Tabata Workouts For Beginners (with Infographic)

Just because Tabata workouts are gold standard for Olympic trainees doesn’t mean that they are not suitable for beginners. In fact, Tabata workouts are a great way for a beginner with no money, no equipment and very little time to really get fit. The main thing you need is an ability to push yourself—and a stopwatch.

Timing is key for a Tabata workout, timing, and the ability to go full-power for 20 seconds at a time. Can you do it? If you can, you’re well on the way to a much trimmer, fitter and healthier you.

Cost In Time: 4 Minutes Per Day

(plus 10 minute warm and 5 minute cool down)

One of the best things about Tabata is that it is very flexible. You can choose from a variety of exercises, including, using machines, like exercise bikes, treadmills and elliptical machines.

When you choose your type of Tabata workout, take into account your comfort level with the exercise in question, your current fitness level, and also consider just what you want to achieve with your workout, specifically, what muscle groups would you like to target?

A Tabata workout will have you doing your all-out absolute best, so it isn’t the time to try out new exercise moves or those that are too complicated. But if all you know is pushups, your Tabata sessions don’t have to be limited by that, either.

You’ll just have to teach yourself new exercises during lower-intensity workout times, and after you’ve got them down, incorporate them in your Tabata workout.

Tabata And Running

Suppose you are a runner. Then you may want to start your Tabata adventure by doing a Tabata Running Workout; building up from what you are already good at.

Here is an example of a great Tabata workout with running.

You’re going to sprint, going as fast as you possibly can, as if wolves were after you, for all of 20 seconds.

Then pause for 10 seconds. Stopping straight out might be out of the question, but put the brakes on, walk very slowly, catch your breath, stop if you want to, but, only for 10 seconds.

Then—there are the wolves again—so go for 20 more seconds. When the timer goes off and that 20 seconds are over, you’ve got another breather, and you’ve done ¼ of your workout.

A Tabata workout is 8 cycles long; eight cycles of 20 seconds on 10 seconds off. 

And, you know what? It’ll do more for your body than an hour run at a steady pace.

Tabata With Exercise Bikes

You might not be a runner. Other exercises work just as well with the Tabata protocol. If you’ve got an exercise bike at your house, try spinning. Get on there and play a little with the pedals to warm yourself up.

Then try cycling madly for all of 20 seconds.

A 10 second break, then 20 seconds more.

Try to make sure your speed stays at least at 85 RPM for the whole high intensity time.

Stationary biking was actually the first exercise the Tabata method was tried on, and if you are consistent with it, say, four days a week, 4 minutes a day—you’ll definitely see results.

Other Tabata Moves

Bodyweight movements are also great options for Tabata, these include, squats, jump squats, jumping jacks and high knees, all of which are great Tabata workouts. 

The important thing to remember is that during your 20 seconds on you are working the hardest you can, the fastest you can, and putting everything you have into it. Your reward is your 10 seconds of rest.

Try this fun four-minute Tabata workout for beginners, from The Fitologists!

Pairing Cardio With Tabata For A Complete Weekly Fitness Regimen

Tabata is an intense training methods that really delivers results. The Tabata protocol is an exercise regime where you workout in short, twenty second bursts of extremely high intensity.

These high intensity intervals are separated by ten-second rest periods, and you do eight of them for a classic Tabata exercise workout.

Be forewarned, Tabata is not for the weak or faint at heart. It is really intense, pushing yourself to the absolute max, with non-stop aggressive reps for each and every one of the 20 second intense intervals.

Tabata Moves

For the best all round results, you want to choose an exercise that targets several major muscle groups. Burpees can really get your heart going, and so can jump squats or even jumping jacks.

You don’t need to limit yourself to only one exercise, but, since you want to fire up your muscles up to their maximum ability and each exercise works out slightly different muscles, you may want to do a complete four minute Tabata workout with the first exercise, and take a little break before going on to the next. Or if you’re only up to one session, do one day and another the next.

Let’s suppose you decided to do high knees, which are, exaggerated walking/running in place where you bring the knees up to waist level every time you take a step-- and you’ve got some small weights you’ll bring up over your head as you bring up your knees, just to make sure your upper body is working too.

Set up a stopwatch so you’ll be able to easily track ten and twenty-second sessions. When time starts, go as fast as you possibly can. If it seems too easy, change out your weights for something a little heavier. You need to be exerting yourself as much as humanly possible.

Don’t lose your form, though—exercise without proper form will deliver you very little real benefit. If you find you’re just flailing your arms and legs, you need to slow down a little and may need to work on fluency with your chosen exercise before you work on making it Tabata intensity.

After twenty seconds, give yourself a ten second break. Ten seconds where you just stand there, gasping for breath if necessary. Then you go on with twenty seconds more of the high knees with that overhead lift.

If we follow our natural tendencies, the first twenty seconds may be pretty radical, red hot stuff. We’re motivated; we want to get healthy in just five minutes a day, and we’re fresh and excited to be doing this.

By round three, we’re feeling just a little bit less energetic. Our speed and intensity is tapering off. By the time we come to round seven and eight, were just going through the motions.

If that’s you and your workout, you’re not doing Tabata. For Tabata you need to keep yourself at the highest intensity through all 8 repetitions. It’s not the natural rhythm your body will be trying for.

But if you’ve got a little will power, you can push yourself to it. Remember, when the four minute bell rings, you’ll have completed the workout and be well on the way to a healthier you.

Pairing Cardio With Tabata

What happens when you pair the Tabata protocol with some intense cardio? You get a great weekly combination, a fitness regimen that will really fire up your cardiovascular system, yield optimal fat burning results and get you squarely on the road to a healthier you.

Tabata is an extreme workout and so it is not recommended for everyday use. Typically 3 or 4 times max per week is best.

So, a good strategy is to do your regular cardio on the other 3 or 4 days, and rest for one.

So a typical schedule might be, Monday, Wednesday and Friday Tabata.

Then Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday an hour on the treadmill, maybe 20 minutes of HIIT, some bike work or any other cardio that you enjoy and don’t forget to add some muscle toning on those cardio days as well.

This type of aggressive combination will yield fantastic results in transforming your body to a lean mean fat burning machine, and as long as you stick with a healthy diet, you will see truly amazing results.

Now go do it!