TABATA INTERVALS - MY Review

Biggiebrother · 12-17-2006, 01:11 AM

I started doing Tabata intervals a few weeks ago. As a boxer, i decided to do flat out punchouts on the heavy bag so that's 8 rounds of flat out punching for 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds rest making a total of 4 minutes.

I just did straight punching because i wanted as much work as possible, it's scary how many punches you can do per second , i think i average 5-6 punches a second.

The 4 minutes just flies by, this is because there is a marker every 20/10 seconds away. In contrast, one 4 minute round would seem much longer.

YOU MUST not cheat yourself, you have to go as flat out as you can for each 20 second period. If you do, trust me after a couple of rounds you are spending every second of the 10 seconds getting your breath back and boy does the 10 seconds go fast!

RESULTS - I believe they have helped me considerably, i really notice it during sparring, i can really work my combinations fast and hard and recover much quicker.

I now sometimes stretch the 4 mins to 5 or even 6 minutes, making 10 or 12 rounds of action. Because each work period is just 20 seconds, if your mind is strong enough, you can make your body perform under total pain for 20 seconds. I also sometimes do one Tabata interval of 4 minutes, rest 3-4 minutes and do another one.

Because the time investment is low, i think everyone should give Tabata intervals a go. You have to be mentally strong to get the most out of them, flat out MUST mean flat out, no slacking off because you are just cheating yourself.

Hybrid_Killer · 12-17-2006, 04:15 AM

I've just started doing them as sprints the past 3 weeks or so, I still can't go totally flat out for the 8 sprints though, the last couple become more like fastish jogs

But they are excellent for burning fat and conditioning.

krellik · 12-17-2006, 04:56 AM

Great that it is working for you!

Im guessing you right now would raise the benefits you are getting from changing around the times on the punchouts drills, so they wont be tabathas anymore... Perhaps a work rest intervall of 25/10 or 30/10 would be possible for you to use with the same intensity since it is your choosen skill...

Instead use the clasic burpee protocoll for a while on skills that you are not as familiar with as burpees and sprints...

Try it out and see if it wont push you up a few more notches man..;)

frettish · 12-17-2006, 12:25 PM

I love these.

I was drastically underestimating how hard it would be. Thought, wow, eight 20 second sprints with a rest, that should be alright...

And then by the 4-5th sprint you're like begging god for mercy.

Love it.

Centaur · 12-17-2006, 01:15 PM

I just started doing them aswell. I had to avoid the treadmill for a couple weeks bc of my knee, so I was on an elliptical. Those seem way to easy, even with the resistance on, so I decided to try Tabata. 280 spm for 20 seconds doens't seem like much, but by the 6th I was really starting to feel it. I did the whole 4 minutes, then a slower rate for a couple more, then 1 Tabata at the end. Really felt it by the end.

RedNeckJiuJitsu · 12-18-2006, 12:24 AM

Hadn't heard of these before, but they sound awesome. Definately gonna hafta add them into my routine.

ModernWarrior · 12-19-2006, 04:33 AM

Any of you guys know where I could find tabata audio tracks? It would just be a hell of a lot easier than looking at the clock.

oyaji poi · 12-19-2006, 05:00 AM

in the stickies of the S&P go to Urban's homepage. On there he has an MP3 with beeps.

ModernWarrior · 12-19-2006, 05:15 AM

Thanks oyaji.

Justice · 12-19-2006, 04:54 PM

what I do is use my MP3 player (which has a voice recorder) and just time out 20 seconds and then 10 for rest, or however you would like it. I throw on my headphones and do it up. It's a cheap, effective way to do it yourself.