Tabata: Your new friend for 2013...

One of the best things to start sneaking into your exercise regimen is Tabata.  This was founded in Japan in the late 90's and is an excellent way to boost your aerobic and anaerobic capabilities.

Take an exercise that involves the full body, like a squat jump.  If you do it for one minute straight, chances are that you will start to fade by the halfway mark, if not sooner.  You will most likely not work too efficiently either.

The Tabata technique will have you take that exercise and work at a 20:10 ratio.  Do the squat jumps for 20 seconds and then rest for 10 seconds.  You will then repeat this for 8 cycles which totals 4 minutes.  The point of this technique is to push you close to the top end of your ability level and then let you recover just enough, but not FULLY.  Your body, mainly the cardiovascular system, will adjust to these mini "power surges" and start to run more efficiently during difficult bouts of exercise.  It is a great way to get amateur and moderate level participants to increase their aerobic endurance (utilizing oxygen) and to also get advanced athletes to raise their anaerobic capabilities (work under stress).


It can pretty much be used with any exercise, try it, it works best with a timer.  The one I use for myself and my classes is TABATA PRO from the app store.