My Tabata Bootcamp Experience
Starting Out
by Sara Davenport
“Strong is the new skinny!” – Pilar Cobb, BFit Studio
Never in my life have I ever considered myself “skinny.” During my teens and college years, I fluctuated between being chubby and what I would consider a healthy size for my frame – like a 6 or an 8. In June I celebrated my 35th birthday. I’m a wife and a mother of two young girls, ages 3 and 19 months. I work part-time and I’m a full time chauffeur of children. I’m in constant motion – wake up, get everyone dressed and fed, drive to pre-school, go to work, drive back to pre-school, negotiate naps with the kiddos, work a little more, play time, dinner time, bed time, clean up, sit down for 5 seconds, go to bed. Repeat.
After giving birth to my second child, I really struggled losing the baby weight. A little over a year and a half later I’ve lost 46 of the 50 pounds I gained. I’m ready to lose more – nothing crazy, probably an additional 10 to 15 pounds. I’m never going to be a stick but I do want to be healthy and I don’t want to torture myself with weird diets or insane exercise routines. I’m already busy, so fitting something else into my daily schedule is tricky. The time commitment factor is a huge issue for me and I’m pretty sure that most everyone reading this is in the same boat. That’s when I discovered BFit Studio’s Tabata Bootcamp.
What is Tabata? Quite simply it’s the busy gal’s – or guy’s – answer to exercise. A 30 minute work out and you’re done. Yep, you read that right – 30 MINUTES! Now this is not a lazy 30 minute stroll through the park. Tabata Bootcamp is a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) program that is able to burn up to 5 times more calories compared to traditional workouts. How? It’s all about doing something hard for 40 seconds, doing it harder for 30 seconds, and doing it hardest for 20 seconds. I have a couple of seconds in between to catch my breath. By doing specific exercises for such a short amount of time I can give it my all. I can do just about anything for 40 seconds or less, right? Tabata also focuses on quality vs. quantity – it’s not about the number of lunges, it’s about the number of lunges you do correctly. Everyone goes at their own pace and intensity and there are modifications for every exercise. I also get access to a website to track weight/inches lost, detail my daily meals on a food log, and access my homewor
k. The kids aren’t the only ones with homework now! Everyday, except Sunday, I have a six-minute Tabata workout to complete even if it’s a bootcamp day. These workouts are brief but pack a punch that gets my heart rate up!
Bootcamp just started on Monday. During the first session we all got measured and then had a brief fitness assessment before our workout began. I can’t believe I’m doing this but here were my stats on day one.
Body Assessment:
Weight – 154.8
Waist – 33″
Hips – 43.5″
Thigh – 26″
Fitness Assessment (in one minute):
Push Ups – 28 (done on my knees)
Squat Hold – I held the whole minute
V Sit Hold – I held the whole minute
So was the workout hard – heck yeah! I was red-faced, sweating like crazy, and I thought I might actually get sick when we were doing ski jumps. But I made it through AND I went back again on Wednesday. I’m still sore from Monday’s intense leg workout so I can’t wait to see how jello-like my arms will feel after focusing on arms and back during yesterday’s workout.
So far, Tabata seems to be the perfect little package for combining cardio along with strength building exercises. To quote Pilar Cobb of BFit Studio, “Strong is the new skinny.” Every two weeks, I’ll get weighed, measured, and do another fitness assessment. Check back to see my progress!
For more information on Tabata Bootcamp, contact BFit Studio at 706-289-7736 or at [email protected].
