Japanese scientists in the 90s of the last century developed a unique sports method of losing weight – “Tabata”. This system allows you to remove excess weight in a short time. You need to do half an hour a day, performing 4-minute blocks of simple exercises with rest intervals. Let’s take a closer look at what mechanisms help you lose weight quickly, how many calories sports burn, and what are the advantages of this sports technique.
What is Tabata?
The appearance of sports classes according to this system is directly related to the name of the Japanese physiologist Izumi Tabata. A set of tasks is one of the types of interval or circular physical activity. It is based on the principle of 20/10 or 20/10/8, i.e. 20 seconds – to work at a dynamic pace, 10 seconds to rest. Such blocks need to be done 8 times and in total you get a 4-minute training. All exercises must be strictly performed for a clearly defined time.
The history of the origin of the training method is connected with a scientific experiment that lasted a month and a half. Two groups of people were selected to participate. The first performed an exercise complex with moderate strength five days a week for an hour. The second was engaged in full force 4 times a week for 4 minutes.
The data obtained was amazing. Among the representatives of the middle level, only aerobic indicators improved, anaerobic (a muscle condition) remained the same. The second group had positive results in the functioning of both complexes. It turned out that interval loads contribute to rapid weight loss, accelerate fat burning and allow you to maintain the effect for a long time.
The sports exercises themselves are selected according to the goal that you want to achieve. The most important thing in this is to use as many muscles from different departments as possible.
What are the pros and cons of Tabata?
Classes do not require special sports equipment (for example, as in CrossFit), take little time, and all blocks of exercises are extremely simple to perform. The main advantages of this technique:
- development of working capacity;
- working out all the muscles;
- skin tightening;
- accelerated muscle growth;
- high-calorie expenditure and rapid weight loss;
- overcoming the plateau effect;
- coordination correction.
It is worth knowing that, like any other technique, Tabata has several disadvantages. These include high physical output and stress on the joints.
What is the difference between Tabata and cardio?
During cardio training, the body uses the standard method of generating energy by oxidizing the nutrients received by oxygen. This is the aerobic way.
Tabata is the need to strictly observe the technique of performing exercises. As a result, excess fat is burned and replaced by muscle mass.