Tabata Training: Is Tabata Training the Ultimate Cardio Workout?

Is Tabata Training The Best for Weight Loss ?

Tabata training is a very intense form of Interval Training. I use and believe in the Interval and Tabata training methods for Weight loss.

The long cardio sessions are usefull but take too much time (and are boring).

Yes I do believe Tabatas and Intervals are the best methods for fat loss and don't discount the anaerobic benefits that you don't get with spending an hour on an exercise bike.

But Tabata Training is a very advanced form of training.Warning!! if you want to try Tabatas they are not for the weak hearted or unconditioned.

If you are a beginner, Learn Interval Training from the best Craig Ballantyne is the man when it comes to intervals. Check out his Turbulence Training site and you won't be sorry.

Start out slowly and gradually work into a full workout. As with any exercise program get a full physical check before you begin.

Combining a Weight Training program 3-4 days a week with Tabata's and/or interval training 2-3 days a week ( combined with a solid nutrition plan) will get you in the best shape( aerobic and anaerobic ) of your life.

That many workouts a week is for the well conditioned check out the workout I came up wih for a friend of mine shown below. Tabata's and Intervals twice a week and two total body weight training sessions a week. With any form of exercise you chose persistance and consitency are keys to success.

What you want to do is the most reps you can of a particular exercise in 20 seconds. We'll use dumbbell thrusts. It helps if you have a clock with a second hand that you can see clearly.

You want to be able to look at the clock while doing the exercise. Or I would suggest making a small investment in a Gymboss timer.

If possible have someone time you and count your reps. This will help you with your concentration on what your doing especially as you start to tire.

Start out with light weights this is not bodybuilding and pay close attention to exercise form especially as you begin to tire to prevent injury. Remember the key to burning off that body fat is raising your metabolism.

I would advise trying Tabata Training once or twice a week

(depending on your conditioning level) to start with.

Your aiming to do 8 sets, once you can do 8-10 reps on your last set add a little weight or another session per week to increase intensity.

Tabata Training Muscle Density And Kettlebells

Increasing muscle density means achieving a defined, "hard" look. Muscles typically appear dense when your body fat percentage gets around 10 percent to 12 percent.

Now Tabata Training is known as an incredibly intense fat burning workout.

But What If We Just Changed Tabata A Little?

What if we shift the focus of tabata training from total fat burning and conditioning to gaining lean muscle while still working on fat burning (for muscle density)?

What I'm suggesting is doing Tabata with a little heavier weight, increasing your rest periods slightly, instead of 8 reps go with 5-6 and going with a typical tabata type exercise as an example Double Kettlebell Squat Press or Kettlebell Thrusters.

Tabata Training For Lean Muscle Gains The Double Kettlebell Squat And Press

The Double Squat Press is a great combination exercise that will give you a full body workout. If you're short on time then this exercise is perfect for you. Try the Double Squat Press in your conditioning circuit as it will help you burn tons of calories while giving you a great strength workout at the same time.

The double squat press is one of my favorite exercises. It is truly a total body workout rolled up into one exercise. And yes you can use dumbbells but kettlebells are much better. As I mentioned above it is a superior conditioning and fat burning (muscle density) exercise but it is also great for lean muscle gains (the look of an athlete or fitness model).

How To Do The Double Kettlebell Squat Press

Double clean two kettlebells to rack position.

Squat down and as you stand up begin pressing both kettlebells before fully upright

Drop down again and repeat.

Maintain a straight back throughout the exercise as well as a tight core.

P.S.You can intensify this exercise even more by doing a clean at the start of every rep.

So For Lean Muscle Gains And Muscle Density How I Changed Up My Tabata Training

As we all know Tabata is 20 seconds on 10 seconds off. So here is how I'm doing tabata from a total fat loss and conditioning workouts to the lean muscle building version.

1) Add 10 -15% more weight than usual (more if you can but don't go to crazy at first)

2) Set Your Timer for around 12 seconds work and 30 seconds rest

3) Keep your reps to 6 max

4) Do 6-8 rounds

Now as far as your times go you may have to adjust them up or down slightly to suit your conditioning level.

I have been experimenting with this for a few weeks now and am really seeing a difference in muscle density. My thought is that kettlebells are the best option for doing this with dumbbells being second. But with kettlebells and how they affect all the stabilizer muscles just adds to the intensity of it all.

Give it a shot and let me know what you think. Joe

I have a video of the Double Kettlebell Squat Press <===Click Here

"Tabata Training and It's Effect on Fat Loss"

A study was then done at Physical Activities Sciences Laboratory, Laval University, Quebec, Canada, and challenged the common belief among health professionals that low-intensity, long-duration exercise is the best program for fat loss. They compared the impact of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise and high-intensity aerobics on fat loss.

The bottom line was that the low intensity group burned more calories during their workouts almost twice as many.

But the high intensity group got 9 times more fat loss benefit for every calorie burned while exercising.

How did this happen? Compared to moderate-intensity endurance exercise, high- intensity intermittent exercise causes more calories and fat to be burned following the workout. They also said it may be that appetite is suppressed more following intense intervals.

The high intensity training raises the metabolic rate causing you to burn more calories after your training is long over with.

We've been fed the "aerobic" lie for over 30 years. Even doctors have been fooled by this pervasive myth.

The truth is slow aerobic training is terribly inefficient when it comes to losing weight.

It all has to do with a 4-letter acronym: EPOC.

EPOC stands for Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption. It's a scientific way of describing the calories you burn after you are done exercising.

With aerobic training, once you're done, you no longer burn calories. That's it. Done.

But with high intensity exercise (even as short as 4 minutes at a time) your body continues to burn calories for up to 2 days later.

That's right - your body is still working hard burning that stubborn fat long after your workout is complete.

.

Exercises that work well with Tabata Training

Front Squats- Hold a light barbell at shoulder height squat down raise back up.

Thrusts- With a dumbell or Kettlebell in each hand squat down raise up and press the dumbells overhead.

Barbell, Dumbell, Kettlebell Cleans - Take the barbell, dumbell or Kbell from the floor clean to shoulders.

Squat Press- With a Barbell set on your shoulders squat raise up and press it overhead.

Body weight Squats- If your just starting out try these, as your conditioning levels improve move up to using weights.

Kettlebell Swings - Set a kettlebell between your legs bring up to shoulder height. Can also be done with a dumbell but the kettlebell is much more effective.

A friend of mine asked me about setting up a workout program for her and she asked me if the only workouts she did were Tabata's how would that work for her?

Well the short answer is Yes you could do just Tabata's and get in good condition aerobically and anaerobic.

What I suggested to her was to tweak it just a little. I started her on a total body workout twice a week.

As great as Tabata's are no one form of exercise is the end all to get to your fitness, lean muscle building or weight loss goals.

Her weight training workouts are built around compound exercises( if you have read any of my other lenses you know I'm a big believer in compound exercises.

Her other two workout days of the week are tabata complexes using kettlebells. The more I get into using kettlebells the more convinced of the value of kettlebells. Kettlebells may be the single most effective instrument for all around fitness, strength, endurance, weight loss, flexibility and adding lean muscle.



Tabata complexes are a little different the the pure one exercise Tabata. I have her do 3, 4 or even 5 kettlebell exercises done in a complex of one right after the other.

She loves these workouts. She is getting total body conditioning, weight loss and strength work. Variety may be the biggest plus to setting up your workouts in a similar way. The variety and the results you see will keep your motivation high.

As an added bonus since she is a very busy person none of her workouts go longer than 45 minutes or so.

Tabata Training Fat Busters and Cardio Killers-The Burpee

Tabata Training I love it. Tabata Training truly is the ultimate in fat loss and cardio conditioning.

Well today I have another one for you to try. This one is an old standby bodyweight only exercise.

The Burpee (or as some of you may remember from back in school the squat thrust). There are many ways to do burpee's and add on's you can use but today I'm going to show you how to do the basic Burpee but as a Tabata Training protocol.

Go To Tabata Training Fat Busters and Cardio Killers to continue reading.

Using a GYMBOSS makes timing Tabata intervals easy, simply set timer to a work interval of 20 seconds followed by rest interval of 10 seconds alarming with your choice of beep, vibrate or both! Timer continues these intervals until you stop!! Or drop!!!!

For men and women looking to get lean and lose fat, you should go for efficient exercises - obviously the more muscles used per exercise the better.

By doing pushups for example,you can train your triceps, chest,shoulders and abs all at once -
literally cutting your workout in half (or more).

And that's what Interval Training is all about - more results in less time.

This is a post that was made by Chris Lopez of the Turbulence Training Kettlebell Revolution program.

I have added my own comments in it (Chris and I disagree on a couple of points). Look those of you who are regulars here know tabata training to be effective has to be done with maximum intensity. One of the points Chris and I do agree on is some of the exercises and exercise combo's that are being taught as a tabata workout. Okay so here we go(the story at the start is just to funny(and pathetic) but proves my point at the rampant misinformation that is out there.

True conversation that I overheard at the gym yesterday between a trainer and his 20-something female client (sorry, I couldn't help it):

Trainer: "You've got to try this new 4-minute workout that I've got for you. All you have to do is alternate exercising for 20s and then resting for 10s. You do this 8 times in a row for a total of 4 minutes and that's it. It's called a Tabata."

Client: "What does Tabata mean?"

Trainer: "It means "fat loss" in Japanese.
Client: "So that's it? Four minutes?"

Trainer: "Yep (proceeds to hand client 8lb dumbells). So let's make this interesting. We're going to combine bicep curls and stability ball crunches. So you'll do 20s of bicep curls with the 8lb weights and then rest for 10s and then do 20s of crunches".

Client: "Awesome. You know, I've got some light dumbells at home. I could probably do this type of thing for my home workout too. Afterall, it's only 4-minutes.

Trainer: Absolutely! Just pick any 2 exercises and go for it!

To continue reading click here Tabata Training To Much Misinformation

When you are short on time and want to get in a fat blasting total body conditioning workout kettlebell swings done tabata training style is a tough combination to beat.

Fist off if you have never used kettlebell's before learn the proper way. Check out The Kettlebell Training Page for kettlebell training instruction and guides.

Now as I have stated before adjust your rest and exercise times to your conditioning levels.

I started using kettlebell training about six months or so ago and love it. Kettlebell swings and snatch are great for cardio, lean muscle gain and sure fire fat loss.

Burpee's - You remember the old squat thrust from high school

Mountain Climbers

Sprints

Kettlebell Snatch