Well it is a little warm in Alabama these days and is just going to get worse. I am looking for a short workout that I can do indoors and have had someone suggest Tabata Intervals.I have been jogging 3 days a week but between the heat and the time it takes I would like to find an alternative. I am trying to blast off the last 10 or so lbs of fat I need to lose and just raise my overall fitness level.
Here is the program I have been given:
* Jump Rope (High Knee jump rope style, sprint in place)
* Pushups
* Squats
* Chinnies
This workout will consist of 4 separate Tabata Intervals (20 sec. max -10 sec rest), each consisting of 4 minutes. The total workout will last 16 minutes. You can perform this workout indoors.
I am also trying to think of an alternative to the chin-ups to because I don't have a bar and I am pretty bad at them.
Tabatas are just another form of HIIT. People tend to apply them to other modes of training more often though, such as you are here with your squats, pushups and chins. The problem I have with that is when you're doing high intensity anything every for 20 seconds every 10 seconds, fatigue is going to set in without a doubt. When it does, form is going to break. When that happens, potential for injury rises. Guys do Tabatas with a loaded bar for front squats, cleans, etc. That's just asking for an injury with a side of frustration.
The original Tabata research was done on a bike. When fatigue sets in there, form doesn't break as it does with your typical resistance training exercises.
Now when there's no pre-existing conditions AND you're only using bodyweight, I don't have as big a problem with this.
Any interval session is merely a method of cramming more work into less time.
Anytime I've wanted to do metabolic, calorie-wasting stuff without actually running, I've always opted for things like the circuits we talked about above or complexes with a barbell. If you don't have the equipment though, you're shit out of luck. For complexes all you need is a bar with some weight, but not everyone has that lying around.
Bottomline, mixing the fatigue associated with metabolic conditioning with technical exercises is a bad idea. Tabatas were not designed for that. If you want to toy around with some bodyweight stuff... ok.
Why don't you get a pullup bar? Do you really think you'd be able to do that many pullups?