I did promise I would share the ab and cardio tabata I am doing these next few weeks. Let’s start with what is tabata?
What is tabata?
Shhh… Bring me straight to the work out.
You can google and find all kinds of information on the subject. Basically, it is a style of HIIT where you follow intervals of 20s super intensity, then 10s of rest, repeat 8 times. It’s become quite popular for a variety of reasons. High fat burning, short time frame, to name a coupe. I love it for the constant changing. As you may have noticed I get bored easily.
So the way I do my tabata, I pick 2 exercises and perform them back to back with 10 seconds in between and repeat 4 times. Grand total 4 minutes. I then take a rest for a minute and do another set of 2 exercises and repeat. All until I have hit my desired time frame. I usually do 6 sets.
Because of the high intensity aspect, I like to focus the training on more cardio and ab work. It is too intense, in my opinion to add weights. Some might argue that. I have seen a whole bunch of tabata training suggestions that include weight (beyond body weight). My advice would be to stay clear. Why? The whole idea is to just give’r. How can you do that while thinking about form, and the added weight causes stress to the joints. Without proper form, you risk injury. That’s just my two cents! Anyway, rant over!
So my focus is ab and cardio. The fast paced nature of tabata makes it easy for me to want to do it. And the low time 20 seconds makes it easy to push through any barriers I might have.
So Here’s My Tabata Workout for Cardio and Abs:
Perform each exercise for 20 seconds and rest for 10 seconds.
Round 1: Cardio
- Jumping Jacks
- Rest
- Skip Rope
- Rest
Repeat 4 times.
Round 2: Abs
- Russian Twists
- Rest
- Jack Knife Crunches
- Rest
Repeat 4 times.
Round 3: Cardio
- Skaters
- Rest
- High Knees
- Rest
Repeat 4 times.
Rest (45 s -1 minute) between each Round
Round 4: Abs
- Plank
- Rest
- Bicycle Crunches
- Rest
Repeat 4 times.
Round 5: Cardio
- Burpees
- Rest
- Butt Kicks
- Rest
Repeat 4 times.
Round 6: Abs
- Mountain Climbers
- Rest
- Reverse Crunches
- Rest
Repeat 4 times.
And we are done!!!!!
Add in a warm up and cool down of your choice, and just like that you did a workout today. I follow this routine with around 30 minutes of yoga (at least, I am trying to follow this routine with 30 minutes of yoga).
Try it out, let me know what you think. I know for me it kicks my *ss. Abs and intense cardio are easily my worst things.