A four minute workout that melts fat and helps you get super fit

Some of you may have heard about the Tabata method of training, developed by Izumi Tabata,  ph.D., at Japans national institute of fitness and sports. 

The concept is simple. You work at a 100% intensity for 20seconds, and this is followed by a ten second rest, then you repeat 7 more times. So it takes 4 minutes not including warm up or cool down (and you must do this, especially the cool down, don't just come to an instant halt).I won’t go into too much detail about the results of the Tabata study (read this article if you’re interested) but to cut a long story short, the participants who used this training method 5 days a week for 6 weeks showed a 14% improvement in aerobic capacity and a 28% improvement in anaerobic capacity i.e their anaerobic fitness improved like mad.

Good for Fat loss?

Tabata is supposed to be great for fat loss because apparently, even though the workout is so short in duration, the body’s will continue to burn calories long after the workout. There was another study done in Canada which compared High intensity interval training to your typical Cardio workout lasting 30-45 minutes at a moderate pace. Check out this link (it's about halfway down the page) and you'll probably be very excited if fat loss is your goal. Of course without the nutrition aspect, no type of training programme is going to help you lose fat.

What it did for me

Did I lose any body fat? It’s hard for me to say for sure as I didn’t measure my body fat level before I started Tabata training. I cannot give you an accurate figure or anything like that, sorry. Others have commented that I look a little leaner but as far as miraculous results go, don’t expect magic to happen unless your nutrition is taken care off. The same rules apply but as I said, check out the link above and the results of the study look really promising.

 More importantly though, it’s done wonders for my cardio fitness and the effects of it have shown in my other training. When I started going to boxing classes I found it a lot easier than some of the other beginners because of this. Skipping rope for 30 minutes consecutively with many bursts of 100% effort also feels so much easier, but there’s more. I mean stuff like being able to sprint somewhere when I'n running late for an appointment.. I couldn’t do this before, I’d be out of breath and huffing and puffing after about 100 metres. I was okay at a more moderate intensity such as jogging but what good is that when you’re running late? Tabata has increased my ability to sustain a high intensity for longer.

For athletes

I think the benefits for athletes are alsoimmense. If you’re a football player for example, you’re going to have many short, maximal intensity bursts during the game. Tabata, especially sprinting, is going to prepare you for that. How long does a sprint last during a football game? Probably well under 10 seconds. How long between sprints? Probably a lot longer than the 10 seconds you get in Tabata. Now you see how it works. You kill yourself in training and it'll hurt less in the game.

 If you’re a boxer, sprinting is still a great choice of exercise but you could try Tabata on the heavy bag also. In a fight, you’re probably going to have moments where you stand and trade with your opponent, during this time you’re going to be using up the most energy. These bursts are again, short. A lot shorter than the 20 seconds you have to keep up in Tabata, and so once again you’ve prepared by increasing your anaerobic capabilities and putting yourself through hell.

 However, there is still an aerobic element to most sports as well, and so it would not be a good idea to abandon the more moderate types of cardio training that are longer in duration. Although the training of boxers has moved on, with a lot more interval training, they still go for runs. .

The catch?

A 4 minute workout (minus the warm up and cool down) that will increase both aerobic and anaerobic fitness and reduce fat? What’s the catch? Well……you know how they say “No pain no gain”?

 It may only be four minutes but these four minutes may just be the toughest four minutes of training you have ever experienced. It's horrible and I don't look forward to it myself.. However, don’t be put off by some of the claims you may hear about it. Stories of people throwing up, not having any energy to do anything for the rest of the day etc. The truth is, this most likely happened because the people doing it weren’t quite ready for it, or it may have been their first time doing this type of training.


Tabata with sprinting is in my opinion the best exercise and it’s incredibly difficult. Almost hellish, but I’ve never thrown up (although I have felt like it a couple of times), and I’m usually fine after I've had something to eat. I once vomited after skipping rope for only 3 minutes, now 30 minutes straight at a fast pace is a walk in the park. The point is, if you’re not ready for it and don’t have a good fitness base, you’re more likely to feel sick, throw up, etc after the end of a Tabata workout. It’s not for the faint hearted but if you gradually get to that level, it will still be an unpleasant experience but you probably won’t be throwing your guts out.

Conclusion

So in short it's a super short workout that will do wonders for your fitness and aid fat loss. It may be four minutes of torture but trust me, it’s worth it. Give it a go but only when you already have a good level of fitness and, also check with your doctor first. I know you won't but at least if something happens you can't say I didn't warn you.

How to train for it

Before I go into the details let me remind you of what the different terms mean. When I say "work", I mean you go flat out, as hard as you can as fast as you can and you push yourself to the limit. When I say "rest" I don't mean stop completely, I mean slow down, walk if you have to but don't stop suddenly.
Chances are, you won't be ready to jump straight into this. A good way to start would be to just play around with the intensity of whatever exercise you're doing. For example, let's say you're running. What you can do is to sprint for a while, then once you can't sprint anymore slow down and jog, then sprint again, then jog. Mix it up, but for now there's no need to kill yourself and go all out. Ease yourself into so that you're working harder than you normally do but not so much that you can't handle it. Once you get used to this, move onto the next step.
The next step is to make it more structured, so instead of just playing around with the intensity when you feel like it, you have set intervals of "work" and "rest". The following is what I used:

First few weeks
90 seconds work, 90 seconds rest times 4.This is what I did for the first couple of weeks of starting interval training. The exercises I used were pushups and shadow boxing. I just kept alternating between the two on each work interval.

Second stage
For the second stage I used the same exercises but simply changed the interval to 60:60. 60 seconds of work, followed by 60 seconds of rest. I did 5 intervals instead of 4. You can try different exercises, for example sprinting.

Third stage
After about a week of getting used to the second stage I then alternated between 45 seconds work, 30 seconds rest, and 30 seconds work, 20 seconds rest. I kept this up for a few weeks before moving onto the final stage. Do this 6 or 7 times.

Final stage
Finally you're ready. All that's left now is to do 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest, and repeat 8-10 times. This is when I first tried using sprinting as the exercise of choice and it was a shock how much harder it was.

How often?

There are people who say because this is such an intense form of exercise you shouldn't do it more than once a month. I've never believed in that. In the original experiment the participants did this 5 times a week. They were atheletes so I'm not saying you should copy them but twice a week should be fine. I do this 3 times and it has not had any adverse effects on me or affected my other training. Just experiment to see what suits you.

What next?

Once you're able to do the 20 seconds work, 10 seconds rest intervals 8-10 times, you can't keep this up for too long. The reason is you'll burn out. What I do is take a few days off training and then start again with the same 20:10 interval, but instead of doing 8 intervals I do 4. I keep at it for a week or two and then do 5 intervals instead. I may do this for a week or two and then do 6 intervals etc After about 6-8 weeks I'm back to doing 8-10- intervals again. I keep this up for a coupe of weeks and then rest, and start again.
If you're interested in VO2 max training (which Tabata training will help with), I recommend the book Viking Warrior conditioning by Kenneth Jay.

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