Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Tabata This


Well -- over at Peninsula Crossfit last night I did a workout called "tabata this" which involves 8 each of 20 second intervals followed by 10 second rests. 8 sets in a series of as many squats, rowing, pull ups, sit ups, or push ups that one can do in 20 seconds. Score is the lowest number of all the sets in a given exercise. After each exercise comes a one minute break.
I think "tabata" is an Andromedan word meaning "to cause pain to." Eight sets of sit ups with a score of seven might come from a series of 8, 9, 7, 8, 8, 8, 7, 8 or 63 total sit ups. A score of 4 like mine in the push ups, for example, absolutely indicates a total of at least 32 over 8 sets (4*8=32), but doesn't reflect the actual total, which could be much higher. 10, 8, 7, 7, 7, 5, 4, and 4, for example, totalling 52. If you had asked me before last night if I could do 50 push ups ... I would have said "No way."

6 comments:

mindful mule said...

Crossfit seems awesome and brutal. (What’s the deal with the names on all their WOD’s?)

Sounds like "Curiouser and Curiouser’s” days are numbered…

shawnkielty said...

Well -- with the exception of today -- I am still 3 times a week at the house of pain. The curiouser and curioser route is gone, however.

The 5.10 route I managed to complete this week was "Helix Asp."
The new challenge is another overhanging route, but for now I forgot the name.

So the schedule looks like this.

shawnkielty said...

I forgot to answer the question about the names -- at first I thought they were just women's names -- i.e. "Diane", etc. -- but then I see also Men's names.

I have no idea.

Maybe Saul will stop by and answer the question.

Eclectchick said...

Ooo, the evil Tabata intervals. Was just reading about those in Triathlete magazine recently.

You didn't mention how unearthly hard they are. Did you hurl?

shawnkielty said...

"the evil Tabata intervals." They were demanding. I feel much better now that I have stopped.

No, I didn't hurl. I found Saturday's crawling workout to be more hurlworthy.

hmmmm. ... "hurlworthy"; I like that. Was it "hurlworthy?"

amidnightrider said...

I love working out, but those look to be outside my limit.