Many people who want to lose weight are attracted by Tabata exercises for losing weight, recognized as the most effective for burning fat. This system allows you to spend on the complex of exercises for only 4 to 20 minutes and at the same time lose weight faster than from a full-time cardio load, simultaneously strengthening muscles and developing endurance. However, this method has its own nuances and limitations and is not suitable for everyone. Consider all the features of this training, training schemes, and examples of ready-made programs for primary and secondary levels.
The essence of training in the Tabata system is that short periods of superintensive load alternate with even shorter rest periods. This system is an extreme variant of high-intensity interval training (HIIT), in it, the principle of alternating loads of varying intensity is brought to the extreme.
The content of the article:
- What is Tabata
- Advantages of the method
- System features
- Exercise selection
- Contraindications
- Who is this method for?
- Training programs
What is Tabata
The Tabata system is named for the author, a Japanese doctor of physiology. In 1996, a group of scientists headed by him was engaged in improving the endurance of athletes. During the experiment, which lasted 1.5 months, sensational results were obtained.
A group of participants, who were training every other day using the new high-intensity system for only 4 minutes, improved their aerobic endurance performance much more than those who received the usual one-hour cardio load 5 times a week. And most importantly, in addition to this, the participants in the first group registered an increase in anaerobic endurance, which is trained by physical activity and never increases from normal cardio exercises.
Such results were achieved due to the fact that during periods of short-term extra-intensive work of those who train, their pulse reached a frequency of over 80% of the maximum, that is, passed into the anaerobic zone. The high efficiency of the Tabata method could not be overlooked, it soon became widely popular all over the world.
See also: Drying of the body
In fact, this system is not a complex of certain exercises, but a training regime with a strict alternation of intervals of intensive work and rest. Exercises can be any. Therefore, a more correct name for this method is the Tabata protocol.
Scheme Protocol Tabata:
- 20-sec ultrahigh intensity loads;
- 10-sec respite;
- In total, this 30-second cycle (20 + 10 seconds) is repeated 8 times, making up a 4-minute round;
- Rounds for 1 training can be from 1 (for beginners) to 4 (for well-trained), the break between the Tabata rounds is 40-120 seconds.
The total duration of the training, without taking into account the warm-up and hitch, which are mandatory under this system, can range from 4 minutes to 22 minutes (with 4 rounds with two-minute pauses between them).
Advantages of the method
Compared with other training systems Tabata:
- The main advantage of the method is its high efficiency. In just 4-20 minutes of training 3-4 p. more fat is burned per week than with classic cardio watch loads. The fat-burning effect of the Tabata protocol is based on the fact that it triggers the mechanism of fat burning, which acts not only during classes but also lasts for 24 hours after the training. Ordinary cardio does not have such an “afterburn effect”; with it, fat burns only during training.
- The Tabata method improves both aerobic (heart) endurance and anaerobic (muscular).
- Due to the anaerobic effect, the Tabata system burns only fat, keeping muscle tissue intact.
- Tabata improves muscle tone. And although it does not have much effect on muscle growth and is not capable of replacing strength training, it helps to overcome the adaptation of the body to stress and move the weight loss and muscle gain during the plateau off the ground.
- Doing the Tabata protocol is possible anywhere – at home, in the gym, in nature.
- For classes do not need an inventory, the only thing you need is a timer that beeps according to the protocol. The program with Tabata timer can be downloaded for free on a smartphone or use it online.
- Regular training of Tabata reduces the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, helps to overcome depression.
- You can use a wide range of exercises, in accordance with their tasks and preferences.
System features
The main feature of training Tabata is that you need to perform exercises with maximum speed. That is, for 20 seconds, you need to do the maximum possible number of repetitions, while not violating the technique of exercise. To achieve the expected effect, it is necessary to work on the limit of forces at which the heart “jumps out of the chest.”
To make 8 such cycles in a row – one 4-minute Tabata round is not easy even for people with good physical fitness. Athletes rate this load as extremely difficult. The fact that the lactate level in the blood, which serves as an indicator of fatigue, during the Tabata workout increases on average three times higher than the lactate threshold, indicates the degree of difficulty of this load. This is a very exhausting, exhausting load.
Therefore, for people with poor physical fitness, Tabata is potentially dangerous. Those who finally got up from the couch and decided to take up their physical form, in vain think that Tabata will suit them for beginners. It should be noted that beginners for loads of this level of intensity are those who for at least 2 months are systematically engaged in cardio and strength training and have experience in high-intensity interval training.
Due to the fact that when performing this protocol, the heart and joints are subjected to a high load, it is necessary to warm up and hitch at the beginning and end of classes. This will prepare the body for intensive work, and then smoothly remove the cardiovascular system from the stress regime.
Exercise selection
Exercises for Tabata can be taken from cardiovascular exercises, strength training with its own weight, with a small burden. These can be squats, jumps, berpis, slat, lunges, pushups, sprinting, and much more. The main thing – to carry them out as fast as possible.
You can pick up exercises, focusing on the study of problem areas, but it is better to load the whole body – top, bottom, and press.
During one 4-minute round, which includes 8 cycles, you can perform from 1 to 8 different exercises. Options may be as follows:
- 1 exercise is repeated in 8 sets;
- 2 different exercises are performed according to one of the schemes: 11112222, 12121212, 11221122;
- 4 different exercises are performed according to one of the schemes: 12341234, 11223344;
- 8 different exercises are performed on one approach.
One Tabata round is recommended for beginners. Trained people can perform 2 – 4 rounds with breaks of 40-120 seconds between them. Their exercises can be different or repeated.
You need to start and finish each approach at the signal of the timer. In the intervals between approaches and rounds, it is recommended not to stop, but to keep moving – walk slowly, make simple movements to restore breathing.
The complex of exercises Tabata is recommended to be changed every 3 workouts so that the body does not get used to the same type of loads. In this case, the effectiveness of classes will not decrease. It is possible from time to time to return to the old programs, but supplementing them with new exercises.
Daily practice according to the Tabata protocol is not allowed. This can cause fatigue and nervous exhaustion. Enough to train 3-4 times a week. It is not recommended to train on this system on an empty stomach or at bedtime.
Contraindications
One cannot be involved in the Tabata system by far. It is potentially dangerous for the following categories:
- suffering from cardiovascular diseases: heart defects, ischemic heart disease, atherosclerosis, hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias;
- Persons with poor physical fitness, not having experience in high-intensity interval training;
- having diseases of the joints and the musculoskeletal system;
- pregnant women;
- sticking to mono-, carbohydrate-free, and low-carb diets;
- possessing low stamina.
It is also not recommended to use this method for girls and women in the days of menstruation.
Who is this method for?
Training system Tabata can be recommended only to those who have no contraindications and have an average or high rate of physical fitness. Especially useful to train on the Tabata protocol for individuals:
- wishing to lose weight and improve physical fitness;
- those who experience the effect of plateau while losing weight;
- those who have stopped progress in building muscle;
- wishing to increase endurance and increase the level of physical fitness.
Even if you have an adequate level of physical fitness and do not have contraindications, begin to train with this system with caution. If dizziness, weakness, pain appear, engage in more benign HIIT options.
Training programs
We offer approximate training programs for Tabata for beginner and intermediate levels.
First level
Before starting a workout – warm-up 10 minutes.
1 round
- Running with throwing the legs back until the heels touch the buttocks – 2 sets.
- Rising in the buttock bridge – 2 approaches.
- Jumping with breeding legs and raising hands up – 2 sets.
- Push-ups from the knees – 2 sets.
Hitch – until you reach a normal heart rate.
Average level
Before starting a workout – warm-up 10 minutes.
1 round
- Leap with breeding legs and touching the opposite foot with a hand – 4 sets.
- Back and forth lunges with jumping – 4 approaches.
2 round
- Burpy without pushups – 4 sets.
- Jumps with a crouch and turn on 180 ° – 4 approaches.
3 round
- Plank with alternate lifting legs – 4 sets.
- “Book”: sitting with an emphasis on the hands behind, we join and move from the chest and knees – 4 sets.
Hitch – until you reach a normal heart rate.