The Benefits of Tabata Workouts

As busy mommas, fitting in a workout during your day can be challenging. Running to the gym with kids in tow is not always an option for us as moms (or we choose not to do that). However, with HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) or Tabata workouts we can fit a beneficial workout into our day and even have our kids join us. If you can find 4 to 8 minutes in your day, you can get a great workout with tabata.

I am not an expert in working out and I don’t have a degree in training or exercise. I have done my research as a doctor on the powerful benefits of exercise and the different types of exercise.

Most of the time, I do not care for working out. I am not naturally an exercise fanatic.But, I have learned to love the benefits of working out and the need to move my body. And I like when my body feels active and strong.

You don’t need a gym membership to get a good workout in.

My philosophy on exercise is that exercise can be anything that moves your body. It doesn’t have to be this perfectly planned time at the gym to be beneficial for your body.

I think that oftentimes we view exercise as needing to look a certain way for it to be beneficial. That is just not true. We all have different abilities to exercise and just moving our bodies is sufficient and good.

Exercise needs to be physically, mentally and spiritually beneficial. Burning ourselves out is not good. Plus, it is going to do more harm than good to your body.

I wrote a blog post a while back on “Why I Don’t Do Crossfit.” I have learned that crossfit is not good for me and my body. Some forms of exercise can break down our bodies and not build them up. Not every type of exercise is good for every person. Pushing yourself too hard is just… well… too hard!

I do think that there are benefits to other types of workouts. Weight lifting and getting outside for walks both have great benefits. Doing a low and slow workout does offer good benefits to blood sugar for example. From a hormone perspective however, running and walking for long periods of time is not always the best.

Let’s talk about Tabata.

It is a quick 4-8 minute workout depending on how many rounds you choose to do. Tabata is burst or surge training. The basis of tabata workouts are doing high intensity for short periods of time.

Tabata is typically 20 seconds of an exercise at your maximum and then 10 or 20 seconds rest. This 20 seconds on and 10 to 20 seconds off is one rep. Continue that for 8 reps which is a total of about 4 minutes.

Then you can add an additional round of 8 reps to get to 8 total minutes. During the 20 seconds on you want to be working hard. You should be winded and tired by the end of the 4 minutes. You want to go at your maximum for those 20 seconds.

Some HITT workouts can be over 30 minutes long. This oftentimes can be too much for our body. We want to build our body up and not tear it down. Especially if we are working through some health challenges at the moment or under a lot of stress. I recommend not doing much more than 8 minutes.

When doing tabata, I recommend downloading a tabata timer app on your phone or finding a tabata song when you stream music from. This way you don’t need to watch the clock. With a tabata song, it will play music at the right beats per minute to get you moving and then a voice will tell you when to start and stop. And the song adds some music which makes it more fun.

Spotify has Tabata specific songs. Just search Tabata and you’ll find them.

Example Exercises

Jump Squats
Squats in place
Lunges
Skaters
Running in place
Mountain Climbers
Push ups
Jumping Jacks
Sometimes, I like to add in a little bit of weights too. You can do some arm presses or flys with free weights for example.

Another way you can achieve a tabata workout is on a treadmill or elliptical. Now, you have to be careful with doing this on a treadmill. To do this, turn the treadmill on and turn up the speed. Then hop on and run fast for the 20 seconds and then hop off.

The Benefits of Tabata

There are many benefits to tabata. Even just 4 minutes of tabata in the morning can be more beneficial than going to the gym for an hour. There are so many benefits for our weight and muscle mass. I am not saying that going to the gym and working out is bad. Everything has its own place. I am simply just showing you that there is true benefit to just 4 minutes of tabata in the morning.

Tabata benefits

Boosts neurogenesis – This is the creation of neurons in our brains. Tabata is an exercise for your brain health.
Increases longevity
Decreases inflammation
Balances hormones like cortisol and increases growth hormone
Improves adrenal health

Doing short tabata workouts are great for cortisol and stress. When you go for a run for example, you burn fat and calories during the run and when you’re done, your body is done burning the fat. There is not a lot of hormonal or physiological benefit post exercise with a workout like that. With tabata, you don’t actually burn fat during the workout itself. You burn a lot of sugar and then you have a hormonal burst of fat burning for 24-48 hours afterward.

When we are talking about fat burning, we are more so talking about muscle. Not as much about fat loss. As women, we need fat. We also want more muscle. Muscle percentage is a biomarker for longevity. We need muscle because it is physiologically healthy. There are so many long term benefits to muscle.

Look at tabata like a full body workout.

Find the exercises that you love and that work well for your body. Change things up each day and push yourself for those 4 to 8 minutes. I think you will find that you can still get a good workout in without having to spend an hour at the gym.

Thanks for reading! Did you know I have a shop of all my favorite supplements? You can click the button below to shop.