Tabata Training

I'm a bit late with my blog this week, we have a household of coughing and runny noses :(  I was very slack on Sunday and didn't do any of the planning for the week.  I did weigh in though and I've lost 500g which is what I'm aiming for each week to reach my goal by Chrissy time. 
I spent 5 minutes this morning at breakfast planning our meals for the week and my training plan so I'm back on track.  Although I am fighting off a cold so I'll be taking it a bit easier this week.  We've been loading up on strawberries.  At around $2 a punnet, 70 calories and more vitamin C than oranges, they are a definate winner!

One of the training sessions I did last week is called 'Tabata Training'.  This is something I have used with my clients ALOT.  It's a high intensity workout with minimal recovery time.  Basically you work for 20secs and recover for 10secs and continue this for 4 mins.  I will either choose one exercise ie squats and do for 8 rounds (4 mins) or choose 2 exercises ie dips and leg extensions and alternate each round.  I met up with a few of my clients for a mini training session on the riverbank on Saturday morning and we did a bodyweight Tabata session, no equipment required.  The workout we did was:

Set 1 - Squats

Set 2 - Burpees

Set 3 - Crunches

Set 4 - Lunges

Set 5 - Pushups

Set 6 - Dips and Leg Extensions (Abs)

Set 7 - Mountain Climbers and Hovers

Each set was 4 mins and we had a minute recovery between sets.  The training with Tabata is endless.  Any exercise you can think of, you can train this way.  Including cardio machines, weight machines and free weights.  The above workout is great if you don't have a gym membership as it can all be done in your lounge room.  And if you have little kiddies, get them involved.  My 2 year old LOVES exercising with me.  She does squats, burpees, pushups, crunches - pretty much whatever I am doing she'll attempt it too.  I have a Tabata time application on my iPhone which sets off an alarm for the start and end of each 20 second round so you don't have to watch the clock.  If you search 'Tabata Timer' there will be a huge list and the free ones are just as good as the paid applications. 

Give this workout a go this week and let me know if you include Tabata in your regular training schedule.  Have a great week everyone and train hard ;)