Would you rather do 60 minutes of cardio or 4? I know what you must be thinking..."how is 4 minutes of cardio even considered a workout?" Well say hello to the Tabata Protocol. Just four minutes of Tabata high intensity interval training can do more for your aerobic and anaerobic capacity than a 60 minute workout at a moderate pace on the elliptical/treadmill/bike/etc.
So what is this crazy, awesome workout? Developed by Izumi Tabata PhD, a former researcher at Japan's National Institute of Fitness and Sports, the Tabata Protocol is a method of exercise that lasts 4 minutes and literally kicks your ass. You can do these exercises anytime, anywhere, which is partially what makes them so awesome. All you have to do is pick any exercise (airsquats, pushups, sprinting, burpees, etc.) and go all out at your maximum capacity trying to get in as many reps as possible for 20 seconds, then rest 10 seconds, then repeat 7x so you have a total of 8 reps. Sounds simple, right? I challenge you to try it. It will probably be the toughest 4 minute workout you've ever done.
So how does this 4 minute miracle workout actually work? The high intensity/rest intervals cause you to burn off all the blood sugar it has. This energy has now been lost and needs to be replaced, so your body accomplishes this by burning fat. It's actually a whole lot more complicated than that...if you want to read in more scientific detail you can read a great article here.
Make sure you do at least 4-5 minutes of warm-up exercises before doing Tabata intervals, and do a cool down after for a couple minutes. Voila, you are done working out in about 10 minutes :)
And remember, you are only resting 10 seconds...it goes by really fast! You won't even have enough time to take a drink. Don't let your rest time go more than 10 seconds. Keep in mind you will be done in 4 minutes and that should help keep you going.
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