HIIT and Tabata are two magic words when it comes to fast weight loss. Even after just one workout, you will be feeling these excess calories exiting your body with the speed of light.
These workouts are short but intensive. When we want to lose weight, many of us go for casual cardio, which requires us to spend more than an hour on the treadmill if we want to see results, but not with HIIT or Tabata.
Now you no longer have the right to excuse yourself with lack of time for training.
Both types of workouts train the whole body and they take you to the next level in order to develop your full potential. They are also great for heart health and they stimulate all the functions in our body.
The question is: what are HIIT and Tabata, what are the differences between them, and which is actually better for weight loss?
What are HIIT and Tabata
HIIT is an acronym for High-intensity interval training and it’s a cardio type of workout that gets your heart pumping in seconds.
Tabata is actually a version of HIIT that is much more intensive and compact and it’s perfect for true hardcore individuals or people who want to level up in the fitness.
The main thing common for all types of HIIT workouts is short bursts of high-intensity training followed by periods of short rest. The main goal is to reach your full potential in a short time period, which is why these workouts work so well for successful weight loss.
Since we don’t need to dedicate hours of our daily life to these workouts, it is much easier to incorporate them into our lifestyle and stick to them until we actually start seeing visible results. The fast results also motivate us to keep going instead of giving up when it’s too early.
What are the main differences between the two types of workouts and which one should you stick to if you want to lose weight fast? Read below to find out.
HIIT: Description, Benefits, and Workout Examples
The standard HIIT workout follows a routine of 30 seconds of training followed by 30 seconds of rest. This 1:1 ratio of 30 seconds works wonders for burning calories because it stimulates the body to burn them for hours after the workout is over.
The goal is to make as many repetitions of a certain exercise in these 30 seconds as possible. Even if you start slow, you will notice it gets easier with each workout, so after a while, you will surprise yourself with how many repetitions you are able to make.
The way the training is organized actually stimulates your body to burn 30% more calories than regular cardio training such as running. It is the right option if you want to lose weight fast before the summer.
In the long run, HIIT exercises help you increase your aerobic and anaerobic capacity for exercising, regulate blood pressure, improve sleep and mood, promote lung and heart health, lower cholesterol levels, and much more.
The time for training may vary between 20 to 40 minutes, but with the right exercise routine, even 20 minutes could be quite enough to achieve results and satisfaction.
Exercises that can be included in a HIIT routine are:
- Jumping Jacks;
- Burpees;
- Push-ups;
- Lunge Jumps;
- Mountain Climbers;
- Russian Twists.
There are many more exercises you can add to the routine, as long as they are more of a cardio type than strength training.
What is so Special About Tabata
Tabata is a workout created by the Japanese professor Dr. Izumi Tabata in 1996 and it aims to shorten the time for one workout as much as possible while increasing the intensity.
The workout was created in order to train Olympic skaters and to increase their aerobic and anaerobic strength. It took 6 weeks of Tabata training for these athletes to achieve astonishing results.
One training is supposed to be 4 minutes long, but these four minutes will feel like much longer. The idea is to have 20 seconds of extreme-intensity of training and then rest for a quick 10 seconds.
Four minutes of that insanity and you’re done with one Tabata. You can add another 4 minutes and then another as you get better at it.
The workout includes similar exercises, as it is only a type of HIIT training.
Which is Better for Weight Loss
Simply because Tabata includes more intensity for a shorter time period, it could be more effective in helping you lose weight fast.
However, if you are just beginning your fitness journey, it’s better to start with regular HIIT and gradually pass to Tabata as you gain anaerobic and aerobic strength because otherwise, Tabata might discourage you in the beginning.