THE BEST 4-MINUTE WORKOUT

 BY SEAN HYSON, C.S.C.S.

Normally, we’d say that a workout that lasts four minutes must be wussy, but if it’s a Tabata, that’s another story. Izumi Tabata, Ph.D., a researcher at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, Japan, found that brutally intense interval workouts lasting just four minutes improved endurance better than more conventional interval training—and increased fat burning. We know you’ve got the time for this workout, and to give you one less excuse to skip it, we’ll give you only one exercise to do.

HOW IT WORKS Tabata workouts are designed according to a work-to-rest ratio of 2:1. You go as hard as you can for, say, 20 seconds, rest 10, and then

repeat. You can choose one or several exercises to use for Tabatas. We’ve prescribed just the burpee. A total-body exercise equally favored and dreaded by martial artists and soldiers, the burpee tires you out faster than probably any other body-weight movement. It will make the ensuing four minutes the slowest of your life.

DIRECTIONS Perform burpees for 20 seconds. Don’t worry about counting reps—just set a timer and do as many as you can. Then rest 10 seconds, and repeat for four minutes. Over time, you can add time to the work interval,but keep the ratio of work to rest at 2:1 (so if you build up to doing burpees for 30 seconds, rest 15 seconds between sets).

BURPEE

Stand with feet shoulder width and bend down and place your hands on the floor. Now shoot your legs behind you quickly so you’re in the top of a push up position. Jump your legs back up so they land between your hands and then jump up quickly.