A Bodyweight Holiday Circuit: Add-On for a Complete Workout
A Bodyweight Holiday Circuit: Add-On for a Complete Workout
For some years now, circuit training has been talked about more and more often.
It’s not a fad: circuit training brings a long list of benefits that are essential for our body, developing multiple skills over training sessions that tend to be short (usually 20 to 40 minutes).
Tabata fits squarely into this category.
Let’s take a look at what it is.
This type of workout, also known as guerrilla cardio, is one of the most widespread circuits, practiced by fitness enthusiasts in gyms. The Tabata protocol was born in 1996 and takes its name from the Japanese scientist of the same name, Izumi Tabata.
It is an intense workout, that is, interval training carried out for the most part in the anaerobic zone, exactly like HIIT circuits (high intensity interval training).
More specifically, Tabata began as an evolution of high intensity interval training.
HOW IT WORKS
The first key feature of Tabata is its duration: being a very short and intense training protocol, it can be done in just a few minutes while still being extremely effective.
As a result, for the athlete or amateur in question, it is a matter of giving it all and getting benefits from a sum of short training circuits.
Precisely because of how versatile it is to perform and how easily it can use accessories, the Tabata protocol is suitable for everyone.
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WHAT IT’S FOR
Tabata circuits bring many benefits to the body and to the development of the practitioner’s abilities, such as:
- increased aerobic power
- improved aerobic characteristics
- a higher aerobic threshold
Just like HIIT, Tabata is useful for improving management and performance in aerobic and endurance activities, even though it is performed mostly at the anaerobic threshold.
This training is particularly well suited to:
- athletes who practice combat sports
- team sport players
- endurance sport athletes such as runners and cyclists
The two circuits shown in this video consist of 20 seconds of intense work and 10 seconds of rest.
In the first circuit, two exercises alternate: the first mostly aerobic, the second more muscular.
FIRST EXERCISE: SKATER JUMP
In the skater jump there is a flight phase in which you jump from one side to the other, staying balanced on a single leg.
The trailing limb must stay lifted off the floor.
In this exercise we will work on the cardiovascular level but also mainly on the glutes.
SECOND EXERCISE: PLANK JACK
From a plank position, with the hands fully open, arms and legs straight.
We do little jumps with the legs, opening and closing them.
The Eathlon method helps us quickly make up for the dietary excesses typical of the Christmas holidays.
In particular, a very valuable seasonal vegetable for this purpose is the artichoke: its main nutrients are cynarin and iron.
Cynarin is an alkaloid with a specific liver-protective action, available when the artichoke is eaten raw or cooked in oil (fried or sautéed with garlic and parsley).
The artichoke is also very effective for its ability to lower cholesterol, acting on lipid metabolism (thus increasing the excretion of cholesterol through bile acids) and speeding up the conversion of cholesterol into bile acids.
SECOND CIRCUIT: HIGH KNEES AND TABLE TOP
In the high knees we have to lift the knees very quickly, trying to produce as much power as possible in order to engage the cardiovascular system properly.
In the table top we work mainly on the posterior chain.
Supported on hands and feet, the hips stay as high as possible while we squeeze the glutes.
With one hand we reach toward the opposite foot, switching legs each time.
In conclusion, let’s remember the importance of physical activity but, even before training, the foundation of our well-being is a balanced diet.
Eathlon, the personalized Mediterranean Diet tailored to our sport, is the app that shapes our nutrition around our lifestyle and our tastes.
We can find the app (free for the first 7 days) in the store on our smartphone and we can visit the website www.eathlon.it for curiosities, information and videos.
