Brutal Body-Weight TABATA Workout

Brutal Body Weight Tabata Workout is an intense cardio workout from Heather Robertson. It is another one of her shorter workouts (under 30 minutes) but the intensity really builds. I used this as my Sunday workout, to warm myself up before doing some yoga, and I think this warmed me up too much! I couldn’t stop sweating during the yoga! I had to keep a towel nearby. Heather uses the tabata protocol for this workout. A tabata is a type of HIIT (high intensity interval training): 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of recovery; repeat this 20/10 interval 8 times for a 4 minute tabata circuit. Normally, you take a short break (30-60 seconds) between each tabata circuit but Heather doesn’t give you any breaks other than the 10 seconds between exercises. There are 5 tabata circuits in this workout, which equals forty 20/10 intervals, one right after the other. The intensity really builds. I burned 195 calories and spent a total of 5 minutes in my peak heart rate zone.

Brutal Body Weight Tabata Workout is 26:55 minutes; 2:45 minute warm up and 3:10 minute stretch. Equipment: fitness mat. There is a timer in the lower right hand corner of the screen counting down your recoveries and intervals. During the first recovery in each tabata Heather previews the next exercise. After that Heather recovers with you while a graphic keeps track of which round you are about to do. This is not a low impact workout.

Tabata 1:

1. Jump squat jacks (one squat jump + one jumping jack)
2. Lay down push ups (one push up + one superman)
3. Repeat #1 & 2 three more times

Tabata 2:

1. High knees (high knee run in place)
2. Plank jacks
3. Repeat #1 & 2 three more times

Tabata 3:

1. Shuffle & hop (lateral squat shuffle the length of your mat + one jump reaching arms overhead)
2. Bicycle crunch
3. Repeat # 1 & 2 three more times

Tabata 4:

1. Pop lunges (hop back into reverse lunge then hop feet together)
2. Inchworm & push up (stand at end of mat, hinge forward and walk hands out to plank, do one push up, walk hands back to feet, stand and raise arms overhead while jumping)
3. Repeat #1 & 2 three more times

Tabata 5:

1. Leap frog (stand with legs wide, squat and tap fingers on floor, then jump, raising arms overhead)
2. Climber knee taps (cross body mountain climbers, tap knee w/ opposite hand when pulling knee under body)
3. Repeat #1 & 2 three more times

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