Lifetiquing Reviews

Equipment needed: none

Level: Advanced, but easily modified to intermediate- modifiers are shown on screen

Bottom line: True Tabata-style interval training makes for a workout guaranteed to reduce any exerciser to a puddle of sweat by the end… of the first four minutes. Don't worry, you only have seven more drills after that.

I must start off by commending Amy Dixon on her professionalism. She is a joy of an instructor who clearly knows her stuff, but in this case I'm referring to her correct usage of the term Tabata and implementation of interval training. Lately, buzzwords like "high intensity interval (HIIT)," "Tabata" and "metabolic" training have unleashed an absolute flood of new interval workouts claiming to have exclusively unlocked the ancient secrets of accelerated fat burning, how to get a six pack in ten days, how to grow your biceps by 3" overnight, etc. Besides the fact that most of these workouts are nothing new and many of their claims are downright ridiculous, few of them are even in their alleged formats. Even when they're good workouts, these obvious commercial ploys tend to cause me to disrespect the instructor. Furthermore, some of them (Insanity comes to mind) throw intensity around with little scientific reasoning or support. There is a method to the madness of Tabata. Workouts like Insanity's Pure Cardio that have exercisers training at a high intensity for an extended period of time are not necessarily more effective than interval training (despite being obviously more torturous); Tabata and HIIT purport that the rest intervals are just as important as the work intervals because they enable near maximal effort and the maintenance of perfect form during the work intervals.

Anyway, onto the workout. This workout contains eight true Tabata-style drills: 20 seconds of intense, to-the-max work followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated 8 times for a total of 4 minutes. And dear lord, these drills deliver. Of course, they still require you to put in that maximum effort in order to reach the level of intensity required for Tabata (near 100% of maximum heart rate), but even advanced exercisers should be prepared for the intensity here. I am used to several high intensity types of interval training, and Level 3 knocked me on my butt.

Amy demonstrates three levels of each drill prior to beginning each 4 minute cycle, and she encourages exercisers to choose an appropriate level and adjust according to their performance. I managed to stay at Level 3 throughout, but I struggled mightily, especially in the first drill- air jacks. I could do speed jumping jacks until the cows come home, but air jacks always slay me. By the 8th set, my lungs were literally burning. Fortunately, just as I was about to scream (breathlessly) at my laptop and throw it across the room, the drill was over. This continued throughout the workout- by the last sets of each drill, I my heart rate was through the roof and I was gasping for breath. Amy does provide ample rest time between drills- probably at least a minute or two. My recovery time is fast because of the other interval training I do, and I felt I had more than enough recovery time between drills.

So, did I enjoy it? Would I recommend it? Well, I have mixed feelings about this. No, in terms of the fun factor, I don't know if anyone can enjoy anything this intense. Basically, if you're enjoying it, you're not working hard enough. Tabata is supposed to cause discomfort. But the drills are short and change quickly, so you barely have time to dread the next set before moving on to another drill, which means that a painful job gets done in the least painful way possible. Amy's a highly motivating instructor and I found competing with that absolute beast of a background exerciser (in the most complimentary way possible) doing Level 3 helped push me harder. I've been relying only exclusively on my own circuit and interval workouts lately, and I did feel that having Amy cheering me on and the superhuman background exerciser competing with me made Tabata-style training both more effective and tolerable.

Overall: This is one heck of a tough workout that brought my training to almost unprecedented levels of intensity. I haven't forayed into Tabata training very often, but I love how Amy made this style accessible to anyone from intermediate to advanced level. Don't expect fun, but it's far less torturous than other high intensity options and certainly gets the job done.