Ever wondered why treadmills are called TREAD- MILLS?
Sir William Cubitt, in 1818, designed these machines to punish prisoners! He was the son of a Mill owner and thought it would be a good idea to have his mill run on prisoner power. He designed the machine so that a man can walk on it and in doing so grind some grains.
So the word “tread” for stepping and “mill” for grinding grain.
So treadmills were an instrument of torture back when they were invented and they remain to be up to this day.
You will never see one of these dreadful machines the same way again.
I personally avoid them as much as possible. Treadmills are almost synonymous with the word cardio. Cardio is synonymous with the word boring.
Cardio has become a buzzword for people trying to lose weight or body fat. Spending hours and hours on the treadmill or walking or cycling. In the end, there isn’t a dramatic change to be seen. I am sure that we are all guilty of this.
I can’t imagine the time wasted doing cardio, just imagine what we could have achieved with all that time. I often picture what aliens would think about us if they saw us walking on a treadmill for hours and not moving forward!
So while a 1-hour cardio session is often not practical, I prefer to do a 4 minute Tabata routine. Yes, you heard me right just 4 minutes.
The Tabata protocol was first developed by Izumi Tabata in 1996 and is the first exercise program to be designed in a laboratory. It showed great results in increasing a person’s aerobic and anaerobic capacity. So the thought here is about efficiency. Getting the most bang for the time you have.
The Tabata protocol is simple. It consists of 8 rounds. Each round consists of 20 seconds of a high-intensity exercise. Followed by a 10-second break. Totaling to 4 minutes.
So what I like to do is choose 4 high-intensity exercises and repeat them twice.
Here are my 4 favourites:
- Jump squats
- Jumping jacks
- Mountain climbers
- High Knees
I suggest doing this Tabata protocol at the start of the day. So that you begin by bringing movement to your life. You can also add this Tabata protocol to the end of your weight training sessions.
On iTunes, Android Music or YouTube there is a song called “Tabata with Coach” It counts you down to the exercises and keeps the 20 seconds time and the break time for you.
So your habit for getting a Tabata exercise done is to just start the “Tabata with coach” song. Do this before you drink your morning cup of Tea or Coffee. The song is catchy and you will want to do the exercises.
After finishing the Tabata you have earned that cup of chai!
Everyone has 4 minutes to do a simple Tabata exercise. Go for intensity, push yourself on each exercise. By the end of the set, you should be exhausted!
