Tabata Intervals - Do More in Less Time

I do a lot of interval training for many reasons. For one thing, it's been shown to increase fat loss, plus, interval training is still good for my heart. Add to that the fact that it helps to suppress the appetite, keeps me interested, and is touted by one of my favorite celebrity trainers, and you should understand why I shy away from doing too many long, steady-paced jogs.

Interval training also allows you to burn a lot of calories in not a lot of time, and Tabata intervals take that a step further. Rather than going hard for a minute and taking it easy for a minute (or two), Tabata relies on really short, really hard intervals.

Start out by warming up (of course), then throw yourself into a hard run (or whatever your cardio choice is) -- aim for a 9 on the RPE scale. Stick with that for 20 seconds, then slow waaaay down, but only for 10 seconds. Then, push it back up. DietBlog suggests trying to repeat this six times, but if you can't do it right away, don't worry -- just keep working at it!