Tabata Training

Tabata is a funny word that essentially a cardio workout of a fairly short duration that can be used to increase aerobic capacity. Tabata was created in Japan by a guy named Izumi Tabata and uses the principles of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) to help one do an efficient workout in less time.

Last night, I used the (modified) Tabata method to warm up the karate class. Our sets consisted of 5 pushups, 10 situps, and 15 bodyweight squats for 5 minutes continuously. Each student kept up with how many rounds he or she did and, just for fun, we compared at the end. The kids in the class typically went 7 rounds and the adults averaged about 6. Honest-to-goodness Tabata would have likely used, say, intervals of 20 seconds at very high intensity, alternating with 10 seconds rest using the above exercises, but in our case, I cut out the rest. Due to this, the very high intensity was not as emphasized, but the continuous motion worked very well for a warm-up (literally) in the cold dojo. All agreed that it was fun and challenging and, perhaps next time, we might include the rest periods as well.