In 1996, Dr. Izumi Tabata of the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Japan published a study in the journal "Medicine and Science in Spots and Exercise" that found that subjects who performed 8-minute intervals consisting of 20 seconds of intense exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated 8 times, achieved a greater improvement of VO2 max than a control group who performed moderately intense exercise for 60 minutes.
Thus was born the "Tabata interval," a rather unique form of torture, um, physical conditioning that develops both aerobic and anaerobic capacity without the detrimental effects of long-distance aerobics.
This evening's workout consisted of Tabata intervals of 1) wall balls (my favorite, not!), and 2) ball slams, in which you slam a heavy ball onto the floor and pick it back up - sounds easy, but it's not. Just remember, nothing's easy in Crossfit.
WOD: "Great Balls of Fire"
Tabata intervals: 20 seconds of as many reps as possible followed by 10 seconds of rest. Repeat 8 times for each exercise.
Ball Slams (4 minutes)
Wallballs (4 minutes)
Add up the number of repetitions for each 20-second set and the total is your score. We did 4 minutes of wall ball followed by 4 minutes of ball slams. Here are my results:
Wall Ball (set/# reps)
1) 12
2) 12
3) 11
4) 11
5) 11
6) 11
7) 11
10
Total: 89
Ball Slam
1) 9
2) 9
3) 10
4) 10
5) 10
6) 10
7) 10
10
Total: 78
Total score: 167
Jerry Hill's CrossFit in Alexandria - Tabata Elizabeths B-day
CrossFit Vancouver "Slamm'n Grelen"
Ball slams are part of this workout.
