Tabata Interval Training for Aerobic Fitness

[arunks]

I feel I need to improve on my aerobic fitness levels for swimming and came across Tabata Intervals which takes very less time to do.I want to do this as dry land training. Has anyone tried this?How is Tabata Interval training for improving on fitness levels for swimming?

[andyinnorway]

is there a link, what is it?

[arunks]

The name Tabata is after a Japanese scientist. It just takes 4 minutes to this.
Click here for more info.

[ian mac]

Andy,
After reading the study, you might want to try 6 weeks of 8 x 25m @30sec, sprinting as mindfully hard as possible without giving way to loss of form during your prctices. If you decide to do this, I would love to know the results.
Best of luck,
Ian

[CoachSuzanne]

Originally Posted by ian mac

Andy,
After reading the study, you might want to try 6 weeks of 8 x 25m @30sec, sprinting as mindfully hard as possible without giving way to loss of form during your prctices. If you decide to do this, I would love to know the results.
Best of luck,
Ian

I've considered this in the past for swimiming specific issues and the 8 x 25 on 30 is apretty good target But if you read the study protocol, I think they were doing this about 3-4 times per week for 6 weeks to get the results seen. (the original study was in cyclists doing an adaptation of a speedskater protocol that the japanese skaters had already been doing in training). Correct me if I'm wrong...was there also a study taht involved speed skaters and not just cyclists?

Nevertheless, the protocol is used in a lot of other dryland stuff like cross fit and otehr "functional" fitness programs.

The protocol is MOST helpful for those who need to improve their anaerobic fitness as well. if you are mostly looking for pure aerobic improvements, training with time spent at or near Vo2 is a nice option.

of coruse in swimming, all of this is moot if form goes to crap while doing so...so the admonishment of being mindful is key. If your SPL goes from 22 to 30 while doing your 8 x 25 all out, you're not workign your swimming muscles aerobic conditioning, you're workign your thrashign muscles aerobic (and anaerobic) conditioning.

As with anything (speedskating, throwing weights around, etc), if you can't be mindful of your form then you are not ready to do it yet.

[CoachSuzanne]

Also, arunks, could you be more specific about what you mean when you say you want to improve your aerobic fitness? What are you struggling with ? Distance? Breathign? repeatability of faster training sets?

[arunks]

Originally Posted by CoachSuzanne

Also, arunks, could you be more specific about what you mean when you say you want to improve your aerobic fitness? What are you struggling with ? Distance? Breathign? repeatability of faster training sets?

I feel I need to be more fit in general. I have not been into treadmilling, running(I do love to run but for short distances), same with cycling.(I don't know if this is this a problem with attitude or if some people are more suited with sprint than endurance)
I love swimming(just the feel of the water,flowing through the fluid),Yoga, bodyweight calisthenics (ex. squats, pushups, pullups..) trekking and a few other outdoor activities.
The Tabata interval exercise I thought was a great way to improve aerobic fitness for swimming given the short workout.
Thanks to TI I think I have improved on my swimming technique a lot since I started. But I still find it difficult to swim a long distance at a stretch. I have improved on relaxation aspect, breathing and SL and still improving on these but I feel Good swimming=Good technique + fitness.
So the part of the equation that i also need to work on is fitness.

Arun

[aksenov]

More detailed review on HIIT is here
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...011-868305.pdf