No Gym? Try These Tabata Workout Ideas!

When I can’t make it to the gym, I use Garaio Technology Labs’ free tabata timer iPhone app to whip up a tabata workout!  A tabata is 20 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest for 8 rounds.  If you have a timer on your phone, you can do a fantastic workout all by yourself!  Take a look below for a quick breakdown of the tabata principles and some handy tabata workout ideas.

Tabata is one of my favorite workouts, especially if you don’t have much time!  There are so many variations too!  Taylor and I have mixed and matched a bunch of different exercises, in addition to the number of exercises we complete in the workout.  If you are going to cycle in a more cardiovascular exercise like the AirDyne, make sure you do a reverse tabata.  That means the work to rest ratio will be reversed: 10 sec work, 20 sec rest.  It sounds weird, but TRUST ME, you will need more rest.

The point of tabata is consistency.  It is technically a scored workout, and your score is the lowest number of reps achieved in the 8 sets.  So if you come out guns-blazing in the first round and do 20 pushups, but by the seventh round you get  3… your score is 3.  The key is working hard enough that you aren’t burning out, and keeping the correct form for every rep.  Don’t cheat yourself!

A tabata is 20 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest for 8 rounds

No matter what exercises you choose, make sure you have at least 4 different movements.  That is a great workout completed in 16 minutes!  Feel free to choose more or less, but make sure you alternate between arm-heavy exercises and leg-centric i.e. push-up, sit-up, burpee, squat.

A great tabata can be completed simply with a flat surface and your body!

Here are a few examples of body weight exercises:

SQUATS, PUSH-UPS, SIT-UPS, BURPEES, LUNGES, JUMPING JACKS, PLANKS/FLR (front leaning rest), HANDSTANDS/WALL-WALKS

A suggestion for sit-ups: invest in at least a thin mat, even if you have a carpeted surface.  It is surprisingly easy to create a hotspot on your tailbone from the rubbing that occurs while doing a sit-up.

A list of cheap equipment that could also aid in a tabata workout or any workout:

JUMP ROPE, IRON GYM (hangs above a doorway for PULL-UPS or KTE knees-to-elbows)

If you have home gym, intersperse a “cardio” i.e. in-between burpees and push-ups:

BIKE, ROWER, TREADMILL, or ELLIPTICAL, AIRDYNE (do reverse tabata)

Go on Amazon and make a relatively small investment in kettle bells! (they will be much cheaper than in a retail store)

20 lb, 35 lb, 45 lb, 53 lb… there is SO MUCH you can do with a kettle bell! (GOBLET SQUAT, KB SWING, PRESS)

Don’t ever be without a last minute workout plan!  They can be a day-changer wherever you are!