Tabata for Kids

I always get asked about what people can do in a short period of time to ensure that they improve their fitness level and body composition.  My response is high intensity interval training or HIIT.  The reason being, when you challenge your heart rate at set intervals with the intensity of a tabata class, over the course of time you improve your cardio-respiratory rate or fitness level.  This in turn will improve your libido, your overall breathing patterns, your sleep, your training and your performance in sports and in life.  With improved cardiorespiratory health, you will also have more energy and a better body composition.  That is, if you couple this HIIT with proper nutrition.  By now, you should have read at least 2/3 of the nutrition posts that have been shared on this site.  They are easy solutions for those of you who have no time to spare, yet want to sustain good healthy eating.

So, back to Tabata training.  I use this type of training with my adults when I teach classes.  However, you can pick 5 easy-to-do exercises to do with your child and you clock them.  Do each exercise 2 times for 20 seconds each set with a 10 second recovery in between.  Depending on your child, you can take a full 30 seconds to 1 minute break in between each exercise.  Otherwise, follow the Tabata method by training 20 seconds on and resting for only 10 seconds.  This keeps your child moving at a high intensity to bring on the results I speak of.  Check out the program:

Jumping Jacks x 2 sets of 20 seconds with a 10 second recovery in between each set

Squats ”  “

Mountain Climbers ”  “

Side Hops ”  “

Crunches ”  “

You may opt to repeat this total circuit again which will total a tad more than 11 minutes.  You can work your child up to  even doing 6 exercises with the same idea in mind.  Either way, get your children active and also be the role model for your child too.  Your movement and love for exercise will rub off onto your kids.  An inactive parent(s) breeds inactivity in the children of today.  We must change this trend and Break the Chains of Obesity, starting with you!  Check out this video for a clear depiction of what Tabata training should be like!  Enjoy!  (I thank my Superstar Julius for doing such a great job!)