If you’ve been doing the same routine for quite a while now, it’s time to switch it up! The body becomes accustomed to the same routine pretty quickly, and as you grow stronger, you won’t be making the same gains or burning the same amount of calories as you did when you first started. That’s where a plateau comes into play. So, how do you keep it challenging? Tabata Workouts.
What Exactly Are Tabata Workouts?
I’m glad you asked! Tabata is a form of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) comprised of intense exercise and followed by a rest period to catch your breath, repeating multiple rounds for a short amount of time
Here’s an example: Burpees for 20 seconds as hard and as fast as you can go with a 10-second break. Do this for 8 rounds, for a total of 4 minutes.
This was the original method created by Izumi Tabata back in 1996, but since then many trainers have made adaptations to the workout and increased the total amount of time.
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How Does Tabata Burn Fat?
If done correctly and with full intensity, just a 4-minute session of Tabata can scorch a ton of calories. Now, this doesn’t quite happen the way you might think it does (during the workout). All the magic actually happens after the session is complete.
This type of intense exercise has very minimal rest periods. The muscles have no time to recover completely between each round, bringing the muscles to total failure (sometimes even before the 4-minute mark), and requiring a ton of oxygen consumption.The oxygen is then depleted, and it can take up to 24 hours for the body to come back down to normal resting state. This takes a tremendous amount of energy (calories) to do, which is why it’s known as the “afterburn effect.”
So in a nutshell, your fat burning starts after the workout and lasts for up to 24 hours. Pretty awesome!
Try This Routine!
Tabata is not for the faint of heart (literally). It is a very intense workout, so don’t be surprised if you can’t finish it… just do the best you can! Part of the original Tabata protocol is to warm up for at least 10 minutes, so begin with that.
Round 1
Burpees (fast) 20 seconds
Rest 10 seconds
Round 2
Squat jumps 20 seconds
Rest 10 Seconds
Round 3
Plank Jacks 20 Seconds
Rest 10 Seconds
Round 4
Squat Thrusts 20 seconds
Rest 10 Seconds
Repeat each round 1 more time for a total of 8 rounds.
