Tabata | Strength training without equipment

Tabata

A special training method, which is usually practiced without equipment, is the so-called Tabata. The name comes from its inventor, the Japanese Izumi Tabata. His training involves four minutes of high-intensity effort with various exercises.

These exercises should be selected in such a way that as many large muscle groups as possible are used. This is why tabata is particularly suitable for strength training without machines. Through this form of training, the muscles should be stimulated to grow particularly well and at the same time the fat burning should be increased.

However, it is important here that the athlete must absolutely go to the performance limit, otherwise the training with Tabata remains little effective. In the end, the training looks like this:Eight sets are performed (for example with four classical exercises like push-ups, crunches, dips or knee bends). Each set lasts 20 seconds, followed by a 10 second break, so the training without equipment here lasts 240 seconds in total.

Advanced tabata athletes can do 10-15 repetitions in the 20 seconds, but beginners do even less. Tabata is best done in pairs, so that the training partner can announce the times. This allows the trainee to concentrate on the correct execution of his exercises. In addition, Tabata should always be performed at the end in combination with other training sessions without equipment. After the four minutes of maximum effort, you are usually too exhausted for further exercises.

Advantages of strength training without equipment

In the minds of most sport beginners, the classic image of strength training in the gym on typical equipment such as the butterfly or the leg press is still there. They sometimes forget that we already have everything we need for training with us: Our body and its weight. With a good training plan, you can save the gym fee or the money for expensive home trainers and start your strength training right away.

You can achieve just as good results with strength training without equipment as with classic training in the gym with dumbbells or on machines. Relatively inexpensive aids such as Thera bands or expanders are sufficient to support some exercises. Besides the cost advantage, in some cases the quality of training without equipment is also better: many body weight exercises (i.e. exercises using only your own body weight) also represent an act of balance.

Thus, not only a certain muscle is moved by the guided movement on the machine as in a gym, but also the coordination skills are important.Because the balance has to be found and maintained, auxiliary muscles are also used, which must additionally stabilize the movements. In addition, strength training without equipment is usually easier to organize in terms of time. There are no more waiting times until the desired equipment is available in the gym.

Strength training without equipment can also be done very well at home in almost all cases – so there is no need for additional time spent travelling to the gym. The training does not have to take place in closed rooms. In summer it is a good motivation to move the training from the stuffy studio to the park.