Tabata, or: I'm about to puke...oh wait, I'm not.

Today I've been to my second Tabata-class ever. And it was like death in 20sec portions once again.
The main idea of Tabata is to get a high intensity interval training (HIIT) in a half hour. So you're doing one move for 20secs, rest for 10secs and repeat this 7 more times. Afterwards you get a minute's rest and then you're going on to the next move. All in all you're doing 5x8 20sec-cycles. It's... intense, as the first "I" in HIIT tells you.
The first three cycles seem okay but the latest in cycle five your muscles start to tire and it gets harder and harder. Try it with a simple move as a burpee. It feels like 20secs death during these last few cycles. Or well, I suppose death feels nicer :D

What is Tabata?

Tabata is a popular workout used by celebrities and athletes alike. As I said before, you do one move eight times for 20sec. You give it all you got. In between rounds you get to rest 10sec. After you finished the 8th round, you move on to the next move. This workout is proven to burn more fat during and after training than other, moderate group fitness classes, because your body can't get into energy saving mode.

Tabata is designed to overcome oneself and to improve one's cardio-vascular fitness and muscle fitness. It has been designed by Japanese researcher Izumi Tabata, when he compared the results of moderate and high intensity training. Even though the moderate intensity group trained five times a week for an hour and the high intensity group four times a week for 4min (!), the first group only improved their cardio-vascular fitness, whereas the second group, in spite of having trained less than the first group, had improved their strength and cardio-vascular fitness. So, the result of the research was that HIIT produced better results for athletes.

The idea of HIIT is that your training lasts 20 minutes or less (not counting warm-up), you use big muscle groups and do compound moves (using more than one muscle group at once). BUT: to reap real results, you have to really push yourself or you need a trainer that kicks your butt, so you don't turn down the intensity.
The feeling afterwards is great, you feel energized and happy thanks to the "runner's high", even though the training itself might feel like hell. So, it's really worth it!