Workout I Did: My First Tabata Workout

The Tabata Timer app will keep your Tabata workout on track.

I’ve been seeing the word Tabata thrown around a lot lately. We covered it over on Fit Bottomed Mamas recently, and of course I couldn’t just write about it. I had to try it out, especially because I never had before. For those not familiar, Tabata is a high-intensity interval workout where you focus on one move for four minutes before moving onto the next. Twenty seconds of work followed by 10 of rest may seem easy on paper, but it truly is hard work and I was sweating by my second round of push-ups. How Jenn managed to do 40 minutes of this is a testament to how much of a bad-ass she is. I loved it because the time flies. I hated it because who knew 20 seconds could feel like an eternity?

So if anyone is curious as to why I was so sore last week, here’s the workout that did it. Darn push-ups!

Quick Tabata Workout

Perform 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off / 8 rounds of each exercise.

Move 1: Push-ups. You can always drop down to your knees to modify.

Move 2: Jump rope. If you don’t have a jump rope, you can do high knee runs. (I alternated faux jump rope with high knees.)

Move 3: Squats. (Make these plyo squats if you’re feeling especially motivated!)

Move 4: Mountain climbers.

See? It looks so simple written down! Tune in next week, and I’ll share tips for trying your own Tabata workout! —Erin