I did the tabata workout today for the first time, and I chose DEADLIFTS as the exercise.
After the second set of 20 seconds I thought I was not going to be able to finish the workout, but I did.
I was very careful to not loose my form and to do explosive concentrics.
Something really amazing is how the 10 second rests seem like 2 seconds, but this workout is so intense it is actually very fun.
My question for you guys is:
Have you tried the tabata method with good results in fat loss?
I plan on doing a tabata workout on my off days, which would be 3 times per week (its only 4 minutes).
By the way if you are not familiar with the tabata workout it goes as follows:
Pick a good compound exercise which you are familiar with the form, do as many reps as you can for 20 seconds (shoot for about 8), rest for 10 seconds, and repeat seven more times. This is 8 total sets of 20 seconds with 10 second rests in between each set.
[quote]Danny John wrote:
I would not recommend deadlifts for Tabatas…really, a bad idea.
Three days a week? Try it and see, I guess…[/quote]
may sound like a dumb question, but why is the dl a bad exercise?
trap_builder- i was under the impression that you should be completing higher reps that the said eight that you did. maybe something closer to fifteen is what i had envisioned, given a lighter load of course. eight just seems a little low.
may sound like a dumb question, but why is the dl a bad exercise?
[/quote]
The dead lift would be a bad exercise to chose because of the nature of the Tabata method, to perform as many reps as possible in the 20 second period. I would guess that the dead lift would be a great way to injure yourself if you were really trying to perform as many as you can, as quickly as you can.
TABATA kicks ass for supplemental fat loss when cutting. I did it once a week (on Saturdays) in conjunction with a bastardized MWF TBT program. I have a high tolerance for high intensity aerobic-borderline-anaerobic activities. I swam as a kid and dominated at intermediate to long distance (200m,400m,800m) events. I would have been a great long distance runner … hmmm, if only that were fun, stimulating, or otherwise somehow rewarding.
3x week - could be excessive
DLing - could be dangerous
3x week deadlifting TABATA - could be suicidal.
Listen to Danny John man. That’s asking for it.
I do some interval type training with power cleans. Light weight (~50% 1RM), fast clean reps, 10 sets of 5 in 10 minutes. Bis, forearms, shoulders, traps, back, calves, hips … that’s fun.
Also check into bears done in similar fashion … equally fun.
[quote]
3x week - could be excessive
DLing - could be dangerous
3x week deadlifting TABATA - could be suicidal.
Listen to Danny John man. That’s asking for it.
I do some interval type training with power cleans. Light weight (~50% 1RM), fast clean reps, 10 sets of 5 in 10 minutes. Bis, forearms, shoulders, traps, back, calves, hips … that’s fun.
Also check into bears done in similar fashion … equally fun.[/quote]
Listen to Mr. John. Amen. He’s the guy that brought the Tabata method to T-Nation.
As far as deadlifts being dangerous, I know for sure that for me it would be much more dangerous to do the squats, I get along very well with deadlifts.
As far as shooting for 8 reps, I got that from the Tabata Method article here at T-Nation, and believe me while you’re at it 8 reps doesn’t seem like too low of a number!
The days i will do the Tabata workout are days in which i will do NOTHING else, so it is just 4 minutes of high intensity exercise and thats it for the day.
From what I have read not too many people have gotten the “fantastic fat loss” results that the tabata method is supposed to deliver.
I think the idea of fat loss is secondary to conditioning (sorry for using a general term). The idea of fat loss is too much a narrow-goal to pin to Tabata. The purpose of his study was for improving conditioning. In fact, I think it read that in his study he had runners perform the intervals 5 times a week. Overdone? I dunno.
So why fat loss? Well I guess it is pinned on Tabata intervals because it is an interval program and interval programs have been getting accolades for being better fat burning workouts than low-difficulty, long cardio. If you read the study or summaries of the study, fat loss wasn’t the main intention.
may sound like a dumb question, but why is the dl a bad exercise?
The dead lift would be a bad exercise to chose because of the nature of the Tabata method, to perform as many reps as possible in the 20 second period. I would guess that the dead lift would be a great way to injure yourself if you were really trying to perform as many as you can, as quickly as you can.[/quote]
I agree, the fact that you are trying to do as many reps as possible means that you really have to throw yourself into the exercise, and I reckon that if I was doing that for deadlifts I would not be able to focus on the correct sequence of extending the knees first before the hips. I think most people would probably jerk the weight up with some form of ugly stiff-legged deadlift, with many risks for the lower back coming into play. The reason that front squats and dumbell thrusters are recommended is that the movement is literally straight up and down, with no “unfolding” of the body required in deadlifts. This makes it easier to stay “in the groove” with perfect form, even though you are performing the reps very quickly. It also means you somehow can do the last few sets on autopilot when you are fast becoming unconscious from the lactic acid buildup, LOL!
Read the original Tabata article here on T-Nation by Dan John. His recommendation is on average to do them only twice a month, and even then you are very tough! You would then fit in some sort of other conditioning training on other weeks. With this advice coming from a guy like Dan I don’t think I would be willing to push these boundaries too much, he knows his training!
The other thing to consider is the frequency that you are doing deadlifts. Yes, they are one of the best exercises to do, but I think it is acknowledged that it is very easy to overtrain doing them as well. I know that Tabatas use very light weight but the number of reps means that your volume is way up there.
If you still wanted to use deadlifts for a conditioning workout I would look at something like Charle’s Staley’s EDT for Fat Loss, where you do a lot of reps of an exercise over a 15 minute period, but you can do it in a manner which will allow you to focus on form more than Tabatas will let you.
[quote]chubs108 wrote:
I think the idea of fat loss is secondary to conditioning (sorry for using a general term). The idea of fat loss is too much a narrow-goal to pin to Tabata. The purpose of his study was for improving conditioning. In fact, I think it read that in his study he had runners perform the intervals 5 times a week. Overdone? I dunno.
So why fat loss? Well I guess it is pinned on Tabata intervals because it is an interval program and interval programs have been getting accolades for being better fat burning workouts than low-difficulty, long cardio. If you read the study or summaries of the study, fat loss wasn’t the main intention.[/quote]
I was also wandering about this, and what I found on another page was the following idea:
The Tabata method has been proven best for aerobic and anaerobic conditioning- it is compared to about an hour of medium intensity cardio, plus the added benefit of anaerobic capacity increase.
In other words, the Tabata method will make you more “fit”. So what I read was that the more “fit” you are, the more fat you use as fuel in the activities you are performing day to day.
So it may not act directly as a fat loss workout, but in the long term it definitely will as you become much more conditioned.
Another reason why deadlifts are a poor choice: I believe the deadlifts should be trained in singles. Each rep should begin from a dead stop. The Tabata method would involve too much bouncing.