Sparkle
09-Oct-2007, 06:31 PM
How many of you have run into women (or even men nowadays) who love to say "I don't want to train with weights because I don't want to get all big and buff" and continue to do their mediocre cardio on the stationary bike or jogging pathetic 10 minute miles?
I have been doing tabata for close to 2 - 3 months now and I am in what I would consider good shape. At rest my heart rate is around 60 beats per minute when I timed it last and I've dropped 20 pounds, went from 215 to 195 and I'm only noticeably losing more body fat as I continue. Hell, I do a tabata exercise just to warm up before I lift weights now and it hardly even phases me (aside from breathing a little too hard to talk well for a few moments of course). So in light of my own recent gains in losing body fat and how much better shape I'm in now I came up with a brilliant idea to share with all those people who "just don't want to get buff, but want to be in shape without any sort of resistance training past bodyweight."
Yep, you guessed it. Tabata. Why do I think Tabata should be promoted heavily to this sort of person? 1.) Tabata doesn't promote (well, at least extremely noticeable) gains in muscle mass, 2.) helps you lose fat in a very efficient way, AND 3.) gets you into great shape. What would one of these people who reject resistance training have to lose other then a lunch or two and a half an hour on the floor gasping for breath for the first couple of tabata sessions? It's the PERFECT way to make these people do some sort of working out that is actually worth something! And if they say "I don't want to do it because it's too hard" then it will be obvious not only to yourself but others as well that this person just doesn't want to work out hard because they are a little . . . . . and don't REALLY want to gain anything worthwhile.
So on my own little soapbox thread I want to encourage all of you who people come to about with questions on working out to not shun the idea of "getting too buff from lifting weights" as soon as you hear it and attempt to educate the individual about what actually happens and why that wont happen unless you train for it, but to encourage and accept the idea from that individual and then help put them through hell by coaching them through tabata sessions until they can do 4 consecutive tabata exercises (1x4 min Exercise 1, 1x4 min Exercise 2, etc.) with only a minutes rest in between exercises. Now the ethics of this may sound a little off but I say screw ethics. Should we try to educate people who don't care to learn when we can give them something that will give them exactly what they want without the long hours and weeks of trying to get them to touch a barbell?
So this goes out to all the women (and some men) and martial artists who just don't want to get buff from lifting weights. Go do some tabata exercises, work your way up to doing around 4 exercises separate from eachother all in tabata format. Research it, learn about it (only takes about an hour) and then put it into action. You'll get in shape, be trim, and reach any goal you desire and avoid getting too "buff" or "manly."
And on a side note here, I bet Tabata makes one hell of a sexy woman. :D
I have been doing tabata for close to 2 - 3 months now and I am in what I would consider good shape. At rest my heart rate is around 60 beats per minute when I timed it last and I've dropped 20 pounds, went from 215 to 195 and I'm only noticeably losing more body fat as I continue. Hell, I do a tabata exercise just to warm up before I lift weights now and it hardly even phases me (aside from breathing a little too hard to talk well for a few moments of course). So in light of my own recent gains in losing body fat and how much better shape I'm in now I came up with a brilliant idea to share with all those people who "just don't want to get buff, but want to be in shape without any sort of resistance training past bodyweight."
Yep, you guessed it. Tabata. Why do I think Tabata should be promoted heavily to this sort of person? 1.) Tabata doesn't promote (well, at least extremely noticeable) gains in muscle mass, 2.) helps you lose fat in a very efficient way, AND 3.) gets you into great shape. What would one of these people who reject resistance training have to lose other then a lunch or two and a half an hour on the floor gasping for breath for the first couple of tabata sessions? It's the PERFECT way to make these people do some sort of working out that is actually worth something! And if they say "I don't want to do it because it's too hard" then it will be obvious not only to yourself but others as well that this person just doesn't want to work out hard because they are a little . . . . . and don't REALLY want to gain anything worthwhile.
So on my own little soapbox thread I want to encourage all of you who people come to about with questions on working out to not shun the idea of "getting too buff from lifting weights" as soon as you hear it and attempt to educate the individual about what actually happens and why that wont happen unless you train for it, but to encourage and accept the idea from that individual and then help put them through hell by coaching them through tabata sessions until they can do 4 consecutive tabata exercises (1x4 min Exercise 1, 1x4 min Exercise 2, etc.) with only a minutes rest in between exercises. Now the ethics of this may sound a little off but I say screw ethics. Should we try to educate people who don't care to learn when we can give them something that will give them exactly what they want without the long hours and weeks of trying to get them to touch a barbell?
So this goes out to all the women (and some men) and martial artists who just don't want to get buff from lifting weights. Go do some tabata exercises, work your way up to doing around 4 exercises separate from eachother all in tabata format. Research it, learn about it (only takes about an hour) and then put it into action. You'll get in shape, be trim, and reach any goal you desire and avoid getting too "buff" or "manly."
And on a side note here, I bet Tabata makes one hell of a sexy woman. :D