T-minus 11 days until my ACL/Meniscus surgery, and I am trying to fit a few more workouts in before I can’t use my left leg for a while. So, after a day of lounging around and grocery shopping, I put together a quick Tabata workout. Tabata is what I do when I don’t feel like doing an insanity workout or leaving the house – but, it CAN be intense, depending on how hard you push yourself 🙂 Also, studies have shown that an average of 15 calories are burned a minute! Obviously, Tabata is the workout of choice if you want to drop weight quick while doing shorter workouts. Here’s the breakdown:

•    1 Tabata Set is 4 minutes long
•    20 seconds of intense training (do the exercise as HARD AS YOU CAN)
•    Rest for 10 seconds
•     Repeat for a total of 8 rounds

I usually do 4-8 sets, depending on how much time and energy I have. Today, I decided to workout my legs, butt & abs with a little bit of cardio. Remember to rest 1 minute in between each set!

Set 1:

4 rounds of hanging abs, alternating pike & tuck

4 rounds of monster walks (works butt/upper part of butt & hips – great for runners!)

Set 2:

4 rounds of jumping jacks

4 rounds of donkey kicks w/resistance band

Set 3:

4 rounds of squats

4 rounds of crunches

Set 4:

4 rounds of jumping lunges

4 rounds of side plank dips

Set 5:

8 rounds of fire hydrants, alternating legs (hips/butt)

Set 6:

4 rounds of lying hip bridges (hips/butt/abs)

4 rounds of plank w/alternating arm/leg lift (Can do this on hands or forearms)

By the end of each set, you should feel like you are dying. Not really, but your muscles should be burning and you should be sweating from pushing so hard.

I recommend using the Pocket WOD app – it has timing intervals for intervals/tabata, a stopwatch & countdown. Bonus: its free!

Now off to stretch!