I figured since I seem to love putting myself through quick and painful HIIT treadmill workouts, why not try an even quicker tabata workout? I've read about tabata workouts recently and finally tried one yesterday at the gym! You know what they say, no pain...
Here is an infographic (screen shots from one) showing the difference between high intensity training and interval training. I am really counting on HIIT's for my future 1:40 half marathon. I.will.get.that.time :)
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If you haven't heard of tababta before, they are basically a quick HIIT workout that incorporates quick high intensity bursts followed by quick lower intensity intervals. The high intensity bursts are in intervals of 20 seconds while the rest intervals are for 10 seconds. These intervals are repeated for 10 cycles. The rule of thumb is 20 seconds high intensity, 10 seconds of low intensity for a total of 8 round, which equals 4 minutes. Nice and short.
I went by the pink image above at the gym yesterday. Don't let the
extremely fit caption scare you off. I think as long as you're careful and in relatively good shape, you can handle a tabata workout. Correct me if I'm wrong, that's just what I think. I'm no Olympic Athlete and I survived just fine;) Below is the workout I did based on the little pink infographic. I ended up adding about 10 seconds in between each interval because that's how long it took for my treadmill to get to the next speed.
Here's a pic from last night. We went up a 100 year old watch tower that was recently restored. Pretty neat!
Questions:
Are you a fan/regular user of HIIT workouts?
Do you do Tabata workouts?
What'd you do last night?
This scares me. But that's a good thing. Sounds like a great workout!
ReplyDeletehaha:) The good thing is, it's over in just 4 minutes!
DeleteI try to add tabatas at least 2 days a week. I'm not a runner, so my sprints are only at 7.5 or 8 mph. They say that if you are going to try these, to do them with at least a day in between them. They cause "micro-tears" in the muscle which is why they are so effective and have such a long effect on the body - due to the repair process. You can do these with burpees, kbell swings, tuck jumps, etc., as long as you go full on for the 20 seconds....
ReplyDeleteso interesting! Thanks for the info, I need to try it with something other than a treadmill.
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