I am in total awe after reading a report in the U.K. Daily Mail that talked about how the writer lost three pounds in only 10 days doing a simple 4-minute exercise routine daily. You read right, just FOUR minutes! Crazy you say? It's an exercise system called Tabata that promises to transform your body in just a few minutes a day.
How? Read on!
According to this report, the popular method originated with Japanese scientist Izumi Tabata, who researched what time of exercise worked best between two different groups. The first group rode a stationary bike as fast as they could for four minutes a day every day, doing eight reps of 20 seconds each, with a 10-second rest between each rep. While the second group would pedal at a normal speed for one hour.
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Who do you think got better results? Incredibly, after both groups exercised five times a week for various weeks, __the group that exercised using the Tabata method (the ones who pedaled for only 4 minutes) actually got better results.__This proved that four minutes of exercise in the Tabata style was much more effective than 60 minutes at the gym. Sounds amazing, no?
The best part of all is that this method works with any type of exercise, the only rule being that you do 20 seconds of intense physical activity followed by 10 seconds of rest. Each intense physical activity burst should be as intense as you can stand it, as is reported in the story.
If you're asking yourself how this method could even work, the reason is high-intensity interval training, like this Tabata training, increases your aerobic and anaerobic capacity. This method helps to generate muscle and increase your rate of basal metabolic rate (the rate at which your body burns calories and burns fat). All this adds up to losing weight in much less time than with conventional exercise.
This system of working out and training sounds amazing! It really requires very little time, something the majority of us women and most importantly moms, look for in exercise programs. The best part, though, is that you can do these exercises on a stationary bike, walking, or even just doing squats! The important thing to remember is that you have to do these during 20 seconds with a 10 second rest between each rep. That's it! So what are you waiting for? Let's do it, the Tabata way!
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