anyone been faithfully doing tabatas for a while? if so, how are the results so far? thanks
hiro
I have been doing Tabata Front Squats once every 4 weeks, I find that it is a great “shock” to my body, however, it still is terrible!
i have been doing the front squats since the article came out.
once, maybe twice a week.
still no change in my fat %,
and no significant change in my weight (slightly lower).
i haven’t increased the weight i use because at the end, i still feel like i will keel over.
First of all guys, Dr. Tabata reccomends 6-8 intervals done 2 times a week or more. doing 6 twice a week then gradually building up to 8 (and beyond!) will benefit you a hell of alot more than doing it once every 4 weeks as a shocker.
I did Taku’s Interval program a while back, you can check it out at http://www.trainforstrength.com/ under the workout section. This program is basically a 12 week program and builds up to doing from doing 90 second intervals to 10 Tabata intervals.
I started off on Phase 2 twice a week and worked up to 4 times a week by the time I had reached weeks 3-4 of Phase 3.
In that 8 week period, I lost about 18lbs. and my cardio had increased by a large margin. What was a bigger improvement tho, was my recovery rate!
My sport is Thai Boxing, and to be honest, I didnt notice a big improvement in my cardio during the rounds I trained/sparred/fought, but in the rest period in between rounds, I had virtually recovered 100%!
I didnt use Thrusters or front squats, I would use either sprints, step ups or would skip (jump rope) for the active intervals. I also stayed active during the rest periods. Instead of sprinting I would switch to jogging, switched to star jumps (aka jumping jacks) in place of step ups and I would slow the skipping right down if I was sprinting on the rope.
Yours,
Beev
I did the Tabata’s twice a week for about three weeks and developed a very painful a tight ITB on my left thigh. I have since quit the Tabata front squats and am doing self myofacial release and ART.
Just my 2 cents FWIW. Hope they work great for everyone else.
i have to agree, the first 2 times i did tabatas i felt like i was maiming myself. the next few days i could barely walk correctly and going down stairs was pretty much stupid.
just seemed like tabatas are increadibly good at doing massive muscle damage, but the fact that i couldnt do anything with my legs for the rest of the week made it seem as if it wouldnt play nice with the rest of my routine.
i can see how sprinting tabatas would be easier, in terms of muscle damange though, and could be done on a more regular basis.
Like all workouts in it’s genre, tabats will strip you of bulk. If you don’t mind that, and bulk is not your goal then I suggest working up to these on a gradual basis so that you will be able to move several days thereafter.
I was reading your post yesterday and decided to give Tabata a go at the end of a short run and some chest/back work. I did normal back squats (not front squats) with 50kg and basically stayed in under the bar for the ten second rest. It worked out as basically sets of ten/nine/eight/eight/eight/eight/eight/eight/seven
My legs felt like jelly like never before. I feel perfectly fine today - no pain whatsoever.
I was thinking of adding in a squat Tabata to my bench day every week and some kind of upper body Tabata to my squat day for a change. What do ye think? Is there a good exercise to do for an upper-body Tabata.