4 minutes. that's all it lasted (standard tabata session)

20 seconds of left-leg reverse-lunge knee drives with arm extensions.
10 sec rest
20 seconds of plank position rear leg raises
10 sec rest
20 seconds of right-leg reverse-lunge knee drives with arm extensions.
10 sec rest
20 seconds of plank position dumbbell rows (10lbs dumbbells)
10 sec

repeat from the top.

there is NO WAY IN HECK i could do this every day.

after i was done, my heart was thumping so fast i could see it shaking my t-shirt; my throat was raw from heaving breath; my hands and legs were wobbly and shaking.

today, i ache all over - not in a bad way, but *definitely* that was a serious workout.

next session: friday!

wow. so did you work to failure each 20-second set?

nope - just giver till the whistler went (i have a tabata timer app on my android).

i want to do 2 or 3 "impromptu" sessions before i get down to business with the journalling and everything. i've got 3 workouts i'm going to try before i figure out the best way to go for now. i'm wingin' it, basically - i called the local fitness centre and asked about tabata and she thought i was talking about dojo mats and couldn't understand why i was calling!

it's going to be very interesting to see how i feel after managing to hit failure in 20sec!

Wow great work... I've never done it with a different exercise every 20 seconds, cool idea...

BTW most people don't know what Tabatas are, even a gym ... They should, but they don't...

i should've know, really - that gym, you are only allowed to do their routines. the only machines they've got are curves-type circuit stuff - 30min and yer outta here.

With Tabata, i thought you were supposed to do the SAME exercise for the 4-minute session......? ANd generally, a workout will consist of 4 sessions (ie; 16 minutes total) But you do a different exercise with each 4 min session. So sess 1 is pushups...20 sec on, 10 sec off repeat for the full 4 minutes, doing ONLY pushups. Then the NEXT 4 minute session you do burpees, etc etc.... ?

Thats how my tabata workouts have always gone....
Kudos for trying something new AND difficult!

I am super intrigued by this, but I don't think I'm fit enough to get anything out of it initially.

I love exercising tabata-style when I'm short with time, or when I just want to add a little more to my routine.

And as someone said, yes, the concept is that you do one exercise for a full circuit, but I almost always rotate two, eg. push ups with bicycle crunches or jumping jacks with jump rope. It keeps my muscles from getting overly tired...

apparently there isn't a hard-and-fast protocol - the original was the same exercise for the whole 4min, however they've found that rotating 2 to 4 exercises also works.

what i'm hoping for is to work up to where i can do 4 sessions of the same four exercises (so 16min total)

if i had to do the same exercise for all 4min at this juncture, i'd be taking a ride in an ambulance!

I think it really works for any level because you work at your own speed.... Try it, you like it

that's exactly it, krampus. the whole point is to go as hard as YOU can, not as hard as someone else can. pushing yourself is how your body adapts and improves in response to the stress.

this first time i did tabata, i know i didn't go anywhere near as fast as the instructor on the youtube video. however, she's got nowhere near the weight i've got to sling around, so i figure it all balances out.

It's funny you bring this up now, Zuzana Light's work out for this week was tabata. I'm going to do it tomorrow after my Ripped in 30.