One of the biggest obstacles most people face when looking to improve their fitness is a lack of time during the day to fit in a quality workout. Now, I’m of the mind set that believes if getting into better shape and improving your fitness is a priority, than you’ll find a way to fit regular workouts into your week! After all, it’s easy to quit and make excuses than to actually commit and put yourself through a quality (and sometimes not always comfortable) workout. A lack of time to fit a workout into your busy day is sometimes just an excuse to not workout. It could be that you actually do have time to workout, you just simply aren’t committed enough to improving yourself to actually get up and get it done. If this is the case, it’s really just that you’re going through a lazy spell and need to check that immediately and get your priorities in order!
I’ve had countless work days that start early and and as late as 10pm, and yet I still find time to fit in a high quality workout. When I say quality, it doesn’t necessarily mean a long workout. My workouts rarely go over 45mins in duration. Short burst, high intensity exercise is what you want to perform (coupled with days or low rep heavy strength training) in order to see serious results and boost testosterone hormones in your body. One of my go-to workout protocols when I’m pressed for time, or simply looking to get a killer workout, is the Tabata protocol.
The Tabata protocol was named after it’s founder Professor Izumi Tabata. Professor Tabata discovered that by applying a protocol of 20 second bursts of high intensity output, at about 170% of VO2Max, followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated 8x (a total of 4 mins) 4 days out of the week and over time actually improved both anaerobic capacity and aerobic capacity of the trainee. Another group performed a simple routine of steady state training ,70% of VO2Max, 5 days of the week and their aerobic capacity improved less as well as not improving their anaerobic capacity at all.
Simply put, the Tabata protocol gives you the best bang for your buck when it comes to improving your conditioning and body composition! We’re talking 4 min workouts, 3-4x per week will give you better results than jogging for 1 hour each day!
Here’s how you can get it done! Simply grab a timer or stop watch, pick an exercise(any from the list below will due), perform the exercise as hard and as fast as you can for 20 seconds, then rest for 10 seconds, repeat that sequence 8 more times for a total of 4min of work. It’s that simple. Push hard, watch your form, and get it done!
For those with joint issues or who are quite overweight I would suggest avoiding the plyometric (jumping) exercises! Try the Tabata protocol with any of the following exercises...
-Jump Squats, Body weight squats
-Burpees
-Jumping Lunges
-Sprints
-Kettlebell Swings
-Push Press
-Deck Squats
-Jump Rope, Double Unders
-Stationary Bike, Airdyne Bike
-Rowing Machine
-Sledgehammer smashe
-Mountain Climbers
-Sprinters Lunges
-Mace Swings
... Just to name a few! So quit complaining about a lack of time. Try out the Tabata protocol and get your workouts in no matter what your work schedule is like!
- Tim