By Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS

Author, Turbulence Training

Following the cardio mentality and depending on the cardio confessional is the biggest mistake that all women make when it comes to fat loss. Let me explain…

On Saturday morning I was walking home from the gym when I passed by a young women – about 28 years old – who was talking on her iPhone.

And I heard her say, “I’m going for a walk now to get some exercise because I’m going out for a bad dinner tonight.”

And I just wanted to yell, “No – no – no – no – no! That doesn’t work. It never has, it never will.”

You can’t out-cardio a bad diet.

Every woman I’ve ever met has made this mistake and had that “cardio confessional mindset” at one time or another – and it goes for most of the guys I know, too.

Unfortunately, at best, this poor girl will probably burn an extra 300-500 calories during her walk – if it’s a really, really long walk. But at dinner, she’s likely to eat 400-700 calories during the appetizer or consume that in liquid calories alone!

(NOTE: By “bad dinner”, I’m guessing she meant a high-calorie meal, and not a pity date with a deadbeat ex-boyfriend.)

The bottom line is that a single cardio session will not beat a bad diet.

Now you might be thinking, “At least it’s better than nothing.”

But is it?

Remember, as I’ve mentioned in the past, one British study found that some people OVEREAT in response to cardio exercise.

So when dinner comes around, this poor girl might think,”Oh, I did that long walk today, so I can treat myself to a bigger dinner or dessert.”

The only thing that comes close to beating a bad diet is interval training and resistance training.

Back in 2007, an Australian research study on interval training was getting a LOT of press for the surprising results. In the study, women who did interval training were able to lose belly fat without changing their diet.

In fact, one subject, named Louise, said this: “My diet was pretty bad back then, with lots of sweets, lots of junk food…doughnuts and sugar — it was awful.”

And yet by the end of this study, interval training helped Louise burn 8kg of fat in just 15 weeks – WITHOUT changing her diet.

Perhaps it IS POSSIBLE for you to out-train a bad diet – but only if you use interval training.

And that’s just another reason the best short, burst fat burning workouts are based on this specific type of fat burning exercise.

So here’s what you need to do:

1) Give up the “Cardio Confessional Mentality” and understand that you can’t “out-cardio a bad diet”.

2) Stick to your simple lifestyle nutrition plan 90% of the time and then enjoy your 10% reward meals GUILT-FREE.

3) Use interval training to burn the fat and resistance training to sculpt your body.

It’s that simple – a 3-step system for fat loss success that is guaranteed to work every time.

Check out Craig Ballantyne’s Turbulence Training workouts for Women for some great Fat Burning Workouts

Enjoy guilt-free eating and fat loss with this mindset.

Kettlebells swings is one of the most basic Kettlebell movements that you can learn. This movement will help you master all the other Kettlebell exercises available to you.

This is because most Kettlebell exercises require the basic hip thrust that you learn by mastering the Kettlebell Swing. Here’s how to perform the movement:

• You can do this movement with either one hand or two hands. Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart. Hold the Kettlebell. If you’re holding it with one hand, hold the other hand out to the other side for balance.
• Contract your abdominals and push your hips back. Bend your knees and bring the KB between your legs. Reverse the movement by thrusting your hips forward.
• Use the momentum to swing the Kettlebell up with your arms and stand up. Keep your abs tight and arms straight. To bring the KB back between your legs, simply push your hips back again.
• Remember that you are not using the strength of your arms and shoulder to lift the Kettlebell up. The swinging motion comes duly from the momentum generated with the hip thrust.
• Repeat as desired.

You can easily develop your own Kettlebell routines using Interval training and pairing the swing with bodyweight exercises that you already know. This is a great way to start with Kettlebell training.

Interval training is where you perform a movement for a period of time, then either follow up with a short period of rest, or perform another movement. The whole idea is that instead of counting repetitions, you simply perform as many repetitions as possible within that period of time.

There are many different ways to perform interval training. However, lets review some of the most popular interval training schemes:

2 minute Rounds

Choose 4 exercises, and perform them for 30 seconds each. So, you can choose a two arm Kettlebell swing, followed by pushups, pullups, and bodyweight squats.

Rest for 1 minute, and repeat as desired.

3 minute Rounds

Choose 4 exercises and perform them for 45 seconds each. Of course, this is more difficult than the 2 minute rounds. You may want to use easier movements since the interval time is going to be longer.

Tabata Rounds

An interval scheme that consists of 20 seconds of work, followed by 10 seconds of rest. Perform the scheme 8 times, or 4 minutes of work. Perform all 8 rounds for the exercise that you choose.

5 minute Rounds

Choose 5 exercises and perform each for 1 minute each. For this, you can choose 1 arm swing -performing 1 minute for each arm. Apushups variations, pullups, and bodyweight squats.

Sample Kettlebell Interval Workouts

Here are some great Sample Kettlebell Interval Workouts that will give you some more creative ideas on how to design your own routine:

Kettlebell Bodyweight Fat Burning Interval Workout

This one is from Craig Ballantyne, creator of Turbulence Training. You start off with 20 seconds of Kettlebell Swings, then move onto Prisoner Squats for 20 seconds.

Go back to doing Kettlebell Swings for 20 seconds, then move onto 20 seconds of pushups. Again, back to Kettlebell Swings for 20 seconds, then Lunges, alternating feet, for 20 seconds.

Last round is 20 seconds of Kb Swings, and 20 seconds of mountain climbers. Perform 2-3 rounds. Here’s what the workout would look like written out:

3 rounds of:

• Kettlebell Swings, 20 seconds
• Prisoner Squats, 20 seconds
• Kettlebell Swings, 20 seconds
• Pushups, 20 seconds
• Kettlebell Swings, 20 seconds
• Lunges, 20 seconds
• Kettlebell Swings, 20 seconds
• Mountain Climbers, 20 seconds

3 rounds total will last you just 8 minutes. Who doesn’t have 8 minutes to workout? Perform this simple routine 2-3 days per week, and you should be leaner in no time.

Kettlebell Workout Bodyweight Exercises Interval

This is another workout from Craig Ballantyne. You’re doing 10 exercises for 20 seconds each. Here’s the circuit:

• Kettlebell Squat
• Extended Pushups
• Kettlebell Swings
• Walking Lunges
• Kettlebell High Pull
• Mountain Climber
• Kettlebell Swing
• Close Grip Pushups
• Kettlebell 1-arm Row
• Stability Ball Leg Curls

Most of the exercises in the circuit are probably brand new to you. That’s ok, just substitute the workouts with movements that you already know. One circuit will take you 3 minutes and 20 seconds. So, 3 rounds will take you 10 minutes.

I’ve given you a lot of options here. 6 different ways to organize your Kettlebell Interval training Workouts. Now choose one and get started!

One of the best ways to help you with your intervals is to use the GymBoss Interval Timer. It costs just $19.95, and you can program it to help you keep track of any sort of intervals you may use. Click here to grab yours today.

For more intense Kettlebell workouts and training ideas, check out Turbulence Training Kettlebell Revolution. Click here for more information.

Beginners are at a crucial juncture: they’ve made the decision to get into shape and realize they have a myriad of options in front of them. Make the wrong decision, and you’ll potentially derail your progress for months (or sometimes even years).

Learn from someone with experience with fat loss and stay away from long duration, steady state cardio. Here are some key issues I have with long duration, steady state cardio:

• It’s boring. If your training program is boring, it’s going to be tough for you to follow the program. Try and find something exciting. Something that you will look forward to doing each week.
• Jogging hurts. Jogging was my form of outdoor cardio. I used to jog for 3-4 miles at least 4 days per week. Of course it worked, but I soon found myself in pain.
  • The pain could have also be caused by overuse injuries, which comes from too much repetition of the same activity. Professional runner andcyclers often complain about knee problems later in life.
  • The pain started with my shins and traveled to my knees. The uneven outdoor surface, and the constant pounding on the knees does a lot of damage to your joints.
  • The bigger you are, the more you should stay away from jogging long distance. One or two miles is fine at a frequency of 2-3 days per week.
• Higher intensity distance cardio causes losses in strength, power, and muscle mass. You may not care about strength or power, but you should care about muscle mass.
  • Muscle mass will be your long-term fight against fat. This is because muscle is more metabolically active than fat. It takes more calories to maintain a pound of muscle than a pound of fat.
  • Hence, the more muscle you have on your body, the higher your metabolic rate. A fast metabolism will help you burn more calories throughout the day without performing more exercise or eating less.

• Aerobic exercise is an impractical method of burning lots of calories. The bigger you are, the more fat you will burn with aerobic exercise. But, as you get leaner and fitter, you will need to perform more aerobic exercise in order to burn the same amount of fat.
  • For example, if in the beginning you were able to burn 100 calories in 20 minutes, 6 months from now it may take you up to an hour to burn the same amount of calories.
  • Of course, this is just an example, but that is what happens. Your body becomes efficient at using energy to perform a task. Hence, it takes more work to burn more calories.

Now that you know why I don’t like long distance cardio, lets look at some of the forms of cardio that I do like:

Bodyweight Cardio

Bodyweight cardio is simply performing high intensity bodyweight exercises that are relatively easy in a cardio format. Cardio is basically raising your heart rate and increasing the demand for energy (calories).

The greater your demand for energy, the more calories and fat you will burn. Bodyweight cardio is often more fun than regular, steady state cardio. Plus, you can perform it anywhere and anytime you want.

You can perform bodyweight cardio in your hotel room, at the park, in your backyard, or your friends house. Hence, it is one of best, no-nonsense and no-excuses method to burn fat.

Hard Cardio

Hard cardio consists of any sort of higher intensity, moderate duration cardio. My favorite forms are sledgehammer swings, jump roping, and shadowboxing. This form of cardio is not only exciting and gets your heart rate up, but also prevents overuse injuries.

You can choose 2-3 forms of hard cardio, or even combine hard cardio with bodyweight cardio. This way, you prevent boredom and conserve your joints. Hard cardio helps develop power and speed.

For example, sledgehammer swings are used by many athletes to improve explosive power. Jump roping is also used by boxers to improveagility. Hence, you’ll be improving your athletic abilities while burning fat.

Interval Cardio

Interval training is where you perform an activity for a high intensity level, then take a short rest. Alternate between high intensity and lower intensity training. You can do this form of training with hard cardio or bodyweight exercises.

As mentioned earlier, distance cardio is an impractical form of burning fat as your body becomes more efficient at burning calories. They key to solving this is to use increase the intensity level.

Interval cardio is one way to increase the level of intensity. Sprinters perform this kind of cardio all the time. They sprint on the track, and follow up with a period of rest to return their heart rate to normal.

Kettlebell Cardio

Kettlebells are a training implement that have seen a resurgence in popularity. They’ve been around for many years, but it’s just recently that they’re starting to show up with commercial gyms.

Their effectiveness comes from the unique shape of the Kettlebell. A Kettlebell has a thick handle attached to a cannonball shaped weight. Hence, every single movement you perform engages a large amount of muscle in order to properly perform the movement.

If you have never heard of Kettlebells, it’s certainly something to look into. Kettlebell cardio workouts can be performed with either circuits or interval training. But make sure you start off light.

Dumbbell Cardio

If you don’t have access to Kettlebells, then you can try Dumbbell cardio. Dumbbell cardio simply allows you to combine cardio and weight training into one. After Kettlebell workouts, Dumbbell cardio workouts are the most challenging forms of training.

Adding resistance to your cardio workouts allows you to train your strength endurance as well as your cardio endurance. Sports such as martial arts, where you are constantly moving around (cardio) and fighting off an opponent (resistance), need a combination of resistance and cardio endurance training.

But, for the regular folks, combining strength and cardio workouts can help you get leaner while maintaining and even increasing your lean muscle mass and strength.

Did you know that you can get an amazing workout from ONLY bodyweight exercises…

…and that this workout can be done LITERALLY anytime and anywhere?

Check out this workout from Men’s Health and Women’s Health magazines fitness expert, Craig Ballantyne. It uses his world-famous Turbulence Training workout secrets to help you lose belly fat without equipment.

Warm-up Circuit – 2 rounds – Spend 15 seconds on each exercise.
1) Jumping Jacks
2) Bodyweight Squat
3) Pushups
4) Mountain Climbers
5) Prisoner Forward Lunges
6) Stickups

Strength Superset

1A) Toughest pushup for 30 seconds
1B) Toughest single leg exercise for 30 seconds per side
- Rest 1 minute before repeating this superset

Water break – 2 minutes

Conditioning Circuit – 20 seconds per exercise
1) Prisoner Squat
2) Pushup Plank
3) 1-leg hip extension
4) Close-grip pushup
5) Side Plank
- Rest 1 minute before repeating this circuit

Water break – 2 minutes

Final Circuit – 20 seconds per exercise
1) Split Squat
2) T-pushup
3) Prone Stick-ups
4) 1-Leg Deadlift
5) Squat thrusts

- Rest 1 minute before repeating this circuit

Water break – 2 minutes

Stretching Circuit – 20 seconds per stretch
1) Hip Flexor Stretch
2) Glute Stretch
3) Chest Stretch
4) Hamstring Stretch
5) Shoulder Stretch
- Rest 1 minute before repeating this stretching circuit

Done!

So much fun, and no equipment needed. You can do this at home, at the park, in your office (we won’t tell!), and even in a hotel room at a hotel – it no longer matters how bad the hotel gym is!

One of the best ways to help you with your intervals is to use the GymBoss Interval Timer. It costs just $19.95, and you can program it to help you keep track of any sort of intervals you may use. Click here to grab yours today.

Craig Ballantyne has developed hundreds of fitness programs that revolve around the basic concepts of Turbulence Training.

To get an overall introduction to Turbulence Training, you should grab the original Turbulence Training manual. The manual includes everything you need to get started on your fat loss journey. There are workouts for beginners, intermediate, and advanced trainees. If you go through each program separately, in a few months you’d have literally transformed your health and physique. Click here for more information.

For individuals who have had some experience with exercise or even Turbulence Training, then Craig has numerous other workouts specifically designed for women, muscle mass, bodyweight only, abs training, and more.

You need to make the decision today: Are you going to continue to follow pointless, boring workouts and never get any impressive results, or you going to take a chance and try some trully unique ideas using Craig Ballantyne’s workouts? Start today with either one of the Turbulence Training workouts:

• Click here for Turbulence Training Original workout Review
• Click here for Turbulence Training ab Workouts
• Click here for Turbulence Training for Muscle Mass
• Click here for Turbulence Training Bodyweight Only Workouts
• Click here for Turbulence Training for Women

Here’s a great dumbbell and bodyweight home workout routine from the original Turbulence Training manual, 2K6 workout A. Workout A is an upper body routine. You’re going to start off with an easy warm-up circuit.

Perform this 2 times with no rest in between each exercise, and 30 seconds rest between each circuit:

• Bodyweight Squat, 10 repetitions
• Close-Grip Pushups, 8 repetitions
• Stability Ball Leg Curl, 12 repetitions

After the warmup circuit, you’re going to do a warmup superset using two of the movements from the actual workout. Perform 6 repetitions of Dumbbell Incline Presses using 75% of the weight you use normally.

Move straight to Dumbbell Rows without resting. Once again, use just 75% of the weight. Rest 1 minute and use your normal weight to perform a superset of DB incline press and rows, 3 times.

Rest 1 minute between each superset. After 3 sets, move onto superset #2, which consists of 8 chinups and 8 repetitions of Dumbbell Chest Presses.

Do no rest in between each set, but rest 1 minute after the superset. After 3 supersets, finish the strength portion off with a set of close-grip pushups for 25 repetitions, followed by Dumbbell Rear-Deltoid Raises for 10 reptitions.

Perform 3 supersets, resting 1 minute between each superset. After the strength workout, perform 20-25 minutes of Interval training. Here’s what the entire workout looks like:

1A) DB Incline Press – 6 reps using 75% of your real weight
1B) DB Row – 6 reps using 75% of your real weight
Rest 1 minute

1A) DB Incline Press, 6 reps
1B) DB Row, 6 reps
Rest 1 minute, total 3 sets

2A) Chin-up, 8 reps
2B) DB Chest Press, 8 reps
Rest 1 minute, total 3 sets

3A) Close-Grip Pushups, 25 reps
3B) DB Rear Deltoid Raise, 10 reps
Rest 1 minute, total 3 sets

20-25 Minutes of Interval Training

One of the best ways to help you with your intervals is to use the GymBoss Interval Timer. It costs just $19.95, and you can program it to help you keep track of any sort of intervals you may use. Click here to grab yours today.

For some great dumbbell interval workouts, and information on how to lose fat by combining dumbbell and bodyweight training, check out the Gladiator Body Workout. Click here for more information.

P.S.

If you made it this far then you are definitely ready to grab this workout. Do not hesitate! You need to take charge of your health and this program is the perfect gift for anyone that cares about strength, mobility, health, and well being.

Click here to learn more about the Gladiator Body Workout

One of the best ways to help you with your intervals is to use the GymBoss Interval Timer. It costs just $19.95, and you can program it to help you keep track of any sort of intervals you may use. Click here to grab yours today.

If it’s January, it must be crazy time in the gym…and it must mean that every huckster out there is selling  the magic potion to help folks lose the blubber.

Be very careful about “gurus” who make claims that sound too good to be true…after all, none of that stuff has worked in the past, why would it start working now?

It’s easy to get caught up in the latest “weight loss craze”, but  it is essential for you to never stray too far from the basics.

The basics are what work time and time again. That’s how the TT Transformation Contest winners get such great results.

The 5 simple steps to success are:

1) Review your food journal.

Research shows that if you use a food journal, you should lose up to 3.5 pounds more than if you didn’t. Pretty simple, huh?

2) Use Fitday.com to see if your calories have crept up.

When people ask me how many calories they should be eating, I simply tell them to do three things.

- Go to Fitday.com and find out how many calories they are eating now.
- Cut that number by 20% if they are not losing weight.
- Improve the quality of their diet by eating at least 5 servings of fruit and 5 servings of vegetables each day (in addition to your other healthy foods).

The fat will fall off with this simple guideline.

3) Stop doing long, slow, boring cardio and switch to interval training.

Unless you are training for a marathon, a 10-K, or if you just love cardio more than life itself, there’s really no reason to do long, slow boring cardio.

Switch to shorter interval training sessions and you’ll get more results, have more fun, and do it all in less than half the time.

4) Review your workouts for best results.

In addition to your food journal, you should keep a workout journal. This will allow you to go back through your past workouts to find out which ones worked best for you and which ones you enjoyed. If  you’re struggling now, I suggest returning to the program that gave you the best results in the past.

5) Include resistance training in your workouts to help you sculpt your body.

Look at your body as a sculpture…sure you might have a little extra plaster on it, but you’ll get that off fastest with nutrition, not long cardio.

So use nutrition to lose the fat, and resistance training supersets, like the ones in the world-renowned Turbulence Training program, and you’ll sculpt your body like a beautiful work of art.

If you’re ready to go sleeveless, to get a flat stomach, and even to show off your body at the beach, then you’re ready for the world’s most popular home-workout program, Turbulence Training.

As featured in Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Oxygen, Men’s Fitness, and even Prevention magazine, Turbulence Training and Craig Ballantyne’s fat loss tips have been used by millions of men and women all over the world.

And now you can try this legendary workout program for less than the cost of a fast food combo.

Click here to try out Turbulence Training for less than 5 bucks.

By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
www.TurbulenceTraining.com

If you are looking to cut down on the amount of time you spend in the gym without jeopardizing your fat loss goals, then including interval training alongside your strength training program is the only way to go.

Just imagine spending half the time in the gym – if not more – and getting way better results. Isn’t that what you deserve?

I thought so.

And to make the notion of ditching long, slow, boring cardio even more convincing is the fact that you will be far less susceptible to sustaining an overuse injury with interval training.

For some of you, however, the thought of giving up your daily cardio machine routine is too much to bear. But not to worry because you can still use your favorite machine, but we’ll just tweak things a bit so that you get more out of your workout in half the time.

1) Interval Training Option #1 – Classic Intervals

For example, try incorporating intervals on the treadmill by running hard for 30 seconds, at an 8 out of 10 intensity level, followed by 60 seconds of light  recovery at a 3 out of 10 intensity level.

That is one interval, and so you will repeat this process up to 6 times, while using a five minute warm-up and a 5 minute cool down.

Each week try to do more squats in the same amount of time. This may sound easy, but trust me; it can be as difficult as you make it!

2) Interval Option #2 – Short Burst Squats

I personally recommend a Gymboss timer for this type of training, but it isn’t essential.

So, for the bodyweight interval training you will do as many bodyweight squats as you can for 20 seconds and then hold the bottom position for 10 seconds, then repeat your squats for 20 seconds, and then hold at the bottom for 10 etc. Repeat these intervals for 8 rounds.

3) Interval Option # – Kettlebell Swings

If you have a kettlebell, you can do swings or kettlebell squats for 30 seconds and then walk for 30 seconds and alternate for 6-10  rounds. That’s a great way to finish a fat burning workout.

Alright, so those are just three of the countless ways in which you can include interval training into your workouts that will burn fat faster and help you avoid spending more time than necessary in the gym.
One of the best ways to help you with your intervals is to use the GymBoss Interval Timer. It costs just $19.95, and you can program it to help you keep track of any sort of intervals you may use. Click here to grab yours today.
www.TurbulenceTraining.com

For years I performed traditional cardio workouts. I didn’t enjoy them, but I thought they were a necessity to drop fat and improve endurance for sports. But then I came across high intensity training.

I know realize that you can get a great cardio workout using high intensity interval training and performing bodyweight and dumbbell exercises. There are many great workouts out there, but CraigBallantyne’s high intensity home workouts are the only ones that combine bodyweight, dumbbell, and interval training to help you drop fat and build lean muscle mass.

Craig Ballantyne shows you a lot of different ways you can replace your traditional, boring cardio. Here’s his demonstration of Bodyweight Cardio:

Try that circuit and tell me you need to go on a treadmill to workout. The Turbulence Training workouts will completely transform your view of traditional cardio.

The second, and more important, method that Craig Ballantyne suggests is something known as Interval Training. Here’s how you do interval training:

One of the best ways to help you with your intervals is to use the GymBoss Interval Timer. It costs just $19.95, and you can program it to help you keep track of any sort of intervals you may use. Click here to grab yours today.These high intensity bodyweight circuits and interval training is often combined with strength training exercises organized into supersets. Craig will use a variety of implements to create these workouts, but the most common are dumbbells and bodyweight exercises.

Almost all Turbulence Training workouts can be done with a pair of adjustable dumbbells and your bodyweight. Craig Ballantyne explains what supersets are:

You should definitely grab one of Craig’s many home fitness workouts. Click here to access all of his workouts.

For those that are not familiar with Tabata training, it is simply a unique interval scheme that involves performing 20 seconds of exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest.

You are to perform this sequence 7 more times, for a total of 4 minutes of training. Over the years, the benefits of this technique have been completely blown out of proportion.

That is why I decided to write yet another article on this topic. I can, hopefully, present a more realistic picture of what Tabata exactly is and how it can help you in your fat loss goals.

Tabata Training Goals: Just Fat Loss?

A few months ago, I saw a disturbing article in Muscle & Fitness magazine which suggested using Tabata training for muscle mass. On some level, Tabata training can be used for muscle mass.

However, what was disturbing about it was that it basically took a typical bodybuilding program and plugged in the Tabata scheme. The problem with this is that some exercises are simply not effective with Tabata training.

Click here to Learn How You can Work Out using more High Intensity Techniques like Tabata

There are two questions that come to my mind after reading that article: 1) Can Tabata training be effectively used to acheive other goals such as strength and mass, and 2) can you use any exercise with Tabata training?

In one of my previous Tabata training articles, I mentioned that participants of the original Tabata experiment with Dr. Izumi Tabata reported some level of muscle mass.

This was probably due to the huge amount of growth hormone and testosterone which is usually released with such high intensity training. However, I also mentioned thatTabata should not be used primarily to put on muscle mass.

This is because, from experience, I have found that effective muscle mass actually requires a higher volume of training. You can achieve this level of volume by performing lots of volume in one session, or spreading out the volume over multiple sessions.

Tabata training is just too intense for you to use any substantial volume in order to ellicit gains in mass. So, the final verdict is that although you will look a little bigger after a tabata training program, this is due to the fact that you’ve actually lost more fat.

Now, as for strength, does Tabata training increase your level of strength? I’ve personally never experienced such gains in strength. Although, yesterday’s post on Bodyweight Training and Strength does suggest that interval training does improve strength.

I think the main problem here is the rest interval. If you wanted to transform Tabata workouts into strength workouts, you would need to at least double the amount of rest between each set.

But then that would change the nature of Tabata training itself. Then you would not be able to call it Tabata. It’s just interval training for strength. Hence, you can not gain strength with Tabata Training.

Gaining Mass and Strength with Tabata Training

Click here to Learn How You can Work Out using more High Intensity Techniques like Tabata

Wait a second, didn’t I just say that you can’t gain muscle and strength with Tabata training? I did, and I still stand by those conclusions. However, think about this: your body will be in such great condition after about a month ofTabata workouts, that the moment you switch to mass gain or strength workouts, your body will make drastic gains.

This is true for any sort of high intensity fat loss program. High intensity programs such as Tabata will improve your ability to recover, improve force production, and get you mentally prepared for heavy lifting.

Tabata Training Exercises

So the second question that came to my mind after reading the Muscle and Fitness article was – can you use any exercise for Tabata training? My belief has always been that high intensity ballistic exercises such as squat jumps, dumbbell snatches, and dumbbell swings work best forTabata.

However, exercises should not be too technical. For example, if you’re just learning to do cleans with a barbell, then don’t useTabata for it. Tabata will wear you out, and you will set yourself with injury if you use exercises you’re not very good at.

Looking back at the Muscle and Fitness article, should you use isolation bodybuilding exercises such as dumbbell curls and tricep extensions? Well, you can, but here’s the way I see it: Tabata training will push you.

You’ll be moving so fast, that your form will literally deteriorate. Hence, a bicep curl actually ends up being a “power shoulder get the dumbbell to your face as fast as possible” movement.

Do you see what I mean? Even a regular pushup ends up being ballistic at some point. If you perform movements slowly during a Tabata workout, then you’re wasting time and are not getting the most out of your 20 seconds.

Hence, stick to high intensity ballistic movements for Tabata training.

More Tabata Info

There is a lot to be written about Tabata and interval training. The following are a few articles I have written on the topic:

• Bodyweight Tabata Training for Beginner Athletes
• Tabata Training: The Complete Guide from Intensity to Insanity
• Interval Training with Burpees

Click here to Learn How You can Work Out using more High Intensity Techniques like Tabata

One of the best ways to help you with your intervals is to use the GymBoss Interval Timer. It costs just $19.95, and you can program it to help you keep track of any sort of intervals you may use. Click here to grab yours today.