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The BEST 7.5 Minute Fat-Burning Workout You’ll Ever Use. Really.
By
Eugene Thong CSCS
................................................................................
 Ok,
kids, rally around, because I’ve got a real barn-burner of a workout for
you this week. Note: This routine is forbidden for absolute
beginners. No newbie's allowed – you’ve got to have a basic competence
level in fitness to play this game (but don’t despair! We have plenty
of resources for the neophyte – a great place to start is with our
Foundations of Fat Loss and
Weight Training 101 articles).
On with the show!
You know the drill,
folks – first the science, then the workout (all disinterested parties
can skip the heady stuff and scroll to the end of the article for the
workout).
An informal survey of
the clientele Mike and I have worked with over the years reveals that
the numero uno reason most people don’t exercise is time –
as in, “I don’t have enough time in the day to spend 5 minutes using the
bathroom.”
To each his own
elimination habits, I guess.
Well, certainly to
the harried, busy individual with nary a moment to spend, spending an
hour every day at the gym is downright impossible. But certainly anyone
can carve out 7.5 minutes in their day to complete their quota of
sufficiently rigorous fat-burning exercise (except our aforementioned
bathroom time-challenged client).
Thank Dr. Izumi
Tabata of the National Institutes of Fitness and Sport in Tokyo for this
workout. In 1996, Dr. Tabata published a groundbreaking study that
showed the effectiveness (and superiority) of
high intensity interval
training.
By working his
athlete-subjects intensely for 20 second spurts and allowing them a 10
second rest period, Dr. Tabata was able to squeeze incredible
improvements in both aerobics and anaerobic fitness (28% and 14%,
respectively) from already conditioned athletes. Not bad for four
minutes of workout time (yes, four minutes).
Of course, Dr.
Tabata’s work has been expanded upon in the last decade and it’s now
well established in exercise science that brief, intense workouts pack a
bigger punch than their longer, less intense counterparts (not to
mention that they take a whole lot less time as well).
So if Dr. Tabata’s
research suggests that a four minute workout is all it takes to deliver
solid results, why does this workout take 7 and a half minutes? For two
highly compelling reasons:
1. Dr. Tabata
killed his athletes. Their prescribed workloads were 170% of
their max (and I don’t know about you, but I certainly wouldn’t be
looking forward to a workout that required I perform at nearly double
my work capacity). It is reported in the study text that the athletes
literally ended up on the floor after each bout of data collection.
2. See #1.
To make this workout
fall back into the realm of reality (and to make it useable with
clients), Mike and I adapted Dr. Tabata’s intervals and scaled the
workloads. Add a bit of progressive strength training to the mix and
you’ve got:
The “Tabata
Push-Pull” Workout
The Basics.
We use Dr. Tabata’s interval format of 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off.
In other words, go all-out (or close to it) for 20 seconds, then rest
for 10 seconds. Pick two complementary exercises that require very
little change/set up between them, and perform alternating intervals of
each for 7 rounds, or until you’re “shot.”
“Hey, that’s only 7
minutes.”
The extra 30 seconds?
Use them before the intervals for a quick warmup – some
bodyweight squats and/or
pushups work well.
Exercises.
This
workout works well in many different permutations, but we’ve found the
Tabata format works best with exercises of opposing functions (hence,
the workout’s moniker). I’ve compiled four of our favorite combinations
here:
Some performance
notes:
1. Take it
easy on weight, especially if you’re doing this for the first time. A
weight that feels ridiculously easy during the second interval will
have you on the floor by minute 7.
2. Try to keep
a steady work rate and max out on reps – push yourself.
Remember, Dr. Tabata’s subjects worked at 170% of their maxes. While
you shouldn’t push yourself nearly that hard, you should look to push
yourself past your perceived limits – you’ve got goals to achieve, and
you’ll only get out what you put into the exercise.
3. While it’s
far from necessary, it helps to have a workout partner to act as both a
motivator and a bean counter. Keeping track of reps gets tough once
fatigue sets in, but is doable (after all, you’ve got 10 seconds to
write down reps in your workout log between work intervals).
Benchmarks.
How do we
judge progression on this exercise? After all, it’s gotta be measurable
if we’re to hold ourselves accountable to our goals.
A rough guideline
that works reasonably well is Total Tonnage – simply multiply the weight
you used by the total number of reps you performed.
Ex. Mike chooses the
Dumbbell Squat/DB Romanian Deadlift combo and picks up the 35 pounders.
His numbers:
Rd 1: 10/10
Rd 2: 10/10
Rd 3: 10/8
Rd 4: 9/7
Rd 5: 6/8
Rd 6: 7/6
Rd 7: 6/5
Total: 58/54 – 112
total reps with 70 pounds
His Total Tonnage for
that workout would be 7840 (112 X 70).
To record
progression, simply try increasing Total Tonnage.
Important: Compare
apples to apples! In other words, don’t compare Total Tonnage for a
Squat/Deadlift workout with Total Tonnage for a Dip/Pullup workout –
Total Tonnage.
Comparisons
are valid for like workouts only.
Okay, your excuses
about not having enough time to get in a good fat-burning workout?
Immediately
canceled. (Tsoii!) And don’t say I didn’t warn you.
For a thorough program that includes all
the high intensity cardio you could possibly handle, and more, take a
look at our
Black
Book of Secrets- everything
you need to quickly build a lean, healthy, energetic body
P.S. Are you running
around in circles? Feel like you just can't go it your own?
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