Now You Have No Excuse... Tabata Training!

The purpose of this blog entry is to prevent overtraining and give you tips on how to gain optimal physical fitness in a very short amount of time. For those of you that are unfamiliar with Mark Sisson's case against chronic cardio, I'll boil it down to one sentence: Overtraining creates more problems than it solves, and if you work out every day, you're overtraining. The bottom line is that too much exercise can cause, amongst a bevvy of other consequences, systemic inflammation which, of course, is the root of all evil, health-wise.

With that in mind, we should all set exercise goals appropriately. The Primal Blueprint recommends 2 to 5 hours of general movement at a slow pace (e.g. walking) throughout the week as a baseline fitness goal. This is extremely easy for most people to accomplish. For me, since I spend a lot of time on the phone, I try to make and/or take my calls while walking around outside. Camille and I also take frequent walks through the subdivision at home in the evenings. A simple half hour of walking each day (or gardening, mowing the lawn, playing with your kids, etc.) will easily establish your movement/fitness baseline. The outdoors also has the ancillary benefit of giving you fresh, pure oxygen (assuming you're not a city dweller) and a natural source of vitamin D through absorption of sunlight.

On top of your general slow movement baseline, you should sprinkle in some moderate to intense physical activity such as lifting weights, doing body weight exercises, sports activities, or your choice of some other form of breaking a sweat. Personally, I typically stick with the Primal Essential Movements, (or PEMs) which are geared towards establishing general adequacy for all physical activities, as opposed to, let's say, being an offensive guard in the NFL, which requires a more specific set of physical talents. As a summary, the PEMS consist of (in no particular order): Push-ups, Pull-ups, Squats, Planks and Sprints. Check out the PEM link above for more specific details on proper form and progressions - very helpful. The beauty of the PEMs is that they are VERY effective on their own, and you don't need to be a member of a gym - you can perform most of these exercises in a small space at home or even away from home.

But I'm not writing this blog entry to explain how or why you should work out. The purpose here is to tell you about how I've found the TIME to work out. So many of us are so very busy that it's sometimes difficult to find the time and/or motivation to maintain physical fitness. Often, a perceived lack of time serves as the anti-motivation for working out, causing us to fall into the vicious cycle of not meeting our own expectations and subsequently giving up.

So, first, you need to set your goals and make them specific, but at the same time, allow yourself some flexibility. The 2 to 5 hours per week of general movement at a slow pace is your first goal. Specific? Check. Flexible? Check.

Next, you need to have a moderate-to-intense workout goal. Everyone is different, but, in general, it's absolutely necessary to allow yourself some recuperation time between workouts, otherwise you're just piling inflammation on top of the inflammation generated by your prior workout, potentially creating health issues. I subscribe to - and recommend - at least a 48 hour pause between intense workouts to allow adequate recuperation. So, with this in mind, you need to figure out your own personal fitness schedule. Perhaps you may benefit from my own example:

On New Year's Day, 2015, I vowed to workout 104 times throughout 2015. Why? Because I wanted to average 2 workouts per week. This would allow for a good fitness regimen with more than adequate recuperation. In order to track progress and help me vary my workout routine, I created and printed a very simple spreadsheet upon which to log my workouts, placing it in an obvious location as a reminder to stay on schedule. Specific? Check. Flexible? Check.

But what constitutes a workout? For me, a workout is defined as a minimum of 3 sets for an intense exercise, be they any of the PEMs mentioned above. Plus, if I spend more than a half hour working out, it's too long. Throughout 2015, I found myself breaking the 30-minute rule too often (because I don't like to do the bare minimum 3 sets), which detracted from my motivation. I simply don't have the time, patience or motivation to spend 45+ minutes working out, unless it's for physical therapy - something which I've been fortunate enough to avoid for most of my life. For those of you wondering if I accomplished my goal - I did not. I missed it by 3 workouts, and was disappointed in myself, especially considering that...

...on New Year's Day, 2016, I vowed to workout 130 times throughout 2016. I wasn't in the kind of shape that I wanted to be in, even after nearly accomplishing my 2015 goal. So I needed to increase my workout total to a sensible average of 2.5 workouts per week. Why? Because twice per week was apparently not enough, but I knew that thrice per week could run the risk of overtraining, especially if I missed 2 days in a row for some reason. And still I had the problem with consistently breaking my 30-minute rule. So, I had set an achievable goal, but I had not resolved the less-than-30-minute issue. How to remedy this problem?

Tabata training has been around awhile, but I had ignored it for one reason or another. After all, I've been working out since I was a teenager and have seen many fad workout regimens come and go. I never dug into the details of Tabata training, until now. If you haven't heard of Tabatas, here's all you need to know: 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off, 8 times. It's a form of High Intensity Interval Training (or HIIT), which can apply to virtually any exercise, including sprints. Let's take, for example, push-ups: For a Tabata set, do 20 seconds of as many push-ups as you can do, then take a 10-second break, and repeat 7 more times.

Sounds easy, right? Give it a try and you'll think otherwise... Then do another Tabata set and see what happens... For me, I like to combine 2 exercises into 1 Tabata set. For example, pull-ups plus bicep curls:

• 20 seconds of pull-ups, 10 seconds off

• 20 seconds of curls, 10 seconds off

• Repeat 3 more times

Trust me, it's a killer, especially if you want to do 3 or more Tabata sets. You'll find yourself as weak as a kitten afterwards...

The point being: You can perform a very effective workout within the span of 4 minutes. In my opinion, 4 minutes just doesn't seem like enough, though it certainly feels like it. So I usually do at least 2 sets, usually 3, and collapse afterwards.

Problem solved! With faster - and arguably more effective - HIIT workout sessions, you can easily meet your workout goals without having to beat the clock! You can be done in 4 to 8 to 16 minutes (if you're hardcore), depending on your activity/fitness level, and continue your day!

So now you have NO EXCUSE! Or, at least time cannot be your excuse. If you don't have fitness goals this year, it's never too late! Use my example if need be (a certain number of workouts per week), and modify it for your own fitness level. Get started now and you can literally watch your progress in the mirror!

A tip on Tabatas: You'll need a good timer, and there's a plethora of downloadable apps for your phone to do this. For me, I chose the Tabata Timer app (free), which serves the purpose admirably. I'm sure there are many others that come with lots of bells and whistles, but I'm not one for eccentricities. This one gets the job done and I haven't bothered looking elsewhere. If you find a better one, please feel free to share!

Oh, and for those who may be wondering if I'm on track to meet my 2016 goal of 130 workouts in 2016, the answer is a definitive Yes!

Best of luck and best of health, naturally!

Bret McClellan

Certified Primal Health Coach #239

McClellan Natural Health, Wellness & Nutrition

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