Last year I heard about something called the Tabata method - people were saying stories about puking after trying it, how they would never try it again. Ofcourse there were also a lot of people who liked it ( I became one fo them) and said it was really great for endurance and cardio training. I decided to try it myself.
So what is it?
1. For 20 seconds you do as much repetitions as you can
2. For 10 seconds you rest. This is one set.
3. You start again 20 secs repetitions, 10 seconds resting. You must do a total of 8 sets (it should take you exactly 4 minutes/240 seconds)
I find the best exercise to use for this method is squatting.
Here is a more detailed and better written description http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_art ... ata_method

I suggest you to start really light, if you aren't that athletic try it without weights. It's a very intense routine, after my first time I felt like I've ran for more than 30 minutes and my quads ached for 4 days. If u decide to try it - good luck and be careful

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hmmm might give it a dabble...let you know if i puke

Try Tabata punching on a heavy bag.

Also, the Tabata principle is rough. You can also do 30w/10r or 10w/10r etc - just work it to you and the exercise. It's basically very short and intense work and rest periods.

This is SO good. Respect. I read this yesterday and tried it out at the gym today with my wing.

He didn't even last half of it, and I collapsed after 5 sets. I had to use all my power of self-control not to vomit, and could barely get up. I could barely walk for the next few hours and fell down some stairs.

I'm still dead. Nice! 5 stars to this thread!

Will do this in twenty minutes

How's this with body-weight ?

I usually gym 3-4 times a week but don't know the weights of the dumbells haha. Put it this way, we thought we were being conservative in choosing weights from the middle range, but after ONE set, in that 10 second break, we were scrambling to swap for the smallest weights available (like 4-year-old-girl weights)...haha.

I can't actually walk today without severe pain. I did the thrusts. My thighs are broken. Can't wait to do it again...when i'm physically able

Incredible. Try:

20s pushups
10s rest
20s squats
10s rest
[x4]

When I read this thread and replies, I thought to myself, "This can't possibly be that hard." So last night I threw it into my workout. It was a chest night so I decided to do it on bench. The guy I lift with and I are both maxing somewhere around 300 lbs on flat barbell bench, so we estimated 95 lbs would be about right for this workout.

We were wrong.

Half way through we had to drop to 80 lbs to finish the workout. Then we did another round with 80 lbs all the way through. Afterwards I couldn't continue to bench at all and I had to drop 5 lbs from my usual weight on flies to finish out 4 sets of them. I was pumped like never before by the end of the workout, but surprisingly I am not that sore today.

I doubt you will build much size with this workout, but it's definitely a fun alternative to switch things up from whatever your usual routine is.

Your boy,
870

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Tabata isn't about hypertrophy. Tabata is conditioning.

bump.

I almost puked after 15 minutes of this, push-ups, squats and bicep-curl with dumbbells.

(three separate exercises, duh. )


It still burns in my chest.

Definitely worth trying this,


Advice; don't eat within 1-2 hours before training.

Not exactly tabata, but this is a real killer that I use to finish my bodyweight workouts:

30 seconds of as many explosive burpees (with a full pushup at the bottom and a full jump at the top) as you can do, followed by 30 sec rest for 4-12 work sets. Google rossboxing to see videos of how he does burpees.

Another, less muscle-blasting workout that I sometimes end my workouts with is ten sets of 1 minute of rope jumping as fast as I can with 15 seconds of rest between sets.

Like I said, not exactly tabata, but very hard, very effective and very short.

Yeah, I had my fun with some body-weight Tabata-exercises on monday.
Push-ups was a total bitch, and I ended up having to do them knee-stand.

hehe, but yeah. The exercise you're talking about, we did while I was in the military, but I had pretty much forgotten about it until you reminded me now.

I haven't really been big on workout and such, but I keep fit with Yoga, push-ups and rough sex.


btw. I've now decided to make Tabata a weekly endeavor, once to twice a week, depending on the week.

Any good for building muscle mass?

"Dr. Tabata noted a 28% increase in anaerobic capacity in his subjects, along with a 14% increase in their ability to consume oxygen (V02Max). These results were witnessed in already physically fit athletes. The conclusion was that just four minutes of Tabata interval training could do more to boost aerobic and anaerobic capacity than an hour of endurance exercise." -from random site about Tabata, Google search.

Other source:
"Tabata Training was developed by Izumi Tabata (imagine that) at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, Japan. They did a study on comparing the effects of moderate intensity endurance(aerobics) and high endurance intermittent training(tabata training intervals) on VO2 max and anerobic capacity.

To cut to the results of the study: the moderate intensity group training program produced a significant increase in VO2 max of about 10%, but had no effect on anaerobic capacity. The high intensity group improved their VO2 max by about 14% while anaerobic capacity improved by 28%. The study was done over a six week period. Both groups working out 5 days per week."


It seems very good for endurance, but my guess is that the explosiveness in the exercise should also help build bigger muscles.
(the anaerobic muscle types)
I have no scientific data to base this upon, just deduction from what I learned while in school.


But based on what I could find on the web, it seems good both for building muscle and for endurance. (probably not the most effective for building huge muscles, but for a composite muscle mass with a combination of endurance and explosive strength. Which theoretically should be far more attractive than the largest muscles (also according to the women I've discussed this with) considering the whole biological attraction theory (e.g. the stuff Gunwitch goes through in "Gunwitch Method 2": http://www.gunwitch.com/seduction/gwm2.html )

3 sets of 8 reps of about 70% of your one-rep max.

Just Google, there's lots out there. BodyBuilding.com, T-Nation etc.

Although if you want to look "ripped", you can have as much muscle mass as you want, but you still need to sort out the diet and cut down the fat. Fat covers and hides muscle.