Tabata Challenge

It's a fact- Tabata interval drills can make you a lean mean fit machine! Just ask any of my 20 or so 'regulars' that show up to class every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 5:10AM. These folks are dedicated and always up for a challenge first thing in the morning. They show up to work hard otherwise they may as well just stay in bed. Some are retired yet they don't miss a beat even on holidays! Class participants say things like
•I'm fitter now than I was in High School!
•I don't run distances anymore and my race times are improving at challenge races like Spartan Race & Tough Mudder!
•I'm winning half marathons!
•I lost the baby weight!
•I'm lifting more in the weight room!
•I feel like a million bucks!

Now for all you Tabata class haters out there that say "Tabata drills are just for athletes" or "just for doing truly at 99.99% effort on a bike" I encourage you to give a class a shot and see how you feel after. But to give you fair warning: you just might love it.

If you're up for it and want to experience the amazing benefits of Tabata all you need is a free app and you can get to it! You can also watch the clock or your watch if you don't train alongside your phone, iPod or other techie gadget.

In class we do a dynamic warmup followed by 7 Tabata drills. Each drill is a set of 8 intervals of the same exercise at 20 seconds on and 10 seconds off. "On" means all-out! "Off" means rest! After the drill set you get a minute recovery before the next drill. We mix it up in class and do some cardio drills and some strength drills within most every class although there have been times that it's 100% cardio based. Sometimes it's all calisthenics and sometimes it's all kettle bells. In almost two years teaching four Tabata classes a week it's never gotten boring and we've only repeated a workout when we 'test' every several months.

Here's the challenge that my class rocked today. They partnered up and did circuits together around the room rather than all of us going through the exercises at the same time. It was fun to see pairs like Toni and Bryan working together on the ropes! If you don't have a heavy rope available like the kind you can purchase from Perform Better swap it out for some other full body move or, heck, use a garden hose!

#1 L-Sits
#2 Rope Play
#3 Burpees
#4 Jump-Ups or Straddle Jumps onto aerobic step with 3+ risers on each side
#5 Push-Ups with one hand on medicine ball then switch to the other hand on the way up
#6 Jump Rope (ideally double-unders)
#7 Lunge Presses with 1 heavy dumbbell pressing overhead

A quick online search of each drill will give you the gist of the exercise but please save yourself from injury and hire a well qualified Personal Trainer to get the proper form down. Although I'm watching my students intently during class there is only so much I can do for them in a large class setting to help with individual technique. By the way- most everyone can do some form of the above exercises when taking the time to learn the proper progressions. I'm almost 6 months pregnant and enjoy doing Burpees with the class most days. My class is full of different people at different fitness levels with different physical abilities but everyone gets a great workout as long as they keep moving at their best for 20 seconds at a time!

Enjoy your Tabata challenge and please report back your experience.

Your friend in fitness,
'Coach' Amanda