Tabata method is named after a Japanese researcher who discovered a unique way to increase both aerobic and anaerobic pathways at the same time. It’s great for athletes and the average punter pushed for time who wants to drop fat.
This training method is incredibly difficult but very simple in terms of method – be warned once you’ve completed the Tabata method you’ll vow never to do it again. But of course you will, you will because it’s so bloody effective!

How does it work?

The Tabata method can be used with both weight training and traditional cardio methods, making it versatile as well as incredibly effective.

Tabata using a strength exercise is as simple as this:

1. Take a big taxing lift like a front squat

2. For twenty seconds complete as many reps as possible as if your life depended on it.

3. Rest for 10 seconds at the top (no racking the bar, getting a drink, wiping the sweat off your face etc. NO CHEATING, it’s 10 seconds not 12 seconds rest)

4. Complete 8 cycles total

Four minutes and you’re done!. One final thing make sure you have a bucket handy for the vomit.

Tabata using a cardio piece of equipment

1. Find your tabata weapon of choice, my favourite is the rower.

2. I like to use the analogy you’re on a bridge and a train is coming and you’ve got 20 sec  to get to the end of the bridge otherwise the train will run you over. Meaning dig friggin deep and row with 110% effort/ everything you’ve got for 20 sec.

3. Rest for 10 seconds

4. Complete 8 cycles

As per the weights tabata method have a bucket ready.

Exercise Selection.

There are many strength exercises you can use for the Tabata method but it’s important the right ones are used to get the required response. You want to select exercises that recruit big muscle groups as these are going to be the most demanding and will be able to last the four minutes as long as you’re mentally tough enough to last. If you were to choose an exercise like D.B shoulder press the shoulders would fatigue quickly and the last few cycles you would get minimum reps out. When using strength exercises for tabata my personal favourites are the front squat and torsonator thruster, these are generally the only 2 I use.

It may only be four minutes of work but trust me you’ll be breathing a lot harder and longer than 4 minutes after the workout. It takes time to learn how to train at the intensity required to to get results from this type of training. As I always say “when the intensity is high the duration has to be less”, the tabata method is a great example of this rule. Now of course I’m not saying you’ll get amazing results only training 4 minutes, but you will get results if you do it at the right intensity. So when you’ve got “no time to train” a tabata session would be the solution. What I like to do and my fellow coaches here at FW like to do for our fat loss clients and anyone in general that is time poor and has limited time to train per week is use the tabata method as a finisher to a strength session.

Strength Exercises

Front Squat

Torsonator Thruster

Tabata Finishers 

Burpees

Rower

Plyo Lunges

Prowler

By Darren Bain

When people generally think of fitness they automatically associate some sort of run, ride or other aerobic type activity. Sure thing if you compete/participate in iron-mans,

triathlons or any other endurance type sport you are bloody fit aerobically, no question. But does this have a carry over and mean you are ‘fit’ in terms of strength, power, speed, flexibility and metabolically.? Generally not. The variation in energy system demand & exercise modalities is minimal in aerobic type training, therefore the specificity of adaptation to all components of fitness is minimal.

Aerobic exercise will have benefits on your cardiovascular function and body fat loss but isn’t necessarily the most effective way to achieve these goals. http://www.cbass.com/FATBURN.HTM. Anaerobic type training has been shown to be superior for fat loss.

(Click here to read the most effective training methods for fat loss)

Aerobically/Endurance  fit is one form of fitness: The ability of the body to gather, process and deliver oxygenated blood to the working muscles for any bout of exercise lasting anywhere from over 2-7minutes, performed at relatively low powered efforts.

When comparing metabolic conditioning type training to aerobic training there is no comparison in terms of all round fitness. A well planned anaerobic training program through high intensity interval training (HIIT) will develop your aerobic conditioning.

Anaerobic: Is generally moderate to all out, high powered efforts lasting no longer than 2 minutes. Athletes that train predominantly anaerobically improve, power, speed, strength & muscle mass compared to athletes that train predominantly aerobically decrease, muscle mass, strength, speed and power.

Now you understand our all round fitness approach here at function well for optimal results you’ll see why the function well fittest member challenge is a great test for all round fitness.

Well done to Myles & Kri who were the winners on the day!.

For those members that were unable to attend on Saturday but would like to give the challenge a crack to see where you’re at here it is:

Instructions Male

Complete each objective in the listed order for maximum reps in 60 seconds (each rep = 1 point), excluding the Arthur Block which is given 15 points for 2min34sec or under, 10 points for 2min37sec or under and 5 points for 2min56sec or under and bear crawls which were awarded 3 points for each lap, in between each objective 60 seconds ONLY is to be taken.

Instructions Female

Complete each objective in the listed order for maximum reps in 60 seconds (each rep = 1 point), excluding the Arthur Block which is given 15 points for 3min 18sec or under, 10 points for 4min 09sec or under and bear crawls which were awarded 3 points for each lap, in between each objective 60 seconds ONLY is to be taken.

Myles’s Score = 109.5

Kri’s Score = 85

Video of the day

By function well Performance Coach Brian Ellicott

This program is designed to be done every 4-5 days as part of an arms specialisation phase. To that extent you can put the rest of the body parts into a maintenance stage, giving you all the energy you need to really hit your arms hard and add an inch by Christmas. It is also best done once you are already proficient with the big pushing and pulling movements such as chins and dips.

This program uses volume to stimulate hypertrophy  (increase muscle size) and should be used on an accumulation phase.

The Program…

Every exercise is performed at a 40×0 tempo – so a 4 second negative/lowering phase and as fast as possible on the way up.

Biceps

A1: Supinated grip chins x 10-12

A2: Reverse grip EZ bar curls x 10-12

A3: 45 degree Incline DB Zottman curls x 10-12

A4: Narrow-grip EZ Curls x 10-12

Rest 3 mins between sets, repeat for 4 rounds total

Triceps

B1: Dips/close-grip bench press x 10-12

B2: Behind the neck EZ bar french press x 10-12

B3: DB Tate press x 10-12

B4: Supinated grip cable push-down x 10-12

Rest for 3 mins between sets, repeat for 4 rounds total

The workout should last no longer than 45 mins and your biceps and triceps should be hanging off the bone by the end of it. If you still find it easy to open doors afterwards, YOU HAVE NOT TRAINED HARD ENOUGH.

Repeat the workout every 4-5 days until Christmas – every 3rd workout drop the working sets down to 3 in order to give a little de-load (you shouldn’t need much as they are small muscle groups).

Make sure to get some BCAA’s/protein in afterwards to help start the repair and growth phase.

Brian.

Forget all the whizz bang equipment and get back to basics with  good old chins..

In my opinion there is no better exercise for bulking up the upper back than chins – I consider chins essential for anyone serious about adding muscle to their frame.

Heavy duty exercises that are bloody hard work like the chin-up will get you well on your way to achieving your hypertrophy (more muscle) goals.

You only have to look at a gymnasts physique to see that chins work wonders at developing the upper back.

The fact is chins are one of the best exercises you can do for the upper body involving the lats, teres major, posterior delts, rhomboids, lower traps, pec major – not only will you notice size in your upper back but you will get significant gains in your arms as well.

Still not convinced about chins?. Look up Mike Dayton’s physique. He was Mr America and circa 1980 strongman who held a world record for one arm chins.

Chin-Up Progressions

1. A Chin-up requires a certain level of strength. If you are unable to complete a chin-up start by using one of the following options;

- Use the strength bands we have available in the box. The following band colours are listed from most (easiest for you) resistance to least resistance. Green, Blue, Red, Purple.

- Use a spotter to hold your ankles

- Place a box under the chin bar so you can get your chin over the bar and lower yourself slowly – Completing these negatives/eccentric reps will get your chin-up strength up in no time.

2. If you are finding your grip strength is giving out before your upper back use wrist straps (we have these under the D.B rack on the gym floor). I always recommend doing at least 1-2 sets with no straps first.

3. Change your grip regularly.

4. Hold at the top of the movement with your chin over the bar for 3-5 sec for each rep.

5. Add a weight belt or D.B between your legs.

6. Get a spotter to pull on your ankles

The Gymnast’s Back Routine

For advanced trainees that can do 12 full ROM shoulder width over hand chins.

1. Wide grip over hand chin-up as many as possible

Rest 10 sec

2. Narrow grip over chin-up as many as possible

rest 10 sec

3. Reverse grip chin-up shoulder width as many as possible

Rest 10 sec

4. Reverse grip chin-up narrow grip as many as possible

Rest 3minutes

Repeat above for 2 sets. Good luck doing your hair in 36hours time

If you’re an athlete looking to improve your performance the most reliable way to do this is to minimize body fat while maintaining or increasing muscle mass.

This relates to the weekend warrior or the guys who just want to look good with their shirt off. A leaner body whether you’re an athlete or businessman will perform better!

It’s fair to say sprinters have amazing physiques, so coming into Summer it makes sense to train like a sprinter to look good on the beach.

This program will create significant losses of body fat, increase muscle and improve your anaerobic work capacity.

There will be no steady state ‘aerobic’ cardio in this program. The only people who should be doing steady state training are distance runners, tri-athletes or anyone wanting to lose muscle.

Training Plan:

Monday: Upper body: push/pull
Tuesday: Sprints
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Legs
Friday: Upper Body:
Saturday: Sprints
Sunday: Rest

Day 1: Upper Body (Horizontal push/pull)

Day 2 : Lower body (Hip dominant)

Day 3: Upper body (Vertical push/pull)

Warm-up: Before Every Sprint Session

Sprint Session. Wks 1 & 2

Weeks 3-6
Day 1:

Day 2:

With summer fast approaching you want to make the most of it and feel comfortable in your bikini or boardies when strutting your stuff on the beach.

If you’re only attending the gym twice a week you should have no excuses for poor eating patterns as you’ve got plenty of time to grocery shop and prepare your meals. .

Reps: for all upper body exercises we will use a pyramid system in the format of 10,8,6,4. Each set the weight goes up but the reps go down.

Reps: For all Lower body exercises including deadlift we’ll be doing higher volume work. Reps will be 4 sets of 10 reps.

When it comes to strength training many trainees make the mistake of picking the wrong exercises. In particular when you have limited time to train your exercise selection is very important. The most effective  exercises are  compound exercises such as deadlifts, squats, bench presses, rows, pull-ups, dips, and overhead presses. Your isolated exercises like curls, triceps push downs, leg curls etc. are secondary to your big compound lifts.

In the sales world there’s a saying that 80% of a company’s revenue is achieved by 20% of its sales team. The same is true in the gym. Maximise your results by focusing on the exercises that give you the  best return for your efforts.

Time is often the limiting factor for people trying to get in shape, with this in mind I’ve put together a 2 day per week program to give you your biggest bang for your buck.

With summer fast approaching you want to make the most of it and feel comfortable in your bikini or boardies when strutting your stuff on the beach.

If you’re only attending the gym twice a week you should have no excuses for poor eating patterns as you’ve got plenty of time to grocery shop and prepare your meals. .

Reps: for all upper body exercises we will use a pyramid system in the format of 10,8,6,4. Each set the weight goes up but the reps go down.

Reps: For all Lower body exercises including deadlift we’ll be doing higher volume work. Reps will be 4 sets of 10 reps.

When it comes to strength training many trainees make the mistake of picking the wrong exercises. In particular when you have limited time to train your exercise selection is very important. The most effective  exercises are  compound exercises such as deadlifts, squats, bench presses, rows, pull-ups, dips, and overhead presses. Your isolated exercises like curls, triceps push downs, leg curls etc. are secondary to your big compound lifts.

In the sales world there’s a saying that 80% of a company’s revenue is achieved by 20% of its sales team. The same is true in the gym. Maximise your results by focusing on the exercises that give you the  best return for your efforts.

It’s important to understand that there’s an inverse relationship between frequency of training and volume of training. In other words, the more work you do in the gym, the less often you can train. High volume requires a lower frequency of training and a higher frequency of rest days.

What this means if you are only making time to get to the gym twice a week the intensity of the sessions needs to be very high – This means pushing yourself right out of your comfort zone, otherwise only training 2 times per week won’t give you significant results!
The finisher;

The last exercise of each day is what we call a ‘finisher’. A finisher is an intense exercise or series of exercises performed at the end of the workout that’s designed to absolutely gas you and ensure that you’ve burnt every last drop of gas from the tank.

A finisher should be far from fun, you should literally need to drop to the floor as soon as it is completed. Aim to beat your previous weeks finisher score.

Tabata rower = 20 sec sprint, 10 sec rest for a total of 8-10 times.

Enjoy!

The Dead Bug with Wall press will challenge your core stability as it requires full body tension supported also by your lats and glutes which are both essential for core strength.

Firstly find a space where you can lie down and have enough room to press your hands into a wall behind you.

Then take your knees up so they are in line with your hips and keep your legs horizontal to your body.

Secondly, pull the rib cage so the lower spine pushes into the floor.

Next push hard into the wall and activate the lats and glutes, then you can start by lowering one leg till your heel touches the ground.

Alternate each leg until you get too 12 each side. If you feel yourself loosing the tension in your stomach cease the set.

This exercise can be supersetted with a isometric hold like a various plank if your struggling to feel the tension in the lower abdominals.

Try 2-3 sets as a warm up before your session or use it as a active recovery exercise before a big compound exercise like a squat or deadlift.

Look Good Naked

To add respectable amounts of muscle to your frame takes time & commitment. Generally the limiting factor for most people in achieving their physique enhancement goals is TIME. With that being said here is a program that only requires 3 sessions a week – follow this program & you will achieve what everyone wants to achieve, which is to look good naked. If you are only getting the 3 sessions in per week and no extra conditioning, finish each session with 2minute max efforts on the prowler with 60 secondds rest between sets.

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/totalbody_training

and the sun is decending alot earlier. How do you combat this? I find when I’m eating healthy and my water consumption is higher earlier in the day, I have increased motivation and energy later when i need it for a session. The key too keeping the flab off while it’s cooler is being consistent. Minimum 3 sessions per week and I would recommend 2 of them being full body weights and a metabolic session consisting of full body “Bang for your Buck” exercises. This 21 minute program can be done anywhere, so if you can’t get to the gym there are no excuses!!! Try once or twice per week for 4 weeks and look for progression with a better score every session.

Equipment needed- Clock, pen and paper to write down exercises and score, bench or chair for tricep dips, markers for shuttle and skipping rope.

30 seconds on 30 seconds off continuous for 3 rounds.  (some exercises when you have to do each side there is no rest)

Warm up

Dynamic swings standing/lying, jumping jacks and shoulder rolls(back and forth).

1. Skipping                                                                                                                                    2 points per every 10 skips

2. Jump squats                                                                                                                           1 point

3. Push up with mountain climber                                                                                     1 point

4. Reverse Lunge with knee lift out the front (30 secs each side)                        1 point

5. Side Plank dynamic lifts ( 30 secs each side)                                                           1 point

6. Tricep bench dip                                                                                                                 1 point

7. Shuttle run ( 7 metres apart)                                                                                        1 point per marker

If you are a beginner and find some exercises are too hard you can change to easier versions.

You should be flat on your back when you finish this one!

Good Luck!

Chris Muckert

This program is  for those members finishing the 8 week challenge and those recovering from our recent public holiday bonanza.  I’m sure everyone has either celebrated or indulged in foods and drinks more so then normal in this time (I know I have) and personally, I’m glad you have, as it is important to celebrate little victories. So here is a program to get us back on track and keep our focus, because now is the time to get stuck back into your training/diet  and look to further improve your fitness.

This program is designed to hels gain muscle mass and decrease body fat. Don’t worry girls this is not going to make you look Arnie.  If you follow this program, with the right diet and supplementation, you should feel your jeans become looser and perhaps some cheeky lines in the body that weren’t there before.

Hypertrophy

Workout 1 (upper body)

Warm up

Cardio and foam roller/Race car 5-10mins

Once warm perform some pushups, lunges and band rows to get the body cranking.

A1. Flat Barbell Bench Press                                                                                       4 sets of 8-10 reps

A2. Band Chins or Lat Pulldown                                                                                4 sets of 8-10 reps

B1 Incline Dumbell Bench Press                                                                                3-4 sets of 8-10 reps

B2 Seated row                                                                                                                    3-4 sets of 8-10reps

C1 Seated Dumbell Shoulder press                                                                            3 sets of 8-10 reps

C2 Dips either off the bench or on the assisted dip machine                          3 sets of 8-10 reps

C3 Ezi bar standing Bicep Curls                                                                                    3 sets of 8-10 reps

Workout 2 (lower Body)

A1 Squats (90 degrees)                                                                                                 4 sets of 8-10reps

A2 Hamstring Curls                                                                                                          4 sets of 8-10 reps

B1 Walking Lunges                                                                                                           3 sets of 8-10 reps

B2 Glute Bridges off the Bench ( 1leg at a time)                                                     3 sets of  6-8 reps

C1 Leg Press                                                                                                                       2 sets of 50 reps

D1 Prowlers                                                                                                                        2 * 1min challenge.

No more then 60 – 90 sec  rest in between sets.