What are tabatas? Tabatas are a (high intensity interval training) HIIT protocol. In order to do them, you will want to get yourself an interval timer like the Gymboss.
There are many out there. There are free, as well as paid, timers available for Android and IPhone/IPod Touch as well. Make sure it allows you to set the work, rest and rounds time in seconds.
It also helps if it has a second rest time. The second rest time is used when you decide to do 3 complete tabata circuits. You would normally rest 1 minute in between each 8 round circuit.
The Breakdown
20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest. Repeat 8 times. An expanded view for jumping jacks would look like this…
20 seconds jumping jacks
10 seconds of rest
20 seconds jumping jacks
10 seconds of rest
20 seconds jumping jacks
10 seconds of rest
20 seconds jumping jacks
10 seconds of rest
20 seconds jumping jacks
10 seconds of rest
20 seconds jumping jacks
10 seconds of rest
20 seconds jumping jacks
10 seconds of rest
20 seconds jumping jacks
10 seconds of rest
Total of 4 minutes
Of course you don’t have to do the same exercise for each 20 seconds of work. I like to do different ones sometimes. This allows you to get more done in less time and keep from getting bored. Although, it’s hard to get bored with 4 minutes of total work.
The free timer that I use, on my computer, is in this other article. Check it out-here.
Photo credit: Stop watch
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