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Tabata - High Intensity Interval Training

Also check out our Client Jan Newsletter 
We have been using the Tabata system of training in our studio for several years now both in our Met-X-Fitness and in our more Blitz / Boot Camp orientated Pilates Mat and Reformer Class’s and because I know all about the excellent benefits and results of this style of training I rather stupidly assumed everyone else did too.

I realized last week that this was not the case when on two separate occasions I was asked by a client and a trainer I was chatting with - the same two questions what exactly is Tabata? And how does it work?

So here it is – Tabata, a high intensity, short duration effective exercise system

Tabata – What is it?
Tabata (developed by it’s name sake Japanese Professor Izumi Tabata) is a high intensity interval training system (HIIT) that since its inception has provided remarkable results  - he originally developed this system for the Japanese speed skating team in 1996

Tabata – How does it work?
The system is short explosive bursts - you work flat out over a 20 second round – complete 8 rounds – in each round you have a  10 second rest period – this gives us a total 4 minute session

Tabata  - boosts the metabolism
Research by exercise physiologist Dr. Michele Olson has shown that you can burn a ‘whopping 13.5 calories per minute and can double the metabolic rate for a least 30 minutes (calorie after burn)  after an all out bout of Tabata  training’ – (research report presented to the 60th Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports medicine (ACSM)
Olson, who measured study participants' calorie burn before, during, and 30 minutes after a Tabata bout, found the routine to be an extremely effective way to boost metabolism fast. "It would take five times the amount of typical cardio exercise, like a 20-minute brisk walk, to shed the same number of calories that result from a 4-minute Tabata," she says.

Professor Tabata’s subjects pedalled on exercise bikes and Dr Olson’s  group did body weight jump squats – but Tabata as a style of training lends its self to all manner of cardio work, body weight training even explosive movements.

But remember Tabata is an  all out 100% effort system – 4 minutes of high intensity, balls to the walls activity, preceded by a 10 min warm up and  cool down.  Compound movements are relatively simple and allow for an easy transition between movements.

If you are starting with Tabata you can train at 70% in order to build your fitness up or reduce the rounds down to 6 instead of 8

Tabata works – the science is behind it

Call us today we are here to coach you to being the best you can be – Tabata is just one of the tools we can use to help you achieve that lean, fit, responsive, flexible body you have always wanted.

BODYFIRM Studios 01 868 4600 – training@bodyfirmpilates.com

More about Professor Tabata click here
More about Dr Michele Olson  click here

BODYFIRM  Client Jan Newsletter 


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