Here are several popular Practical Hacks posts from the past 10 months that you may wish to check out in case you missed them first time around:
If you anticipate moving during 2009, definitely check out this post from July of this year, “4 great websites for anyone relocating.” Even if you’re not moving, one of the sites I mention will enable you to check out the value of your home.
Ever send an email and immediately realized you shouldn’t have? Check out this post from May – “How to save yourself from sending idiotic messages!”
Going back to the early days of Practical Hacks, one of my first posts focused on how to conduct online research on companies: “21 great resources for researching companies and & competitors.”
If you’re traveling by car this holiday season, you ought to check out “Create your own roadside emergency kit.”
Speaking of safety on the road, take a few minutes and make sure you’re covered should you be incapacitated in an accident or other mishap: “Critical information & numbers to store in your cell phone.”
A recent post, so forgive me if this is redundant for you, but I’m particularly excited about this one – “Tabata training: 60 minutes’ benefit from a 4 minute workout.“ I’m shedding pounds and have already lowered my resting pulse significantly after doing Tabata workouts for a couple of weeks – check it out if you missed it first time around.
You can bet I’ll be employing these strategies on our trip back home this week: “9 steps for minimizing TSA security checkpoint hassles.”
Finally, a simple but neat post from late April: “5 indispensable Excel keyboard shortcuts everyone should know.”
Did I miss any of your favorites? Let me know – or if you have ideas for future posts, please share them with me by commenting. Have a great week!
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Hey, I really liked the Tabata article.
Although I’m one of its older practitioners, I do Brazilian jiu jitsu for recreation and exercise, and in classes we do a lot of running, sprinting, and “body weight” conditioning exercises before the actual jiu jitsu drilling and sparring. Since the jiu jitsu drills combine endurance plateaus with high intensity peaks, I thought I was already in good shape – particularly from the “High Intensity Interval Training System” (HIITS) standpoint, until I tried your Tabatas.
After all, doing a 1/2 hour of mad max exercise routines side by side with 20-somethings three nights a week should already have me in peak fitness, right?
Well I was wrong.
When I did the Tabatas as you described in your article (8 cycles consisting of 20 seconds max cardio followed by 10 seconds of rest), I thought I was going to die.
Hey, it’s not hard for almost anyone to go full-out for a lousy 20 seconds, right? Right, at least for the first couple of intervals . Then the short 10 second rest periods starts kicking me into anaerobic mode and all hell breaks lose in my body – the last cycles are insanely hard.
You are quite right that you need to do a “mini-warmup” before the actual Tabata training if you are going to give the Tabatas 100%, and a cool down afterwards. Otherwise the “shock” to the system is way too intense!
Have a couple of observations:
1. I couldn’t make Tabatas “work” for me until I got the GymBoss timer, which is expressly designed for Tabatas – you program it for active interval, rest interval, and number of cycles and can just go on autopilot after that. At $20 or so, its the best exercise gadget I purchased in 2008. The only other effective way to get the timing right is to watch a YouTube Tabata exercise routine and let the video do the timing for you (choosing your own exercises or trying the ones in the video).
2. It IS possible to do Tabata training “lite” although I know that must sound like heresy.
Here’s how “Tabata lite” has transformed by early morning “at the office” exercise routine:
I get to work early and usually do some kettlebell routines, before anyone is in the office, to start my day. But my routine lacked discipline. It mainly lacked discipline because a part of me was never sure how long I would spend at it, and wanted to bag it so I could just crank up the computer and see what was going on the in the world.
But the idea of a compact, “4 minute” routine is immensely appealing. Everyone has 4 minutes to spare, right?
So what I do now, is set my briefcase down and pull out the timer.
I put two kettlebells on the floor in front of me, one light and one medium, since I’m not going to spend separate time warming up and can’t just dive into heavier weights.
Then I start “Tabata Lite”.
I use the first 3 Tabata cycles (20 sec/10 sec) essentially to warmup so the next cycles won’t “kill” me, figuratively or actually speaking – doing squats, divebomber push-ups (also called “Hindu pushups”) or running in place with high knees, picking up the pace from cycle 1 to cycle 2 to cycle 3.
Then on the next three cycles I use the kettlebells, for example classic swings, then snatch and press, then bent over rowing (but you can substitute any kettlebell routines), choosing the appropriate weight on the fly. This REALLY picks up my heart rate, which of course works out my cardio, but since I am using the kettlebells I ALSO improve my core strength AND work specific muscle groups (depending on the kettlebell routine I am doing).
Finally the last two Tabata cycles I “cool down” by walking in place with high knee raises or doing squats more slowly or doing sit ups.
I can’t say I’m not still huffing and puffing with my heart racing at the end, but a walk to the water cooler to refill my bottle, will usually be additional cool-down time.
Each day I vary the kettlebell routines I do, so by the end of the week I’ve done most of the major kettlebell exercises.
And it only takes me 4 minutes a day, just like you promised!
(When I feel like a real maniac, I do “orginal, hardcore” Tabatas, trying my hardest on each cycle – but that is something I save for the gym or home.)
(And guess what – my cardio in jiu jitsu sparring is getting better! There is something crazy about Tabatas that “uncorks” my reserves better than long, slow, 70% endurance training.)
[Reply]