our training. Well guess what, a kettlebell is a perfect tool to use if you have one and want to work it into your Tabata.

Adding some resistance will eliminate the need for some of those high impact exercises like the jump squats and jump lunges. If you have bad knees or weak ankles you should avoid those moves here because of the intensity you are going to work out.

Swings, snatches, and goblet squats are the way to go for this workout.

Personally, I have done Tabatas doing kettlebell snatches, alternating arms each set and by the end I was hating life, sweating like a pig and had my heart  jumping out of my chest.

Now we have said intensity is the goal here and I am going to stress that one more time. You need to work at a pace that you would not be able to sustain for more than 20 seconds, this means “all out”. It’s 4 minutes guys…                     You Got This!

Here is an Example Workout for you to try. Switch it up any way you like in the future but give this one a go and let us know how you did.

Remember, it’s 20 seconds for each one.

1. Jump Squats
2. High Knees
3. Plyo Push Ups
4. Mountain Climber

Repeat this sequence to give yourself 8 total rounds.

Pretty simple right? That’s the way it should be. It Is going to take you more time to read this article, download an app and set up the timer then it is going to take to complete this workout. Once you have done it once you’ll have a “go to” tool for years to come!

Let me know how you guys do in the comment section and remember to HAVE FUN!