Sunday, 05 July 2009

• Working Out: Tabata Intervals

  
  

  (They work and they hurt. A lot.)
  

  
  Pubmed's article
  
  I was combing through the training manuals and I came across this gem of a work out. Tabata studied this on a stationary bike, however, you can do this hitting a heavy bag, sprinting, high intensity jump ropes, push-ups, squats, burpee's (god I hate burpee's) or whatever gets you tired. Here's the kicker. It takes four minutes.
  
  8 rounds of 20 seconds all out work, with 10 seconds rest in between.
  
  Seriously. This is all it takes to build your bodies VO2 intake. In 6 weeks, Tabata found that after the training period, VO2max increased by 7 ml.kg-1.min-1, while the anaerobic capacity increased by 28%, a huge increase in effectiveness. In a sense, in four minutes of intense work, you can clear about an hours worth of cardio in terms of VO2max building and anaerobic capacity. 
  
  But before you guys think it's easy, let me remind you, you must work at 170% VO2 max. This means you must work hard enough for your lungs to feel like they are doused in battery acid. And it hurts. A LOT.
  
  But if you get used to them, which most people do, You'll find that in combination with your regular training, your performance will improve drastically. Take it from me, if you work that hard, you have to improve some how.
  
  
  

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