I have 3 “GiveIt100.com” projects going. I’ve talked about this a lot – it’s a free website where you post 10 seconds of you doing whatever it is that you decide to do as a project, every day for 100 or 365 days. When you get to 100 (or 365) you get to post a minute video. It was the brainchild of a gal who taught herself how to breakdance that way.
I have 3 going – I think if you go to this link:
https://giveit100.com/@fempowerment
you can see my projects.
I have rope climbing, handstands, and double unders going. I didn’t really do much while I was on vacation or for the week after – particularly the week after, as we were “catching up” from being gone.
Today, I posted new videos for those three – re-located my rope to the back of the property, realized that my fancy-schmancy Momentum Crossfit speed rope just DOES NOT WORK for me (sigh), and spent 30 humbling seconds trying to figure out how I could possibly move myself closer to the wall holding me up in the handstand.
I know that I have to work on mobility for my squat, and I also need to work on core. So I’ve decided to add a FOURTH GiveIt100 Project – this time, I’m going to do Tabata situps, and on alternate days, mobility.
“Tabata mobility”??? Huh? Well, I have a couple Tabata “songs” on my iTunes, and I need to do something on the “every other” day, because I can’t do Tabata situps every day or I will die (laugh). I thought about burpees, but what I actually HAVE to do is mobility work. So I figure I will call it “Tabata mobility” – and maybe even do it for longer (since a Tabata is 4 minutes) – but I will do it for AT LEAST 4 minutes.
What the heck is Tabata training?
Tabata training is a style of interval training developed by a guy named Dr. Izumi Tabata at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, Japan. He conducted tests on two groups of athletes, comparing moderate intensity training (such as long distance running) to high intensity interval training (such as sprinting).
Not only did the athletes doing high intensity interval training increase their overall aerobic and anaerobic capacity, their VO2 max, resting metabolic rate, it also helped them burn more fat—resulting in a leaner physique much quicker than their moderate intensity training counterparts.
Training Tabata-style means:
- Burning more fat
- Boosting metabolism all day long
- Getting in shape quicker than medium intensity training (such as long-distance running)
- Getting more done in less time
The only caveat? During Tabata training you have to work really, really hard during the entire 4 minutes—or the whole exercise will be pointless and you’ll never get the results you’re looking for. To complete a Tabata workout, you either get a song that has the count in it (that’s what I have, or you set a timer for 8 rounds of 10 and 20 second intervals.
The workout looks like this:
:10 – Get ready
:20 – Work
:10 – Rest
:20 – Work
:10 – Rest
:20 – Work
:10 – Rest
:20 – Work
:10 – Rest
:20 – Work
:10 – Rest
:20 – Work
:10 – Rest
:20 – Work
:10 – Rest
:20 – Work
For a total of a 4-minute workout. You record your total score for each of the “Work” portions. The idea is to try to get that number as high as you can – to really bust a gut doing the “Work” portions.
Granted, “Mobility” is something that doesn’t exactly lend itself to Tabatas. It’s stretching, after all. But I don’t spend 4 minutes stretching every day – I should, I just don’t. So I figure if I make that my “alternate” to 3 days of Tabata situps (3 days of Mobility, then 1 day off), I will at least be doing it every other day. My squats will hopefully thank me for it.
One thing I must say about GiveIt100.com is that it’s taught me how to “ghetto edit” videos, that’s for sure. I can speed up the film, put in captions, etc. So it should be sort of fun with the Tabatas – just speed up 4 minutes of Work and rest into 10 seconds. Hair flyin’!
Now I”m off to yoga. Yes, I really am. I recorded my 3 project videos, cleaned up my email, and it’s a brand new day…