Basic Pursuits

I took some measurements before starting my six-week Tabata experiment. These metrics would not stand up to peer review, but they are interesting nevertheless. I believe that they reveal modest muscle growth in my arms and legs. This makes sense considering that most of the Tabata exercises involved legs, and I did pull-ups and chin-ups very often to warm up.

My waist is a tad larger. I mentioned in an earlier post that I thought I may have gained a little weight do to a dramatic increase in calorie intake. Since the end of the experiment, I've made an effort to get my average calorie intake back to 2400 per day as opposed to the 2638 average I was hitting at the end.

Aerobic gains continue
During the six weeks, I grew tired of the discipline of taking measurements everyday and have enjoyed not doing it so often. But when I have measured my pulse in the morning, I have noticed recently that I'm hitting new regular lows on my pulse and think that my aerobic capacity continues to improve. Soon I'll string three weeks of data together and take an average, just to be sure.

In the six weeks I think that it's fair to say that I experienced gains in both muscle mass and in aerobic capacity. In addition, I felt pretty good and still do. As I said before, the humdrum of the discipline got me down a few times, but that's easy to remedy when I'm not doing an experiment but simply exercising to feel good. I just take a day off or do something different.

Tabatas great for recovery management
I think that managing rest and recuperation from exercise is just as important as doing the exercise. Exercise is counter productive if your body doesn't have the time and nourishment to repair itself. Tabata intervals are great for recuperation management. First of all, you get a lot done in a short period of time. I felt my body experienced a lot less damage in the under 20-minute workouts than it would have pounding the pavement running for 45 minutes to an hour. And with less time exercising, there is more time to rest. Secondly, that 10-second rest in each interval, no matter how short it seems, gives the body the chance to recoop rather than to exhaust.

Tabata intervals offer an extraordinary fitness option. They are great for high level atheletes looking to attain peak conditioning. They are also great for someone like me looking to maintain a feel-good level of fitness in the shortest amount of time.