Tabata method to increase bjj cardio..question

[Kimuralex]

I just read up about the tabata method and it sounds awesome, I would like to do it once like atleast 5x a week in addition to me going to bjj about 4 times a week. I have a few questions tho that I tried to search up but didnt get a straight answer.
1. I know doing things like jumpsquats(with like 10 pound dumbells or so) would be good, what else should i do to get in shape and have better cardio/conditioning and such for bjj. Dumbell military? situps? burpees? how about things like curls or bent over rows? pushups?
2. Is doing it on the same day as bjj a good idea?
Thanks a lot

[Brendon Katz]

more is not necessarily better, 5 times a week is too much. maybe twice or 3 times a week for tabata. since your doing jits 4 days a week, do tabata on 2 others and rest on the 7th day (where have i heard that before? its probably not a good idea to do it on the same day as bjj, but if you have to, do it in the morning (assuming your jits is in the evening) to allow your body as much time to recover as possible.

as for exercises, taken directly from t-nation :

Tabata Row
Rest 1 minute
Tabata Squat
Rest 1 minute
Tabata Pull-up
Rest 1 minute
Tabata Push-up
Rest 1 minute
Tabata Sit-up
The Tabata interval is 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest for 8 intervals.

[Kimuralex]

oh i must have missed that on tnation...so basically you do 4 minutes of each of those excersizes on the days i do tabata? cuz I got the impression to do like one bodypart a day(say do tabata squat on monday then tabata pullup tuesday and etc..) but thanks and ill try that..
p.s. if i dont post in a while then im dead lol

[Evil Eye Gouger]

That sounds like a recipe for suicide.

I don't think I have ever met a single person who could finish that the first time they try it.

[Kimuralex]

so then i shouldnt do the thing parallex suggested? how about say just two tabatas within like an hour or so break inbetween? tnation made it seem like just one 4 minutes a day would be more then enough tho..

[Brendon Katz]

yeh im not too clued up with what exercises work best for tabata, i was always under the impression that you do sport-specific stuff.

bro you must not do tabata every day, it is just too hectic for your body to recover from that much, especially if you doing jits. the original tabata article on t-nation suggested tabata once or twice per MONTH.

[Kimuralex]

oh damn, thanks parallax but i think ill do it twice a week, on non jits days..i think ill do the jumpsquats/ military press variation or something(one day jumpsquat tabata) and next military press.

[Brendon Katz]

cool, good luck with that bro.

[Evil Eye Gouger]

Originally Posted by Kimuralex

so then i shouldnt do the thing parallex suggested? how about say just two tabatas within like an hour or so break inbetween? tnation made it seem like just one 4 minutes a day would be more then enough tho..

Let me put it this way:

we had a tabata squat challenge in S&P once, and I tried it, even did tabata situps on top of that. so, altogether 8 minutes, 4 of them situps, 4 of them squats.

I'm in relatively good shape cardio-wise (especially anaerobic), since I train 6x a week, and I finished it. was tired and had a high heart rate, but it calmed down quite soon.

I couldn't walk for a fucking week. For the next two DAYS, I had problems going down stairs because my legs could buckle at any moment. My stomach was bursting open with pain. The only time I've ever had this sort of feeling was when doing a 5x max on Zercher squats, and it wasn't quite as bad.

Now imagine doing the same, but extend it with pullups, pushups, rows, etc. Your whole body would be a wreck.

Sure, it is possible, and it is a great fitness test. But NOBODY can do this on their first try, you have to work up to it. And it will completely annihilate any MA training you have for the next week.

I suggest you ease into it. This sort of madness is for once a month, or less. Tabatas are good, but ease into them if you value your training and body at all.

A much better alternative would be to do Tabata complexes 2x a week.

Like:

20s squats, 10s rest
20s pushups, 10s rest
20s pullups, 10s rest
20s situps, 10s rest

repeat everything.

That will give you a cardio benefit, improve your lactic acid tolerance and anaerobic endurance, but won't fry every muscle in your body.

Once you can do these fairly easily, you can experiment with more difficult stuff. That's just my advice, Tabata cardio can be HARD! I remember the first few times I did Tabata sprints (4 minutes), I would spit phlegm for an hour, have vertigo, and an increased heart rate for several hours, coupled with an insane pain in the legs the next day. Took me several weeks to get to the point where I could do them, and not be a walking wreck afterwards

[krellik]

Originally Posted by Evil Eye Gouger

Let me put it this way:

Or this way... ...Hell no son, you must be crazzy!;)

Have you actually tested tabata intervalls yet? They will freaking kill you if your not ready for it. If your not in great shape already be happy to do 1 or 2 tabata intervals a week to begin with.. Integrate it with your other training.

For instance if you arent rushed of the matts after the bjj trainings have a training partner take the intervals with a stopwatch and do a variation, if you want to go sportspecific you can do tabata-sprawls as a succesfull variation...

But the best excersice to begin with is propably simply bodyweight squats.

Make sure you have decided a proper depth below paralel and be sure to reach this with every rep. Do your first 20 reps as agresively as you possibly can! See how many reps you can crank out. Now be sure to do everything humanly possibly to reach the same amount of reps in each intervall until you reached the end. This is the kind of intensity we are talking about, every rep is suposed to press you to your whery limits.

-That- is why you only want to do it one or two times a week to begin with..;)