Here is Week #3 – DAY 7
My nephew Peter is demonstrating.
I have been doing this progression for the last five months. (Published May 14, 2011) I haven’t missed a day yet!
It takes me approximately four minutes. Some days I start out slower than other days but usually by the third round I feel really awake and before I know it my fourth round is done. I walk around and make the bed while my heart rate comes back to normal then Mom’s back on duty…
Because this last progression gets your heart rate pumping more, creating more blood volume within the body, it is really important to keep moving around until your heart rate comes back to normal. Why shouldn’t you just sit down and let your heart rate come back down? Because gravity will draw the extra blood coursing through your body down to the veins in your legs. This is called blood pooling.
Here is a link to read more about Blood Pressure Recovery After Exercise:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/328599-blood-pressure-recovery-after-exercise/
Day 7 (week #3)
1. 50 High Knees with arms bent at 90-degrees as in Day 1.
Same as Day 1 Marching on the spot where you bring your knees up to meet your hands, however, with High Knees one foot is only on the floor at a time. You hop to switch legs.
2. 20 Bend Down & Reach Up with Toe Raise
For comfort, ladies may want to wear a sports bra for the hopping exercises. Alternately, just hold on to your chest and get it done!
I noticed that other Tabata routines have 10 seconds of rest between exercises. Is there a reason you don’t do that?
Hi Nicole,
The reason I don’t treat these current 4 Minute Mornings as a true Tabata is because the intensity is very low to moderate in comparison. Mark Lauren, from You Are Your Own Gym describes a Tabata as follows: “8 Rounds of 20 seconds of exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest, for a total of 4 minutes. Find an exercise pace that you are able to maintain throughout all eight sets, but only with great difficulty. Ideally, there shouldn’t be any twenty-second work period with a significant drop-off in reps performed. This is high-intensity training.”
My goal with these 4 Minute Mornings is a gentle way to get the body moving. And because it’s first thing in the morning, I personally can’t imagine working my body at the intensity in which I do my Tabata’s later in the day. So far I have found this 4 Minute Morning approach to be very effective to kickstart the day.
I hope this answers your question.
Thanks!
Kat