Popsugar: 8 Minute Full Body Tabata

8 Minute Full Body Tabata is another mini workout from Popsugar. This one is a bit different from the others I have done so far. First, though it is led by Anna Renderer, there is no introduction and no talking. However, that doesn’t make it any less cool. It is actually put together very well. It is all music, graphics and Anna.

But before I go any further, I have to get on my soapbox for just a short paragraph. I get very annoyed at the loose use of the terms “HIIT” and “tabata” in workouts. Yes, this workout does use the tabata concept which is eight cycles of 20 seconds of activity alternated with 10 seconds of recovery. However, an actual tabata is a HIIT and a HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training. High intensity means that period of work (20 seconds in a tabata) is Intense–you go all out. So, applying “tabata” to any activity that you do for 20 seconds on and 10 seconds off isn’t a true representation of a tabata. And, as I’m sure you guessed by now, this workout is a pretty loose representation of a tabata.

However, with that said, this is still a very cool and fun little add on workout. Just don’t delude yourself into thinking you are getting a true HIIT-level workout. Not only is a HIIT workout reliant on the exerciser to put forth their maximum effort (110%), but it is also dependent on exercise choice. And the exercises in this workout aren’t really appropriate for a HIIT level workout. But they do make a great little add on! Which is how I used it today.

This morning was Cathe Live: Upper Body Sculpting and I finished it off w/ this 8 minute “tabata” workout. Here is the structure and set up. You get lots of graphic words and timers so you always know where you are in this workout. It is set up as two 4 minute tabatas with a one minute recovery between the tabatas. For each tabata you alternate two different exercises for 8 cycles (so each exercise is performed 4 times). The exercise is listed, a timer is going, you even get a beeping noise when you get to the last few seconds. Plus, you have Anna doing all of the exercises. During the recoveries she is doing an active stretch. Overall it is very cool. Now, of the 4 exercises you are doing, the only one (IMHO) that could actually work as a HIIT is the push ups. But in order to make them sufficiently intense, you need to be pounding those push ups out much faster than Anna is doing them since during a HIIT your heart rate is supposed to spike. In fact, if you want to do your best to make this an authentic tabata, you will have to do every exercise faster than Anna is performing them.

8 Minute Full Body Tabata is actually 9 minutes long but that is due to the one minute recovery between tabatas. No warm up or cool down. Tabata 1 is squat jacks alternated with push ups, and Tabata 2 is  reverse lunges alternated with rainbow planks (rainbow plank is rotating hips side to side in elbow plank).

For more info on Popsugar and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.