Tabata

Ever heard of Tabata?

I had no idea what it was. All I knew was that the Thursday night CoreFit class was a Tabata class.

Tabata, as it turns out, is like CoreFit on speed.

The class is broken up into 4-minute segments. Before each segment we are explained the four things we are about to do.

Each segment seems to have a cardio thing (like jumping jacks), an arm weight thing (like bicep curls), a core thing (like side plank) and an ab thing (like lie on your back and then raise and lower your legs). You do each activity for 20 seconds and then immediately move on to the next and the next. When all four are done you immediately repeat the entire set of four. 

The entire segment takes 4 minutes. 

Then you sit panting on the mat while the instructor quickly explains the next four moves. Repeat this until you have finished 8 complete segments. All the while there is a recording of a guy counting down the 20 second sets and playing wacky music in between. 

It's fun. It's fast. It's hard. And it's manageable because, no matter how hard something was, you only had to do it for 20 seconds.

I laughed a few times because all the other ladies were sore from Tuesday as well and every once in a while a collective groan could be heard as the move we did used one of the sorer muscle groups. It's bizarre how comforting it is to share pain with others. 

I crawled home again on Thursday night hoping my body would have enough time to recover before my 20k run on Saturday morning. 

I have to say that I am impressed with the classes and pleasantly surprised at how the first week went. It will be interesting to see how far I get after 15 weeks of this. At this rate I'll be able to bench press a car by Christmas.

A small car mind you.