Tabata: Fit and Healthy with 4-Minute Workouts

The principle of Tabata exercises is very simple. Within four minutes you complete a total of eight exercise sequences. Each 20-second high-intensity exercise interval is followed by a ten-second rest period.

Special Tabata timers help you keep to the intervals. The results of the method are impressive. The four-minute workout is proven to do more for your fitness and health than a full hour of endurance exercise.

And it hardly takes up any space in your schedule. What an incentive! However, in order for the 240 seconds of Tabata training to be as effective as possible, it's important to really push yourself to the limit and work as many muscle groups as possible.

After just four minutes, you'll feel the exhilaration of total exhaustion and soon notice an amazing improvement in your fitness.

High Intensity Training (HIIT) Tabata is the result of a scientific study conducted in 1996 at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo to investigate the effects of moderate endurance training and high intensity interval training.

The leader of the study and namesake of the method is Dr. Izumi Tabata, one of the world's leading sports scientists. He found that the four-minute workout makes athletes faster and fitter than any other sports program.

The official Tabata trailer shows the numerous benefits of the training method:

How is it that a four-minute interval workout is supposed to burn more fat than a one-hour cardio workout? Simple. The short and high-intensity Tabata exercises demand large amounts of energy from the body particularly quickly.

First the carbohydrate reserves are emptied, then it goes to the fat depots. This makes the 240 Tabata seconds an extremely effective fat melting program.

But the four minutes are not the end of the story for the body. The Tabata workout stimulates the metabolism and fat burning and increases the basal metabolic rate of the body in the long term.

Due to this so-called afterburn effect, you will continue to burn more calories for twelve to 24 hours after the workout. This makes Tabata a perfect training method for losing weight. However, this only works if you really perform the exercises to the limit and train large muscle groups with each exercise.

In addition to a six-pack stomach, a tight butt and excellent endurance, Tabata also contributes to your mental strength. The hard workout effectively trains your willpower and your ability to focus. You learn to turn off your pain and not give up.

From the classic squat to the burpee as a modern fitness exercise, all common exercises for training the large muscle groups (legs, back, chest) are suitable for Tabata.

Originally, Tabata was performed all eight training intervals with only one exercise. However, this has the disadvantage that the body is trained very one-sided. Especially for beginners it makes sense not to train only one muscle group.

This causes rapid fatigue and makes it difficult to hold out for four minutes. In the beginning, alternate between two and four Tabata exercises, depending on your mood and personal preferences.

It doesn't matter whether you use fitness equipment or just your own body weight.

- Push-ups
- Squats
- burpees
- mountain climbers
- Speed skips (sprinting while standing, pulling knees up to hips)
- Sprints

- barbells
- Dumbbells
- Kettlebells (ball dumbbells)
- Resistance bands (training bands)

Important: For the Tabata exercises, choose a weight or resistance with which you can complete as many repetitions as possible. Eleven to 15 repetitions per Tabata exercise sequence is considered optimal.

Tabata is suitable for both beginners and professional athletes. The main thing is to perform the exercises correctly and only go to your limits and not above.

Choose the exercises according to your individual fitness level and always start Tabata well warmed up to avoid injuries. If in doubt, try Tabata under professional guidance.

Numerous gyms today have integrated the success training into your training plan. If you have problems with your joints, heart or spine, be sure to talk to your doctor before you start training.

If you're not physically able to sustain the intervals of effort and rest for a full four minutes, you can also slowly work your way up to a full Tabata session.

Start with three minutes of Tabata, each split into 10 seconds of exercise and 20 seconds of rest. From week to week, increase to eight reps.

Next, move up to 15 seconds of exercise and 15 seconds of rest, starting at five reps. Finally, perform each interval correctly with 20 seconds of exercise and 10 seconds of rest, starting at four reps.

After twelve weeks, you'll be ready to perform a normal Tabata workout and reap the benefits. Fitness hello, fat adé!