Setahun
yang lepas, dalam satu acting class; aku diminta untuk cari satu jenis senaman
dan menjadi demonstrator kepada student-student yang lain. Aku diminta demo kan
satu senaman untuk meningkatkan stamina. Ini semua sebenarnya adalah untuk
Actor Prepare. Badan seorang actor adalah tool dalam lakonan. Jadi, ia perlu
dipersiap secukupnya. Cari punya cari, aku jumpalah satu senaman ni yang
dipanggil Tabata. Diilhamkan dari seorang Jepun bernama Izumi Tabata. Actually,
ia sangat simple…. but trust me, bila korang buat; aku tak rasa korang akan
berjaya pada cubaan pertama. By the way, ia sangat berkesan & aku
gunakannya bila nak buat warm up; bukan hanya sebelum berlakon, tapi bersukan.
Ini sedikit info, tapi dalam bahasa Inggeris sebab ni sebenarnya adalah tugasan
bertulis aku untuk kelas tu.
TABATA WORKOUT
There
are various workouts out there (circuit) that may be difficult to understand.
Sometimes you have to go to one side of a gym, workout there, then go to the
next. Fortunately enough, Tabata is a basic form of workout and can be easy to
follow. I’ll list the steps to take in using Tabata training.
Research
If
you do not know what Tabata is, I’ll explain a little bit about it. Tabata was
founded in Japan by Izumi Tabata. He conducted tests on two groups of athletes;
comparing moderate high intensity training with high intensity interval
training.
The
results were that the athletes training in high intensity interval training
improved their aerobic systems as well as their anaerobic system. The athletes
who did the moderate high intensity training only improved their aerobic system
and had little to no increase in their anaerobic system.
Basic Tools To have
First,
make sure you have some sort of journal or list saying what exercises you used
for your Tabata and how heavy the weight was that you used (if you’re doing
exercises that require weights). It is recommended to have a journal so that
you can see if you are getting stronger.
Second, make sure to have a timer with you. If
you are exercising in doors and are near a computer, you can use this timer.
If you are outside, you can download a Tabata app or amp3 Tabata.
Also be sure to have proper attire as well and have a water bottle and towel
with you to refresh you between rounds.
Designing Your Tabata
Next,
you want to begin to ask yourself what you want to achieve. Do you want to lose
fat? Do you want to improve your endurance? Do you want to improve your muscle
endurance? Do you want to gain size and strength at the same time improving
your cardio? All these can help formulate what exercises to include. This is a
sample of a simple Tabata session:
§ Pushups for intervals 1 and 3
§ Body weight Squats for intervals 2 and
4
§ Medicine ball slams for intervals 5
and 7
§ Sprinting or jumping rope for
intervals 6 and 8
Using The Tabata
Now
that you designed your own Tabata and know what exercises to use, you are ready
to begin. Make sure everything is ready and that you have all the necessary
tools. Make sure to warm up properly before and stretch or else you’ll pull a
muscle during the session.
If
you feel that you are getting tired and cannot go all out during 1 of the
intervals, you can either rest for that session and go all out in the next; or
you can go at a moderate intensity. However, if you find that you are doing
this too often, redesign the exercises in your Tabata so that you can go
through all the intervals at your max.
Finally,
after you’re done the Tabata training, do a cool down (this can be a light jog
around the track or light skipping and biking) and stretch. Make sure that your
body gets proper rest and nutrition if you want to see the results you want.
Tabata (as explained in the “What
is Tabata Training”) is a form of high intensity interval training. It is a method
that is much more beneficial than regular moderate intensity training (jogging,
biking, skipping, and so forth) and much more fun.
Now that you know about the Tabata
Training method, the next time is how to use it. I’ll explain in detail on how
you can use it effectively so you’ll become much more fit (cardio wise and lean
muscle mass).
Before You Use Tabata
Like many other exercises and forms of workouts; you must be
committed and determined to put forth all your energy in the exercise. The
Tabata Training Method is an advanced form of exercise and it requires you to
be fit as well as mentally strong. The method is designed so that it lasts 4
minutes long, however within those 4 minutes you have to go through 8
intervals. Each lasting 20 seconds at a very high intensity.
Using The Tabata Training Method
Using Tabata is quite simple and
straight forward. However you must be prepared for the session. The first thing
you need to do is to pick the exercises you wish to include in your Tabata
training. Then, you need the right equipment for the exercises. After, you have
to decide which interval is for what exercise (if you have more than one
exercise in your training). For example you could have one interval for one
exercise and another interval for the other exercise. This is a sample Tabata
training plan:
§ Barbell
Squats (intervals 1,3)
§ Pushups
(intervals 2,5)
§ Chin
ups (intervals 4,6)
§ Sprinting
in place (intervals 7,8)
§ Equipment
needed: Barbell with weights, surface mat for pushups and a chin up bar
Tabata Training lasts 4 minutes
and has 8 intervals in total lasting 20 seconds. Within those 20 seconds
however, you are going all out. Make sure you use a weight where you can
successfully go all out for all 8 intervals. Also make sure the exercises
aren’t too hard and aren’t too easy. The exercises should hard enough so it makes
you sweat and breath during a interval, however easy enough so you can last the
whole Tabata session.
Using The Tabata Training Method Effectively
As mentioned above, you must be
prepared and have chosen the correct exercises so you can see improvements in
your fitness. However, what I didn’t mention was that you must have proper
nutrition and rest if you want Tabata to work.
Due to Tabata being a high intensity interval training form of
exercise, it is very taxing to the body. In other words you will definitely feel
the soreness in your muscles the next day. Make sure you rest the following day
so your body can recover.
Also make sure you eat before the
Tabata workout and after. Another point is to warm up and stretch before the
workout and have a cool down and stretch after the workout. The last thing you
want is to pull a muscle during the Tabata Training cycle and having to stop
the timer.
At one point or another, you have probably went jogging and if
you’re anything like most people I know, it’s boring. All you do is run from one area to
another and run back at a steady, most of the time slow pace. Most of the time
jogging sessions last an hour to 2 hours. However, Tabata training is
completely different. I’ll give you three reasons why you should use the Tabata
Training Method instead of long distance running and other long hours of cardio
training.
1. Time
One of the down sizes of doing long distance running is that it
takes time to get to the area where you are
jogging to and back; and time for your heart rate and metabolism to shoot up.
Because it takes time, you’ll have to work longer and harder in order to see
the results (losing fat and/or improving cardio). However, with Tabata, you can
gain more results in less time.
If you don’t know already, Tabata is a four minute session. Each
Tabata has 8 intervals of which you exercise at a very high intensity for 20 seconds.
After 20 seconds, you have 10 seconds to rest. Tabata is a form of high
intensity training and one of the benefits of high intensity training is that
it can boost your metabolism and heart rate up in a matter of seconds. Long
distance running requires anywhere from 10 minutes to 30 in order to get your
heart rate up. Not only that but you have to maintain that heart rate for the
rest of the jog to get your body to burn fat.
2. Losing Fat
I’m sure you’ve encountered
various people saying that the only way to lose fat is to jog. The truth is,
jogging is only one of the ways to lose fat (and the slowest). As mentioned
above, jogging takes time for your metabolism and heart rate to rise. So
in order to burn fat while jogging, you have to wait a bit until your body can
get into the fat burning zone.
Tabata training will raise your
metabolism and heart rate up in no time. Because you are performing these
exercises at a very high intensity, your body will have to work much harder to
keep up. This will cause your heart to pump faster and your metabolism to rise;
which you want if you are planning on losing fat. Your metabolism will stay at
a high not only during the workout, but after the workout as well. This means
that your body will be burning fat even when you aren’t doing anything.
3. Aerobic and Anaerobic Benifits
Izumi Tabata was the founder and
creator of Tabata. He conducted a test which tested two groups of athletes. The
first group was ordered to train in moderate intensity exercises (this includes
jogging, skipping, swimming, cycling and so forth) at 70% lasting an hour for
each training day for five days a week for a total of six weeks. The result
from this group was that their aerobic system improved, however their anaerobic
system improved little to none.
The second group was ordered to train
4 days a week for a total of 6 weeks at a high intensity (170%) each training
day lasting 4 minutes. The results of this training group was that they
increased their aerobic system much more than the other group and that they had
a 28% increase.
This means that the group
performing high intensity training (Tabata) had much more improvements than the
group performing moderate intensity.
Basically, you can get much more
done in less time in Tabata training than you can in long distance running. You
can also put any exercise you want in Tabata to make it much more fun.
When
comparing Tabata to other cardiovascular training, Tabata really stands out.
The reason is because Tabata is the shortest of them all; but is the most
effective when it comes to burning fat and improving cardio. However, it is
good to know what the pros and cons are to using Tabata. Below I will explain
the benefits and non-benefits of using Tabata.
What are the
Pros?
From the results of
the test that Izumi Tabata did, it has been proven that high intensity interval
training (specifically Tabata) increases both the aerobic and anaerobic system
of anybody using it. Moderate high intensity training (jogging, biking,
swimming, and so forth) increased the aerobic system (not as much as Tabata
did) and little to no increase in the anaerobic system.
Basically, if you use Tabata, you will be improving your aerobic system much
more than traditional cardio training and you’ll be improving your anaerobic
system at the same time.
Other
than the short time and anaerobic increase, using Tabata will also fire up the
metabolism during the workout and have an after effect after the workout
(meaning even after you are done your Tabata workout, you’ll still be burning
calories). Having high metabolism will help you burn fat and Tabata is a really
good fat burning type of exercise.
As
well, Tabata also improves mental toughness (or will power) because of the high
intensity of it. At first when you do Tabata training, you might be having the
thoughts of quiting.
However,
if you pull through the exercise, you’ll be gaining physical benefits as well
as mental benefits. Because let’s face it, doing a exercise for 20 seconds at
170% might seem short and easy, but when you do it, those 20 seconds are
actually longest 20 seconds of your life (when you’re in session 4 or 5 you’ll
understand what I mean).
What are the
Cons?
Well,
this section will be short because there are very few cons when using the
Tabata. However, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t.
Because
of the high intensity Tabata requires you to do, it could be dangerous when you
perform this exercise when you are prone to strokes and heart attacks. If you
know that you have high blood pressure or have had a history of strokes and
heart attacks, consult with your doctor first to see if you are physically
capable of performing the Tabata exercise.
The
other danger about Tabata is that if you’re not careful and are using weights
when doing Tabata, depending on the exercise, you could hurt yourself. For
example if you are benching real quickly when using Tabata, there’s a chance
the bar might slip from your hands.
