Tabata Rowing Pain Captured on Video

Location: Woodcock Sports Centre, Aston University (and at work)
Date:28th - 30th June

Monday: as many press-ups as I could do (40), in the disabled toilet at work.

Wednesday: Tabata rowing machine - eyeballs out. Here's the video. I ate this afterwards.

The press-ups were a spontaneous thing. Obviously. There can't be many people who plan a press-up workout in the disabled toilet. It was either that or in the middle of the office.

The Tabata rowing was very much planned. I had been fearing it. We have our Skiddaw race (9 miles, 2700 feet) on Sunday and I want to give my legs plenty of chance to recover from recent training. A rowing Tabata seemed like a way to maintain fitness and familiarity with pain without unduly hitting the leg muscles.

As well as recording it on video, I also had my heart rate monitor running. The idea was to create an overlay onto the video showing how the pain mapped to heart rate. Alas, I discovered the limits of bluetooth. Evidently, 2 metres is too far. Next time the phone will be in my pocket. ... Read more

Hard Week: Tabata, Sprints and some Weights

Location: Woodcock Sports Centre, Aston University
Date:15th - 17th June

Tuesday
- Tabata Rowing Machine - almost 100% effort (resistance level 5)

Total time: 5 minutes (includes 1 minute warm up)
Food: eggs, blueberries, cinnamon 60 minutes later.

--

Thursday
- Chin Ups: as many as I could do = 16

- Dumbbell bench press alternated with Romanian Deadlift (with dumbbells)
(bench - 3 x 5 @ 30kg, 2 x 5 @ 28kg) (deads - 5 x 5 @ 36kg - easy)

- Sprints: 3 x 30 seconds in the studio - 60 - 120 seconds rest between each (30 seconds = about 6 studio lengths)

Total time: 25 minutes
Food: eggs, blueberries, cinnamon (again!) 60 minutes later.

I've just read a blog post, The Tabata Myth and commented on it. The session on Tuesday left me walking around in pain for about 3 minutes. With normal exercise, when you stop, you feel better - especially if you are already quite fit, as I am. So I suspect I am doing the Tabatas properly. He may be right to question how proven Tabata's effectiveness is. However, as I say in my comment, it is so quick and efficient that I would be happy even if it were not as effective as 30 minutes of circuit training.

The sprints were slightly easier than last time. By this I mean that my legs felt less violated by the end of the third sprint. I had intended to do a fourth, since that would represent progress from the last session. But since I will be doing some tough hill training with the weight vest on tomorrow (like this), it seemed sensible to hold back. ... Read more

Upper Body Tabata Intervals

Location: My House
Date: 23rd April

Workout: Mixed Tabata Intervals

Total Time: 9 minutes
Post Workout Nutrition: sardines and boiled eggs, 1 hour & 10 mins later.

I only wanted to hit the upper body, so I took the four exercises that avoided the legs and did each one twice in each Tabata set of 8. It did two Tabatas in total. It was, as any Tabata should be, tough, but the absence of quad involvement did keep me out of the vomit zone.

Floor Press - 20 seconds
10 seconds rest
Bent Over Row - 20 seconds
10 seconds rest
Seated Knee Raises - 20 seconds
10 seconds rest
Upright Row - 20 seconds
10 seconds rest
Floor Press - 20 seconds
10 seconds rest
Bent Over Row - 20 seconds
10 seconds rest
Seated Knee Raises - 20 seconds
10 seconds rest
Upright Row - 20 seconds

1 minute rest, then the same again.

The weights I chose we pretty low, but I find that when you are doing Tabata-style high speed, high intensity reps, it's very difficult to go too light. Lighter means faster, which means more effort. You still end up struggling towards the end of the 3rd and 4th set.

Update: I have changed the exercise from Press Ups to Floor Press - this was a copy and paste error - my comment below about not doing press ups should now make more sense!
... Read more

Mixed Tabata Intervals

Location: My House
Date: 19th March

Mixed Tabata Circuit Intervals x 2 (1 minute rest between)

Total workout time: 9 minutes

Post-workout nutrition: none - fasted until dinner.

This was a carbon copy of the session I did last month, so not much to add. Paradoxically, considering the garbage I ate and drank last weekend, I felt, if anything, marginally fitter this time. Perhaps before the garbage I was even fitter... ... Read more

Tabata Burpees and Some Press Ups

Location: My House
Date: 16th Marcy

Part 1 at 8am: Tabata burpees - 4 minutes

Part 2 at 11am: 30 push ups - 45 seconds

Post Workout 'Nutrition': this load of junk, at 1pm.

It's been a weekend of drinking and eating junk, which spilled over into the start of the week because I had time off work and met up with some of my co-conspirators today for lunch.

Today's exercise was largely medicinal. I am looking forward to getting back into the groove with the workouts and the food. For now I must accept I will not feel great for a couple more days and resist the temptation to do counterproductive amounts of exercise.

Better to avoid illness and carry a little extra fat for a few weeks that to be lean but ill.... ... Read more

New Warm Up, Pistols and Dreaded Rowing Tabata

Location: Woodcock Sports Centre, Aston University
Date: 2nd February

Warm up: selected movements from this video.

Workout
- 5 x pistols on each leg, alternately.
- Tabata Intervals on the Rowing Machine - at about 95% effort.

Total Time: 15 minutes

Post Workout Nutrition: Paleo breakfast of champions with blueberries (recipe), 1 hour later.

I am fast becoming a big fan of the movements in the warm up video. It combines stretching with warming up - which is clearly a time saver; it also feels like a more natural approach. Thanks to Chris from Conditioning Research for this.

The pistols are the first proper pistols I have done since the knee op. I was surprised to be able to get down almost to horizontal even on the remedial knee. This marks a turning point and I am looking forward to progressing pistols again.

The Tabata rowing was, as ever, savage. 95% effort, on the wild animal scale is fleeing a tiger that's 30 yards behind, as opposed to 100% where it's got hold of your underwear in its teeth. It's the difference between being just about able to speak to you training partner at the end versus holding one finger in the air for 30 seconds to indicate he must wait. ... Read more

Rowing Machine Tabata

Location: Woodcock Sports Centre, Aston University
Date: 28th January

Workout: Tabata Intervals on the Rowing Machine - at about 95% effort.

Total Time: 5 minutes (including 1 minute warm up)

Post Workout Nutrition: Paleo breakfast of champions (recipe), 2.5 hours later.

I'm getting fitter. I was able to perform the 8th interval with a sense of inner control; and the lung/throat pain I felt when walking around afterwards was less than last time.

Alas, another sign of my improving fitness is the reappearance of the sleep/fitness paradox. Waking up at 4am or 5am with no hope of getting to sleep and a head full of things I want to do. ... Read more

First Post-Knee-Op Cardio: Rowing Machine Tabata

Location: Woodcock Sports Centre, Aston University
Date: 12th January

Workout: Tabata Intervals on the Rowing Machine - at about 90%.

Total Time: 5 minutes (including 1 minute warm up)

Post Workout Nutrition: this, 20 minutes later.

This is the first proper intense cardio I have done since the knee op. I was able to operate at high intensity provided I did not flex my knees too much beyond 90 degrees. Since then the knee has been fine.

But the general discomfort during the session was significant - I got that pain in the throat and windpipe I recall from school when I was made to exercise intensely, outdoors, when I was not fit. It took a few hours before that went away. That said, I had definitely not lost all my fitness - there's no way I would have got to the 8th interval if I had.

I believe I have the BBS sessions to thank for the maintenance of some fitness - but it will take a few tabatas before I am back in the groove. ... Read more

REAL Tabata on the Rowing Machine, a Murderous Session

Location: Woodcock Sports Centre, Aston University
Date: 10th August

Workout: Tabata Intervals on the Rowing Machine

Total Time: 5 minutes (includes 1 minute warmup)

Post Workout Nutrition: scrambled eggs + wild bilberries + cocoa powder, 45 minutes later.

Having read this article by Lyle McDonald, I was determined to perform this Tabata session correctly. It's a long and involved article, but nub of it that to truly get the benefits of the Tabata protocol, as evidenced by the original study, you have to put an incredible amount of effort into the intervals.

As Lyle puts it:

Doing thrusters or KB swings or front squats with 65 lbs for 20 seconds doesn’t generate nearly the workload that was used during the actual study. Nor will it generate the benefits... You can call them Tabatas all you want but they assuredly aren’t.

I have always regarded correct Tabatas as each and every 20 second interval being done at 100% effort. There should be no 'budgeting' for later intervals; but there have been times I have chickened out of really applying this literally, and found myself not genuinely giving the first few intervals my all.

The thing is, it's a genuinely traumatic experience when you do - to such an extent that last night, I was slightly nervous; and on the way to the gym this morning, had quite some adrenaline flowing.

In the event, the fear was largely justified - it was a very painful experience. It was at least 3 minutes after the intervals were over before I felt okay.

However, from then on, I felt great. It has been a while since I did a Tabata row, and other than Tabata sprints, which I dare not do at all, it's the most demanding thing I do. Perhaps it's the very fact that my objective is to truly give 100% to each interval that makes it so scary. The pain is the objective so there seems to be no escaping it, however fit I am.

Anyway, I shall probably skip legs on my BBS session on Thursday. They took a fair hit from today's session, after also working hard yesterday in the hills; and with the threat of more sprints (like these) on Saturday with my fell running partner, I think it is the sensible thing to rest them until then.

All that will make this a pretty busy week, workout-wise:

Yesterday - hills
Today - Tabata rows
Thursday - BBS
Saturday - sprints

...so I will make the following week a very easy one.

Another point Lyle makes in the article is that the benefits appear to peak after 3 weeks of regular sessions. Fortunately for me, I have no desire to put myself through them with that regularity, so I am unlikely be frustrated by that particular limitation. ... Read more

Preparation for REAL BBS Workout &Elliptical Tabata

Location: Woodcock Sports Centre, Aston University
Date: 8th June

Light Bodyweight Activity
Swing-Assisted, Uneven Muscle Up - 1
Basketball rollout experiment - balancing the hands on a second medicine ball
Tuck Front Lever - slowly into position, held just for a few seconds, then slowly out

BBS Preparation
Then on each of these exercises I tested a few different weights to establish which one would take me about 90 seconds to reach failure (see videos below for how these exercises are done):

Seated Row (60lbs)
Chest Press (50lbs)
Pulldown (90lbs)
Overhead Press (40lbs)
Leg Press (150lbs)

Finisher: Tabata intervals on elliptical machine. Enforced 60% effort.

Post Workout Nutrition: Had planned to wait until dinner, but 4 hours later gave in and had this. Not something I am proud of, since that crappy chicken from supermarkets undoubtedly had a pretty ropey life.

Okay, so now I know the real deal on the Body by Science workouts. My previous workout diary entries, billed as Body by Science workouts 1, 2 and 3 were not really BBS workouts, which I did mention at the time.

Correct Body By Science Technique

Yes, I was...

1. Limiting myself to once-weekly strength training
2. Sticking to one set of 5 major compound exercises that covered the whole body

...but having read further in the book I now know that

3. Taking each exercise to absolute failure over a 1-2 minute period
4. Measuring progress according to increasing the TUL (Time Under Load) for a given weight
5. Spending at least 5 seconds on the 'up' and 'down' of each rep

...are also key.

I have now posted a full reference to the Body By Science Big 5 Workout under the circuits category, including videos of Doug McGuff doing the exercises. Body by Science Big 5 Workout.

So today, I decided I would play this by the book and buy into the whole deal - which means also using machines rather than free weights, as this makes controlling each exercise easier. I won't go into the detail here. I will perhaps cover an aspect of the rationale in future posts.

So I now have a plan for Wednesday, when my first REAL Body by Science workout will take place.

Bodyweight Exercises

In the meantime, today I did what you are supposed to do between BBS workouts, which was some light 'skills' work - in my case bodyweight exercises. I just wanted to confirm I can still do a muscle up, albeit with swinging and that the front lever is no less taxing than before. The basketball rollout experiment, by the way, was extremely taxing. I was not able to perform the movement itself - simply trying to balance on two balls was a challenge in itself - try it.

Elliptical Tabata - Don't Bother!

Since it was a day for experimenting with new ideas, I also tried tabata intervals on the elliptical machine. My rationale was this: it employs several major muscle groups through the pushing, pulling and leg movements. Swimming and rowing also do this, and I find them to be excellent tabata exercises because I can reach high intensity without fatiguing a particular muscle - just what we are looking for in an activity between BBS workouts.

However, the nature of these elliptical machines is such that it takes too long to get up to full effort and then down again for tabata or any other serious interval work to be possible. The use of momentum-based mechanisms means that it's almost as much effort to slow the damn things down as it is to get them going - by the time I got it to stop my 10 seconds rest was up!

Well, obviously, I hear many of you cry. Okay - I guess I didn't think that one through :)

More on Wednesday. ... Read more

'Body by Science' Workout and Rowing Tabata Finisher

Location: Woodcock Sports Centre, Aston University

Quick Starter
Swing-Assisted, Uneven Muscle Up - 1
Frog stand - 30 seconds, arms straight

Main Event
1 set of Raise-assisted handstand push ups (2 plates) - 4 good reps then 1 failure
1 set of Weighted chin ups - 5 reps @22.5kg
1 set of Barbell Squats - 5 reps
1 set of Dumbbell Bench Press - 5 @32kg
1 set of Hanging Leg Raise - 10 reps
1 set of Romanian Deadlift - 5 reps @115kg

Finisher: Tabata Intervals - Rowing Machine @90% effort (eyeballs remaining mostly in their sockets)

Total Time: 25 minutes

Post-Workout Nutrition: this, 30 minutes later

I have to know. I have to know whether the Body by Science approach can work for me. I have been flirting with the idea by taking two or more rest days between strength workouts, but that is not the same as what BBS recommends.

Broadly, it recommends that your strength training consist solely of a single, all-body session, once a week, in which you do a single set of each exercise. The exercises (about 5 of them) should be compound exercises that hit the major muscle groups. The idea is that in fact we need a week to fully recover and maximise the potential for gains.

You can add other sports and activities into the mix - just not training that is aimed at strength or growth gains.

So today I selected my own set of exercises which I think broadly fit the bill; and as you can see, I did only a single set of each.

I should state up front that I have not read the book yet. I have just read the great coverage on Conditioning Research (here and here) as well as a brief low-down from Natural Messiah, offline. But that's enough to understand what's being recommended. I just don't necessarily know why at this point.

My plan is this: average 2 workouts per week.

Workout 1: a randomly selected activity that is demanding without causing too much muscular fatigue. Swimming, climbing, light circuits or gymnastics. I may even start doing some amateur parkour / urban circuit training since the light mornings are now upon us in the UK.

Workout 2: today's routine.

The question is, will I get stronger and if so, how quickly? Also - will I feel better? Will I have more energy on non-workout days?

One possible confounding factor - I have just started supplementing with 3000 ui of vitamin D3 (see here for why.) Apparently this can affect athletic performance.

I should mention that I have an article in the pipeline that will expand more on the question of how to structure the week's exercise. I am trying to reconcile the BBS philosophy with the Primal/Paleo philosophy, and also incorporate some great posts by other bloggers on the subject.

What am I trying to achieve with my workouts? Do I want to get stronger, or do I want to emulate ancestral patterns? Is variety more important than progression, and is the latter merely something that has been drilled into us by modern life rather than any genuine imperative? More thoughts to come. ... Read more

Compressed Volume Back Routine + Tabata Squat/Swing Finisher

Location: Woodcock Sports Centre, Aston University

Quick Starter:
Swing-Assisted, Uneven Muscle Up - 1 success.

Main Event:
Compress Volume, Back Focus

Details:
- 5 Romanian Deadlift @100kg
- 5 Bodyweight for pull ups
- 6 Basketball rollouts for abs

5 rounds total

Finisher: Mixed Tabata Intervals: Partial Squats and Dumbbell Swings - @18kg for the swings @25kg plates for the squats

Total time: 25 minutes

Post Workout Nutrition: this, 30 minutes later

I know I say this a lot, but this really hurt. It was a lot to do in 25 minutes and I failed to follow my own advice on the deadlifts, selecting a weight which I would normally need to work hard to do 5x5 with when resting between sets. So with basketball rollouts and pull ups in between and scarcely any rest, it was tough. This morning my back knows it has been made to work.

I discovered in this workout how much the basketball rollouts work the upper back on the initial pull. Re-watching the video, that now seems obvious! The pull-ups combined with these certainly gave my lats something to think about.

On Monday I will throw in a swimming session, I think; and maybe only a single, all-body session no earlier than next Wednesday. The combination of this week's Wednesday and Friday heavy weights has taken it's toll and I recognise the need to allow recovery. ... Read more

Mixed Tabata Intervals: Dumbell Swings and Partial Squat

Dumbbell Swings Left Hand - 20 seconds
Rest - 10 seconds
Dumbbell Swings Right Hand - 20 seconds
Rest - 10 seconds
Barbell Plate Partial Squats - 20 seconds
Rest - 10 seconds

x 2 then

Dumbbell Swings Left Hand - 20 seconds
Rest - 10 seconds
Dumbbell Swings Right Hand - 20 seconds
Rest - 10 seconds

...making 8 in total - the normal number of tabata intervals.

Do the exercise at the maximum speed you can whilst retaining good form. Pick weights that allow you to avoid failure in the final sets. This is about conditioning and fitness.

The good thing about these exercises is that it's hard to achieve 'failure' on them anyway. In the case of the squats, because you can only get 25kg plates anyway and in the case of the swings, because it's more of an athletic movement.

I find this an excellent finisher if I want to emphasise the back and legs but perhaps avoid too much knee flexion. ... Read more

Bodyweight, Traditional and Tabata Combo

Location: Woodcock Sports Centre, Aston University

Quick Starter:
Swing-Assisted, Uneven Muscle Up - 1 success!
Raise-assisted handstand push ups - 1 rep with 2 x 20kg plates under head.
Tuck Front Lever - 30 seconds, back as straight as I could get it.
Frog stand - 30 seconds, arms pretty straight.

Main Event:
Dumbell Bench Press 5 x 5 @30kg (help on last set)
Weighted Chin Ups 5 x 5 @15kg (12.5 kg on last)
Basketball Rollouts (3 x 7)

Finisher: Mixed Tabata Intervals - using dumbbells, 2 rounds. Some light stretching.

Total time: 40 minutes

Post Workout Nutrition: this, an hour later

This is a bit more than I normally do in a session and at the outer limits of the time I like to spend training. My training partner has returned from his travels and, as ever, wanted to do a more traditional workout. So it was back to the 5x5 routine with 45 seconds rest between sets. I do enjoy this, so was happy to oblige.

But I could not resist throwing in some bodyweight stuff while he warmed up and - to punish him for his absence - I insisted we do a deuce of tabata mixed circuits, which is pretty tough after any workout. He omitted the burpees and star jumps due to a sore knee and was still pretty zonked by the end.

I am now going to rest for a week. Yes, I said a week. Let's see how that works out. ... Read more

Tabata Intervals

There's not much I can say that has not already been said about Tabata intervals, so here are three of my favourite articles on the subject:

Ross Enamait at RossTraining.com (overview)
Rusty at Fitness Black Book (Tabata for fat burning)
Lyle McDonald at BodyRecomposition.com (why REAL Tabata should hurt)
The Tabata Myth (Mark Young's view on why Tabata may not be as good as people say)
- and my comment on his post

For me, the key benefits are:

- it's quick
- it's effective
- it's nice when it's over

Tabata Workouts: from workout diary ... Read more

Mixed Tabata Circuit Intervals

Press Ups
Bent Over Row
Seated Knee Raises
Burpees
Upright Row
Star Jumps
Standing Shoulder Press
Bicep Curls

You can use pairs of dumbbells, barbells or a mixture for this. Generally I pick two weights - one heavier weight for the bent-over row and a lighter one for the remaining exercises that need resistance.

Pick weights that are easy. Do not underestimate how hard this gets!

Use the Tabata protocol - i.e. 20 seconds for each exercise with 10 seconds rest between each. Do each exercise at close to maximum effort - this is why you should choose light weights. This is about muscular conditioning and fitness, not strength or hypertrophy training.

At the end of the round, take 1 minute rest. Then do another round. Repeat until the desired level of effort has been expended!

If you can do 3 of these, you are fit (in my view.) ... Read more